Winsome

13-year-olds aren't what they used to be...

Revisado: 08-22-24

Overall, this is a good yarn with plenty of suspense, an interesting setting, tense family dynamics, police politics, and social class snobbery front and center. It kept my interest, and I'd consider reading or listening to other books by this author. That said, I was incredulous that the "campers" about whom the story revolves are 13 years old and younger. Really? It's entirely plausible, of course, when young teens rebel against parents, feel socially awkward, have crushes on others, etc., but are they already fastidious drug and alcohol consumers (by the way, there's a lot of drug and alcohol abuse in this story)? Do we believe that with a few weeks' training, the tougher of these 13-year-olds can live off the land for extended periods, skinning squirrels for dinner, bandaging self-inflicted knife wounds, and reading Thoreau? Maybe not.

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Feels unfinished

Revisado: 08-16-24

I seem to have a love/hate relationship with Tana French books. Loved the two previous Dublin Murder Squad books as well as The Searcher and The Hunter. Really didn't like The Witch Elm and was also disappointed by this book. It feels unfinished, as though the author was preoccupied with describing her detective's macho personality and his disdain for his dysfunctional family, co-workers, and just about everyone except his daughter, No spoilers here, but we're left dangling about the circumstances surrounding the second victim, and the story would have been more gripping had we been given a glimpse of the murderer's motivation earlier in the story. The narrator was very good, though at times I lost track of who was speaking.

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Two ways this book is interesting

Revisado: 07-08-24

I enjoyed two things about this book:
(1) As a long-time student of Egyptology, I was very impressed with the author's scholarly handling of the archaeology of ancient Egypt. In contrast, it seems as though 99% of novels penned about ancient Egypt approach the topic in the most kitschy and quasi-scientific way imaginable. Kudos to Jodi Picoult for caring enough to seek expert help in strengthening this aspect of the book.
(2) The information about death doulas was fascinating, something I knew nothing about but now consider important.

But --- I'm afraid the "plot" grew thin very quickly. The author has wrung every ounce of emotion out of a dissolving marriage, and what we're left with is a monologue about the main character's inner turmoil. And did we really need the plane crash? That seemed like an afterthought. In the end, I didn't care what choice the main character made about her future. The narration was very good with the exception of an occasional mispronunciation.

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The marketing for this book is misleading

Revisado: 09-03-23

This is a very interesting book, but it’s hardly “Louise Erdrich meets Jo Nesbo”. Yes, it deals with an indigenous culture and the challenges of following a traditional lifestyle in current times, but there’s no mystery here. Everyone knows the identity of the evil doer--it is only a matter of getting the police to act. The story falls squarely into the realm of Young Adult fiction with its coming-of-age themes, albeit in a place (northern Sweden) that few of us are familiar with. The strongest point of the book is the glimpse it gives us into the Sami people and their management of reindeer herds.

The narrator’s voice has a bit of a teenager inflection, but perhaps that’s appropriate given the age of the protagonist during the majority of the book.

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Maisie writ large

Revisado: 06-25-23

The heroine in this enjoyable story is very Maisie Dobbs-like, though this new character, Elinor White, is forced into events and behaviors that go beyond what we've seen with Maisie. The setting is again war-time Europe, and historical details of the resulting post-war deprivation in England are seamlessly woven into the narrative. The story moves back and forth from present to past, and we see how the war shaped the lives of all the characters. It's surprising that the description of highly emotional scenes falls a little flat (I would say the same about the Maisie Dobbs series), and that's reflected in a lessening of Orlagh Cassidy's typically stellar performance. One could also argue about the use of the same stylized accent for the highly educated Scotland Yard DCI Warren and Billy Beale (from the Maisie Dobbs series). That said, if this is the first in a new Jacqueline Winspear series, and I hope it is, I look forward to the next installment.

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When we left our heroine last time...

Revisado: 02-22-23

At the end of the last installment in this series, it seemed as though romance had finally bloomed between Bess and our favorite heartthrob; after all, we're now into Book 13 and the Great War has been over for a while. Isn't it time? I expected this to be the book in which the joyous couple ride off into the sunset and begin their life together, perhaps solving a few mysteries along the way. Alas, an unexplained misunderstanding has reared its ugly head, and here we are with an episode that could easily have occurred about six books back. That said, I've enjoyed all the books in this series and in the authors' Ian Rutledge series. The occasional mention of the characters in one series in the other series is fun. Am I the only one who's thinking that if things don't work out between Bess and our favorite heartthrob in this series (no spoilers), how about Bess and Ian Rutledge?

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Interesting history but odd pacing

Revisado: 01-25-23

We begin this story already knowing that the seminal event in the Booth family is the assassination of Lincoln. Why then is that event relegated to the last hour of the narration? The beginning of the book nicely sets the stage in terms of family history and dynamics, the middle of the book drags along through the ups and downs of the brothers' acting careers, then the last part of the book rushes through the events of the Civil War and its aftermath. The author explains that it was not her intention to write a book about John Wilkes Booth, but it feels as though his family members, the characters we've spent many hours with, are dropped abruptly post-event. Overall an interesting historical setting and very good narration.

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For fans of The Talented Mr. Ripley

Revisado: 01-13-23

Readers of this psychological thriller will see the similarities between this novel and Patricia Highsmith's "The Talented Mr. Ripley". As with that novel, it's difficult to assign a fair rating because the protagonist is unlikable, amoral, self-serving, and opportunistic. That said, the story moves quickly from one plot point to another and is suspenseful. Fortunately, the character of Florence's mother provides some light humor in the midst of this dark tale. The narration is very good, though the reader's on and off use of a Southern accent is confusing.

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Should have known better

Revisado: 12-21-22

On occasion I let myself get pulled into this genre of thriller-type books, and this particular book reminded me that I should know better. It's about suspense and nothing more than that, and really, was it worth suffering through the thin plot, unlikable characters, gratuitous sex, and pill-popping episodes? Not for me, and actually the denouement wasn't at all unexpected as there were obvious clues along the way. I can say something good about the narration -- the two narrators' voices were different enough that it was clear who was speaking.

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Implausible, but based on a fascinating incident

Revisado: 12-10-22

The author has built a fictional story around the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre. I wasn't aware of this incident, and was prompted by this book to do some historical research to learn more about this fascinating part of the painting's history. The book has two threads --- 1911 (the time of the theft), and "present day". I would have preferred more emphasis on 1911; the author touches on famous artists contemporary with the thief (e.g., Picasso), Louvre politics, and economic conditions in Paris, but the details that could have enriched the story are not developed. The present-day story is implausible (are the French and the Italian police really going to let a potential murder suspect just walk away?), the protagonist is rather insipid, and I could have lived without the hit man, but the story kept my interest. The narration was fine though some might quibble about the accents.

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