Mysteries Reviews by Cathy Belben Updated January 2007

Mysteries
Reviews by Cathy Belben
Updated January 2007

I’m not usually a fan of British novels, which always seem to feature characters who are either too much smarter and more pretentious than comparable Americans or too busy wallowing in drugs, misery, and rain to be likeable enough to bother reading about.

There is misery in Case Histories, but there’s also some humor and three intriguing storylines conjoined by the presence of one character who is involved in all three.

Private detective Jackson Brodie is called upon to help various people affected by three cases. In one, two adult sisters want help solving the decades-old disappearance of their five-year-old sister, who was apparently kidnapped from her backyard one night while sleeping a tent. The women have always suspected that their distant, creepy father played a role in Olivia’s vanishing, but as Jackson finds out, the family is much more complicated than even the sisters themselves realize.

In another case, Theo Wyre calls upon Jackson to help him find the man who burst into his law office and murdered his teenaged daughter, who was working there at a summer job. Theo’s entire life revolves around the memory of Laura and his quest for her killer.

In the third case, a young mother snaps when her husband awakens their sleeping infant. But as Jackson discovers, and the woman herself gradually reveals, things are seldom what they seem on the surface.

Jackson, who is crumbling under the pressure of his own failing marriage and a tragic past, becomes absorbed in his cases—sometimes too much so. But ultimately, his intimacy with the details of each case and his relentless curiosity and desire to know what really happened in each situation leads to resolution for his clients, and ultimately, for him.

When a powerful tornado strikes a small Oklahoma town, police chief Charlie Grover is called in to help search homes for injured residents. But what he finds in one home is horrifying: three family members have been brutally killed in the storm, their bodies mutilated by flying debris. Or so it seems. Close examination reveals that Rob, Jenna, and their teenage daughter, Danielle, weren’t accidental victims of the storm: all three were murdered by an opportunist who used the storm to conceal his crime.

Chief Grover is led shortly thereafter, to other tornado victims in other small towns whose injuries are inconsistent with tornados, and soon realizes he’s dealing with a serial killer who times his horrific crimes to coincide with the storms, and whose crimes are becoming more vicious each time.

Grover pursues a list of potential suspects—people with a history of or a potential for violence and a strong understanding of how to chase tornados. Among those in his radar are Boone Pritchett, a teenage delinquent his own daughter is sneaking around with; a local alcoholic with a history of child abuse and a mysteriously absent wife, and, shockingly, his own father, a man with a violent past and an eerie resemblance to the police profile of the possible killer. As he investigates the possible killers, Grover races the clock and the elements as the killer grows bolder and the storm seasons strengthens.

Fans of CSI will appreciate the forensic work that goes into the investigation of the murders in The Breathtaker, and anyone fascinated by the science of storm chasing will find this a gripping, hard-to-put-down mystery.

Donnelly, Jennifer. A Northern Light. © 2003. (Historical Fiction)
Author Jennifer Donnelly takes a real-life murder mystery and builds a young woman’s coming-of-age around the events.

At the turn of the last century, a young woman is found drowned after rowing on a lake with her suitor. Authorities suspect he has killed her, and the trial becomes one of the century’s most sensational courtroom dramas and later, the subject of Theodore Dreiser’s novel, An American Tragedy.

In Donnelly’s account, seventeen-year-old Mattie Gokey escapes certain poverty and drudgery on her father’s farm by gaining employment at a local hotel for the summer, where she meets Grace Brown just before Brown’s death. Grace gives Mattie a packet of love letters and asks her to burn them, and then is never seen alive again.

In reading the letters, Mattie discovers the story behind Grace’s relationship with her eventual killer and finds a renewed confidence and a determination to pursue her education and her love of writing despite objections from her father and the love of a hometown boy.

Even readers who are not typically drawn to historical fiction will be taken in by Mattie—her intelligence, wit, and love of words especially—as well as by the real-life mystery that becomes a major turning point in Mattie’s life.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
…And the award for the creepiest novel I will probably read this year goes to Sharp Objects by Entertainment Weekly writer Gillian Flynn.

Reporter Camille Preaker returns to her small hometown in Missouri to investigate and report on a creepy and gruesome crime: two young girls have been murdered and their teeth removed by an obviously sick and twisted killer.

As difficult as this investigation proves, however, it’s as challenging for Camille to face the dark secrets of her own past, a task required upon her return. Forced to stay in her childhood home with her mother, Adora, her stepfather, Alan, and her half-sister, Amma, Camille must confront the truth about her mother’s strange and even cruel treatment of herself and her sister. She must also face the damage she’s done—and is doing—to herself.

This creepy thriller will appeal to fans of Harlan Coben and Stephen King with its fast pace and undercurrent of horror. Not for the squeamish.

Giles, Gail. Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters.
Back To Dead Girls Don't Write Letters Things have been different around Sunny’ house ever since her older sister, Jazz, died in a mysterious fire. Things have actually been better, in many ways, since Sunny’s sister treated her like dirt. But Sunny’s parents haven’t been better off—her father moved out and drinks, and her mother sunk into a deep depression that means Sunny basically has to take care of her all the time. So when Sunny receives a letter from Jazz, she is stunned. Jazz is dead, right? But could she be sending letters from the grave? Or did she write this one before she died? And then the unthinkably bizarre happens: Jazz shows up at home. She has different hair and looks just a little bit different than the Jazz Sunny remembers, but she knows so much about their family. Could it be Jazz? Or is it an imposter with a remarkable talent? This clever, fast-paced mystery is full of psychological twists, and it will keep you wondering right up to the end—and probably after.

Giles, Gail. Playing in Traffic.

Senior Matt Lathrop is surprised to be singled out by the hip, edgy, and mysterious Skye Colby, and is quickly swept up by her power, not realizing that he may be being manipulated by her. As Skye reveals more and more of her troubled past, Matt grows to care for her and wants to protect her. But he learns that she might not always be telling the truth about the past or her family. When their relationship grows more intimate, Matt struggles to choose between his physical desires and his discomfort with Skye and her questionable truthfulness. When she asks Matt to help her by committing a crime, he is faced with a horrific choice—and the story ends with a gut-wrenching, unforgettable conclusion.

MYSTIC RIVER by Dennis LeHane features three men who knew each other well as children, but have since parted ways, although they live in the same city. As children, David, Sean, and Jimmy were together one day when they were approached by two men who claimed to be undercover cops. Jimmy and Sean refused the men's offer of a ride, but David accepted--and disappeared for days. When he was found, dazed and injured, speculations about what had happened to him made him an outcast among the other kids. Since the events, he has never fully recovered from what was done to him.

Now adults, Sean has become one of the state police's chief detectives, David has become something of a deadbeat with a drinking problem and a vengeance to punish his childhood tormentors, and Jimmy, after doing some jail time in his early twenties, has become a family man. The mystery surrounds Jimmy's nineteen-year-old daughter, who has been found dead in a city park. Evidence suggests she was dragged and beaten and shot. It also suggests she was about to leave town with her boyfriend, a young man her father disapproved of, and that she was still being harrassed by a former hoodlum she dated. Besides these suspects, another one emerges--David, who returned home the night of the murder covered in blood and with a weak, weak alibi that causes even his wife to question where he was and what he was doing.

This gripping thriller, like Harlan Coben's TELL NO ONE, had me turning pages late into the evening and annoying my husband by reading in the car when he was trying to talk to me. Just when you think you've figured out who did it, another twist is thrown into the plot. LeHane is a gifted suspense writer!

Duncan’s stuck with a nightmare summer job that his father has arranged for him: assigned to the Toronto Transit Authority’s lost and found department, he has to spend all day, every day, in the subterranean world occupied by only himself, a cranky old co-worker named Jacob, and tons of junk that people have abandoned or lost on the city’s subway system.

While he sorts through the collection of items turned in one day, he discovers an unusual book—a diary, of sorts, with clippings, handwritten notes, and drawings. As he reads it, Duncan realizes that he’s reading the diary of a serial arsonist who also seems to be stalking women and then writing about his obsession with them. As he reads more, Duncan discovers that the writer also tortures animals…and that his obsession is getting more dangerous…it appears that he is planning a murder.

After his attempts to convince police that the writer is potentially dangerous, Duncan enlists his two best friends to help him uncover details and investigate the man’s identity. Once they discover who he is, Duncan hopes, they can stop him from carrying out his plan. But will they be able to find out who he is from the few clues in the diary? And if they do, will they get to him in time?

A teenage couple is brought to the emergency room in the middle of a cold November night. The girl is dead of a gunshot wound, her boyfriend injured. When questioned by police, he claims that he and his girlfriend had made a suicide pact: she succeeded in carrying through with it, and he did not. Is he telling the truth, or did he kill his girlfriend and concoct a story to cover up his crime?

Emily Gold and Chris Harte have been friends literally since they were born. Their families live next door to one another, and they grew up playing together, almost like brother and sister. So when their relationship matured from friendship to love, no one was surprised—their parents, in fact, were pleased. Both were successful, well-liked, and talented. Both were college bound. In all likelihood, Chris and Emily would marry someday.

But as the story unfolds, we learn that all was not as perfect as it seemed on the artist. Emily, a gifted artist, is also a perfectionist, an only child determined to please her parents but cracking under her own pressure. In addition, she was hiding something—a secret source of shame that she shared with no one, not even Chris—or so he claimed. But did Chris know what Emily was hiding? Was he so outraged that he killed her? Or did he, as he claims, grow to understand and love her so much that he would do anything for her—even help her commit suicide?

Jodi Picoult has crafted an intense page-turner that draws readers in with its engaging story of two families bonded and wrenched apart by their children; of parents who are close to their children and yet cannot—or will not—see the clues that they are suffering; and of a friendship so deep it was deadly.

This suspenseful drama will keep you turning pages late into the night as you learn more about the characters and question your original assumptions—like her other novels, The Pact has readers believing they know the secrets early on, only to throw more intriguing complications into the mix as the plot develops, cementing you to the page.

Picoult has a talent for blending the best elements of fiction to weave stories that are entertaining and compulsively readable. Romance, intrigue, and courtroom drama blend to fabricate stories that are thoughtful and unforgettable.

Prosecutor Nina Frost has made it her business to punish the worst offenders. She specializes in sexual abuse cases, and takes satisfaction in knowing that her work improves the world.

So when her young son Nathaniel retreats into silences and refuses to speak, she recognizes it as a sign of abuse—and a psychiatrist and medical exam confirm her worst fears. Her son has been molested. But because he is traumatized to the point of being mute, Nathaniel cannot, will not name his accuser. When Nina teaches his rudimentary sign language so they can communicate, Nathaniel uses the skill to pinpoint an accuser: his signs “father.” Horrified by what she believes is an accusation against her husband, Caleb, Nina nevertheless puts her son first and gets a restraining order against Caleb. But Nathaniel is equally horrified that his sign has been misread, and after time, is finally able to signify the real perpetrator: he signs the work for priest, and Nina realizes what a horrific mistake she has made. When the priest is finally charged and brought to trial, however, she is so overwhelmed by the harm done to her son that Nina takes the law into her own hands…

The twists and turns in Picoult’s latest novel will keep readers on edge as they follow the winding plot through a troubled marriage, a mother’s desperate actions to avenge her son’s abuse, and the courtroom drama that puts her on trial. As always, there are unexpected surprises in Picoult’s story, and numerous explanations for what happened to Nathaniel and to Nina, and readers will be riveted to the page as they predict where the story will lead, and will find themselves surprised up to the last page. A compelling, readable thriller that will make for some interesting book group discussions.

A dead infant is found in a barn in the Amish community of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the prime suspect is the teenage daughter of the farmer, eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher. When questioned by police, however, Katie denies not only killing the baby boy, but having been pregnant at all, even when a medical examination reveals that she has just given birth.

Defense attorney Ellie Hathaway comes to Lancaster seeking refuge from a failing relationship. She hears of the baby’s death and learns that Katie Fisher is her distant cousin. She initially rejects pleas to defend Katie, but gives in—and then, when she argues for Katie’s release pending trial, the judge relents, but on the condition that Katie be supervised at all times by a relative. Her parents refuse, so Ellie moves in with the family to oversee her cousin and prepare for the trial.

Katie, it turns out, is a typical Amish teen—devoted to family, educated only through 8^th grade, a hard worker, and dating another community member, Samuel, a young man she will likely marry. She denies, however, that the two have had sex and continues to deny that she has had a baby. Her father and mother both claim not to have noticed that their daughter was pregnant, and both claim that they know nothing of the baby’s birth and death. Samuel, too, is steadfast in his claims that he is not the baby’s father and that he did not know his girlfriend was pregnant.

As Ellie investigates, she becomes more and more submerged in the Amish culture, and learns that Amish people will confess to crimes they haven’t committed just to avoid having to explain themselves. She learns that Katie has an older brother who has been shunned by his family for pursuing a college education, and that Sarah Fisher arranged for her daughter to visit her older brother at college regularly. As she learns more about Katie Fisher’s culture, Ellie also gains insight into what may have happened to her client and to the baby, and she prepares a defense she believes will sway a jury.

Any reader intrigued by suspense, courtroom drama and unusual cultures will be fascinated by this inside peek into the lives of the Amish, and into the culture clash that occurs when this isolated group is forced to contend with the outside world and its laws.

A young former teacher moves to Salem Falls to start again, hoping to leave behind his past. Jack St. Bride has just spent 8 months in prison for a sex crime: a former student at the private girls’ school where he was a popular history teacher claims that she and Jack had a sexual relationship. Unable to prove his innocence and overwhelmed by circumstantial evidence, Jack agreed to a plea, served his time, and is ready to begin again.

In Salem Falls, a small, remote community, he quickly finds work in a diner where the owner, a young woman named Addie, is struggling to manage the business, look out for her alcoholic father, and tame her own demons. Desperate for help, Addie hires Jack without question, and soon the two are more than just co-workers: they fall in love.

There is trouble brewing in town, however. A small group of teenage girls is experimenting with Wicca, and among them is troubled, manipulative Gillian Duncan, the daughter of Amos Duncan, who owns and operates the pharmaceutical company in town. When Gillian meets Jack, she is instantly attracted to him, and vows to use her Wiccan powers to attract him. When he doesn’t reciprocate her attraction, she conjures up a story that implicates Jack in yet another sex crime, and the townspeople, knowledgeable about his past, are ready to believe everything she says. Only Addie doubts the girl, and she, along with Jack’s defense lawyer, Jordan McAfee, set out to prove Jack’s innocence.

With a plot that is loosely based on Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, Salem Falls draws upon the same themes: accusations being hurled recklessly, young women lying to get themselves out of trouble, innocent people being falsely accused of horrific crimes. A suspenseful, intriguing drama that will definitely appeal to Picoult’s fans as well as readers with an interest in Wicca and intrigued by the Salem witch trials and their implications. A great Halloween read!

Dead Connection Jacket Hanging out at a cemetery might not be every kid’s idea of a good time, but for Murray Kiefer, it’s a refuge from school bullies, and home, where his mother is either drunk or entertaining strange men.

Murray Kiefer hears voices when he’s at the cemetery. There’s Beloved and Dearly, and now, this mysterious new voice. The one who is begging him to find her. Who is she? And where is she? And what is it she so desperately wants Murray to know?

Dead Connection is a fast-pasted, exciting mystery with lots of twists and turns. As Murray tries to figure out what the voices are trying to tell him, the local police are trying to figure out what has happened to a cheerleader who went missing after school one day. Are her disappearance and Murray’s voice related?

Twelve-year-old Nicky and her father are taking their daily walk through the snowy woods outside their home in rural New England when their attention is drawn a shrill cry. As they draw nearer to the sound, they discover an infant wrapped in bloody bedclothes.

When they take the baby to the hospital and report their discovery to the police, they are drawn into a drama involving a teenage mother who appears at their home and becomes a part of lives. Her presence helps them—or forces them—to deal with their own tragedy and rebuild their lives in spite of their own great loss.

Light on Snow is quick read, but a thoughtful one that asks readers to consider how they confront loss and move on with their lives after experiencing it.

Ward, Amanda Eyre. How to Be Lost.

The Winters family, which is already dysfunctional, suffers even more when the youngest daughter, five-year-old Ellie, disappears. Her two older sisters, Madeline and Caroline, each confront her loss differently, but ultimately, they grow apart as their parents’ marriage crumbles under the strain of too much alcohol and the loss of their child.

Twenty years after Ellie’s disappearance, a lawyer visits the two sisters and their mother, hoping they’ll sign papers saying Ellie is dead and help him prosecute a child killer. The family refuses, however, because Caroline and her mother both believe Ellie may still be alive. Caroline is even more convinced that her sister is out there, somewhere, when she sees a photo in a magazine that looks exactly the way her sister might look if she survived to adulthood. Caroline takes off for Montana, where the photo was taken, and seeks her sister among the runaways and purposely lost individuals who inhabit Missoula.

The story, which is told primarily from Caroline’s point of view, is a clear, unflinching, and often funny picture of what happens to individuals and family in the wake of great loss, and about the quest to fill in the missing gaps in the story of our lives. This story, which is, on the surface, about significant loss and its overwhelming impact on our lives, is also about discovery and healing. Amanda Eyre Ward does an amazing story of telling a commonly told tale with uncommon grace and impressive skill. She weaves a careful, gripping narrative, gradually revealing clues about the past into the present, and tying them together in an ending that feels real and satisfying.

When Eli takes a job at the lab of the famous geneticist, he discovers a shocking secret about his own family history. He knows something is wrong immediately when he mentions the famous doctor at home and his father gets upset and insists that Eli not take the job. But Eli knows the opportunity is once in a lifetime—a chance to work on the cutting edge of genetic science. But his father’s strange response to his employment nags at him. He knows that at one point in the past, his father and mother were both scientists, and both had contact with Dr. Q.—contact that has left his father bitter.

Once he begins working at the lab, Eli notices some strange goings-on—an elevator behind an unmarked door; a secret basement level, and a beautiful co-worker who looks mysteriously familiar.

If you like science and suspense, you’ll enjoy reading about Eli’s quest to discover the hidden secrets of Dr. Quincy’s genetic research, his laboratory, and Eli’s own family. A smart, taut thriller.