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Title: Blind to the Bones : A Crime Novel by Stephen Booth ISBN: 0-7432-3796-X Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 07 October, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Solid, readable mystery.
Comment: The action takes place in the Peak District of England, and
the author does a superb job of conveying the moods of that
district in particular and of rural English life in general.
Here, there is an especially sad and life-like story of a young
college girl who disappeared 2 years before the story begins,
and her parents cannot bring themselves to even consider the
possibility she might be dead. They always expect her to return, and they keep all of her things just as she left them,
so she can walk right back and take up where she was when she
left. They pester their neighbors and the police almost constantly, trying to goad them into further investigations,
and to further search their memories. To the police, the
case is too old, but then, suddenly, the girl's bloody cell
phone is found near her home, and both the parents and the police come alive with fresh hope. At least, for some resolution of the case.
Ben, the Det.Constable, in a different case, gets transferred,
on a temp. basis, to the Rural Crime Squad, and he has to
repeatedly question some reclusive, suspicious people, who are
all part of the same family. And they are among the most
close-mouthed and uncooperative people he has ever had to question. And nothing he does makes any impression on them.
So while his sometime-friend, and superior, Diane, the Det.Sgt.,
investigates the old case of the missing student, Ben slogs along working on his moody, suspicious clan. And neither are
making any progress, and more questions arise than can be answered.
One of the student's flatmates, an old local friend, turns up
murdered near the village Ben is working, and that victim has
a blackened face to go along with his crushed skull, and both
Diane and Ben start working on the same suspects.
The matter of Diane's missing sister is presented in snipets
throughout this book, and that may be a distracting factor
to some readers. It doesn't seem to advance any of the mystery
story, and, somehow, it doesn't engage many readers.
But, overall, this is an interesting story in the best tradition of the English village mystery, and the author does a
nice job of bringing all the threads of the various stories together in a solid, entertaining fashion.
Rating: 1
Summary: Deadly dull
Comment: I've enjoyed previous Stephen Booth novels but could barely bother to finish this one. Flat, one-dimensional characters, lifeless, implausible dialogue and a dull and muddled plot ruined what could have been an interesting addition to this series. There was no character development whatsoever and I felt I knew less about Diane and Ben at the end of the book than at the beginning.
Rating: 4
Summary: Very long-winded, took a while to get to the point...
Comment: I love British writers of mysteries. This was a new author for me, and like most British writers of mysteries and crime novels, he is very much in command of the English language at its best. Unlike American mystery writers who feel they have to insert a swear word every other sentence or feel their books with bloody mayhem...British authors, this one included, tend to use the language better and focus on the plot and characters. They get the attention of the reader through their language and many of them give good insight into the psychological reasons for the murders or crimes committed.
Booth started out well in this book, and it was not a bad read. It just took him forever to get to the point. I don't mind big heavy books, in fact, I read them all the time having to do with bioethics and medicine. But writing just to prolong the book, even if the language is well-written, does nothing to keep the attention of the reader. I half suspect Booth was trying to bring attention to some problems that the British are having with dealing with the complex sociological problems of small towns disappearing and people have no where to go being pushed out by greedy landlords. We have the same problems here in the U.S. and yet in the end, the information concerning this in Blind to the Bones had very little to do with the murder. In fact, more information could have been given concerning the murderer's psyche...but it came rushing in at the end.
I think I will try this author again, with some of his other, more praised books. See if this is a regular problem in his writings, or if it was just this one novel.
Karen Sadler
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Title: Black Dog by Stephen Booth ISBN: 0671786040 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Blood on the Tongue by Stephen Booth ISBN: 0743457838 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Playing with Fire : A Novel of Suspense by Peter Robinson ISBN: 006019877X Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 20 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Dancing with the Virgins : A Constable Ben Cooper Novel by Stephen Booth ISBN: 0743431006 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Now May You Weep: A Novel by Deborah Crombie ISBN: 0060525231 Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 07 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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