Reviews – Books: L
RATINGS KEY
0/5 – Terrible. Avoid this book at all costs.
1/5 – Bad. Only read it if you’re a truly hardcore fan of the author/topic.
2/5 – Okay. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either.
3/5 – Average. A decent one-time read.
4/5 – Good. Worth reading and worth buying.
5/5 – Excellent. One of my favorites; a worthy classic.
Last Seen Wearing by Colin Dexter
4/5 | Reviewed 9.13.06
I watched the PBS version of this story right before reading the book, and was startled by the many differences—while the names are basically the same and the story still revolves around missing teen Valerie Taylor, the characters, settings, and plot twists are vastly different. It was like watching two different stories—different, but both interesting. And the definite upside was that I had no idea how the book was going to turn out. Oddly... it didn’t really turn out at all. The story, with all its typically Dexterous twists and dead ends, has an ambiguous ending that’s completely unexpected in a traditional detective novel. With any other book, I’d pay lip service to the “realism” but secretly gripe about loose ends and missing chapters; with a Morse novel, it comes off as both plausible and curiously satisfying. As usual, I spent several days mulling over the complex plot even after I’d finished the book—Dexter's stories are so densely detailed that, like a really good meal, they require some time to digest when you’ve finished them.
Locked Rooms by Laurie R. King
1/5 | Reviewed 6.25.07
I’d been off the Mary Russell series for awhile, but thanks to The Game I was finally getting back into it . . . and then along comes the depressingly bad Locked Rooms. I should have been warned by the plot summary—Mary Russell and husband Sherlock Holmes return to her childhood home and conveniently uncover piles of clues suggesting that her parent’s accidental death was, well, not accidental—but I chose to read it anyway, and got exactly what I deserved for my stupidity. The writing, as usual, is above average—no-one can claim that King can’t wield a pen—but, unfortunately, the author’s gift for words is lost in a muddled plot. It’s never a good sign when an author chooses to take a series backwards instead of forwards, especially when said author is trying to eke the last little drop of mystery out of a character who’s already bogged down with more mystery than she can handle. It’s an even worse sign when an author can’t maintain the usual first-person narration that has been a hallmark of the series, and instead turns to a mysterious, anonymous “recently-discovered manuscript” that conveniently explains (in omniscient narration, of course) the gaps in the main character’s tale. Such a narrative device helped bring down the once-excellent Amelia Peabody series, and I foresee the same sad fate befalling this series. Let us all have a moment of silence for the once-great Mary Russell series . . . and then let’s find something better to read.
