Customer Reviews

With Child

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sensitive, intense, and at times absolutely gut-wrenching, this book, the third in the Detective Kate Martinelli series, is my favorite to date. Even more so than in the previous two books in the series, Kate emerges as a strong, complex woman who is now fighting to reclaim herself after her life partner leaves to spend some time alone. Just as Kate gets her feet back underneath herself, the special bond she has been forming with Jules, a smarter-than average twelve year old, is threatened when Jules disappears while in Kate's care. The ensuing search is surrounded by accusations and strong emotions, climaxing in a thrilling rescue attempt. I encourage fans of King's Mary Russell books to check out her present-day heroine, as well.

Just a small warning--make sure you have plenty of time to read when you begin any of King's books--they are impossible to put down!

The two books preceding "With Child" in this series are "A Grave Talent" and "To Play the Fool," both excellent reads.

This book left me a little frustrated. I think Laurie King is great writer. What I believe sets her apart from other writers, mystery or otherwise, is her ability to cleverly weave research into an interesting plot. We've all read books where the authors have obviously researched--and I mean obviously. They may as well present their information in the form of a numbered list titled "Things I've learned about..." Laurie King, on the other hand, feeds us information on cults, obscure religious movements, the Bible while building strong characters and a riveting plot. Now the complaints--what happened in this Kate Martinelli book? In the first, I learned about art and about "the high-extracting personality." In the second, I learned about a religious movement called "the fools." In this one, she seemed to have fallen into the Patricia Cornwell trap. I didn't learn about anything except how Kate Martinelli always ends up being the next victim just like Cornwell's Kaye Scarpetti. Having said this, I should add that I still give the book 4 stars. It's a quick read and kept my interest, I just expect more from Laurie King. I know she can do better--I've read the proof.

This is the most affecting of the Kate Martinelli mysteries I've read, both because of the heroine's physical and emotional vulnerability, and because of the sensitive handling of her bond with the missing girl. It compares well with A Grave Talent, and like it, presents a mystery focused on interpersonal, rather than more broadly social, issues.

This is the third volume in Laurie R. King's Kate Martinelli novels. I admit to being a fan of the character, but this book is something of a let-down. Where the previous two volumes in this mystery series have presented a good character analysis of Inspector Martinelli, her companions, and her prey, this book is much more internal to Martinelli. And for some reason that rings hollow to me.

Kate's partner Al is getting married. And Kate is at loose ends with her lover, Lee, taking an extended breather up in Washington. Two and two is four--Kate strikes up a sisterly relationship with Al's stepdaughter Jules. This allows us our most in-depth examination of Kate's internal character so far in a very character-driven series, but all that goes by the wayside when Jules is kidnapped, possibly by a serial rapist and murderer.

This book is marketed as a mystery, which isn't unfair, but the real balls-to-the-wall whodunit doesn't begin until halfway through the book, and it comes to a very jarring halt. King introduces a lot of complications, especially when Kate gets the blame from Al's new wife. New characters are introduced remarkably late in the story, and new wrinkles in character relstionships which deserve to be at least addressed are left out in the air like a fresh bruise.

If this book had one more chapter, it could have been just right. We needed to learn about the short-term consequences of Kate's choices and get a hint at how they're going to affect the characters in the future. Instead, all these important threads are pushed on into the next book, and we as an audience are left dangling.

Don't get me wrong, the novel isn't bad. Through most of it, readers who are committed to the characters and setting will find it very rewarding, and consistent with King's character-driven style. But the book is shot in the leg by an unsatisfactory ending that deserves to have more flesh on its bones.

If you're in love with King's writing or these characters, get the book. But expect to be disappointed until you get to the fourth novel, because there's simply too much left frayed and waiting to be knitted up.

This book is the third in a series featuring Kate Martinelli--a homicide detective in San Francisco. When Kate's lover, Lee, goes off to the Pacific Northwest to recover from serious injuries, Kate feels sorry for herself until she befriends Jules, a friend's daughter. She becomes involved in many searches for children---at the job, helping find Jules' homeless friend, Dio, and finally when Jules herself disappears while on a trip with Kate. This is a hard book to put down, particularly with the plot twists, including the possibility that Jules could have been kidnapped by a notorius serial killer. I enjoyed it but was somewhat disappointed by the unresolved issues between Kate and Lee at the end of the book. But then this is an incentive to read the next installment.

"With Child" has been my constant companion for the past several hours: it went to lunch with me, and to dinner, and spent a quiet afternoon in between. What kept me going was not the apparent plot--as I read the book, I thought there were two separate plots, the search for Dio and the search for Jules, and I found them quite loosely tied together. Then I completed the last scene and realized that this wonderful book is a web of plots, based on the them of being 'with child', of finding children on many levels. There's Jules and Dio, both lost; Lee's need to have a child despite her lesbianism and her disability; and Rosa surrounded by children. There's the search for missing children at the center of this book, and the search for love at the emotional core. It's the search for partners and for family relationships which motivates all the characters, even the most villanous, and which holds the actions together in a tightly-knit whole cloth

This book was a little different than the first two books, but I enjoyed reading it and finished it off rather quickly (a sure sign that it was good). I still have a hard time with the realities of Kate's job, but I can overlook some of that. I enjoyed this book a little more than the last, where I felt like I'd missed something. This book did a better job of filling in the "while you were away" time gap. Still think that more could be done with the intimacy in the relationship, but that's nitpicking.

I first read "A Grave Talent" and couldn't wait to read "With Child". I only bring mystery books on vacation, and this was the first one I read in Puerta Vallarta over mid-winter break. Not only is it a great way to keep the sun off of your face while lying prone on a beach chair, it is an intriguing story with wonderful characters. I prefer King's American style of mystery plots compared to the traditional set-up of English writers like P.D. James. James gives you the complete cast of suspects, then slowly reveals who did it. I won't give away how King sets up this book, but it isn't the same as James!

No trips to Mexico this year with a new baby on the way, but when Baby Jack is born I will definitely send my husband out to fetch me some more Laurie King mysteries to wile away the hours of nursing my newborn, lying prone on a bed this time around.

Once again, the reader is transported to the San Francisco scenes and neighborhoods travelled by Kate Martinelli. This time the story is close to home, involving the disappearance of the stepdaughter of her partner when she was in Kate's care. At the same time, her partner, Lee, has left town for a time both to recuperate and to decide about the future of their relationship. On several fronts, this is a difficult time for Kate.

Before I nitpick, let me say that I enjoyed reading this book. It's well written with interesting characters. It just isn't quite the masterpiece that the first two Martinelli books are.

Much of this book focuses on Kate's personal life crises - Lee has left to recover with a long lost aunt and Kate doesn't know where she stands. She spends more and more time with Jules, the soon to be step-daughter of her partner, Al Hawkin. (Readers of the previous books will remember the child genius.) She spends some of the time tracking down a runaway friend of Jules. In the second half of the book, Jules disappears during a road trip to Seattle. Still, Kate isn't allowed to participate in the the active search and acts policelike only on the fringes.

Bottom-line: Probably a worthwhile read for existing fans of the series but wouldn't be the best book for starting the Martinelli series (which is terrific overall).