Customer Reviews

Crown of Thorns: A Nick Barrett Mystery (Nick Barret/Charleston)

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Check out some of the hotter male mystery writers and you'll run across the names of James Lee Burke (Jolie Blon's Bounce) and Harlan Coben (Gone for Good). These guys are NY Times bestsellers. After reading Brouwer's Nick Barrett mysteries, I believe he has reached the same level of writing. He deserves a wide audience for this masterful tale.

The story quickly introduces us to two damsels in distress--except neither woman is weak or cowardly. In fact, Angel and Retha are two memorable and likeable characters. Both are trying to protect children in their care; both are threatened by violent, outside forces.

Enter Nick Barrett. Barrett is a three-dimensional man, born of questionable parentage and raised in an atmosphere of subtle bigotry and pride. He is trying to stay afloat emotionally. As he finds himself involved in the lives of Angel and Retha, he must face his fears, his doubts, and his faith.

Voodoo doctors, cult members, and bitter high society players all join in the action as the mysteries unfold. The city of Charleston is a character in the tale. As the climax nears, the plot twists turn tighter, the surprises mount, and--for this reader--the emotional impact swelled.

Like the two aforementioned bestselling writers, Brouwer mixes his gritty story with heart and warmth. Not even the half-dozen punctuation and spelling errors could keep me from sinking myself into Brouwer's fictional world. When I turned the final page, I closed my eyes and said aloud, "That is one darrrrn good book!" And I meant it.

It started as a simple favor to friends. Antique dealers Glennifer and Elaine ask Nick Barrett to look into a painting. After disappearing almost fifty years before, it has suddenly shown up in the possession of Angel, a poor girl who claims to have gotten it from her Grammie Zora.

There is another man interested in the painting, and Nick starts trying to find out who that is. But the trail begins to get clouded by the history of the painting. What happened the night it disappeared?

Meanwhile, Retha Herndon is worried about her little boy. The baby is very sick, but the others in her compound think all they should do is pray. But Retha is determined to get her son medical treatment. Will she get him out of the compound in time?

This is the second book in the Nick Barrett mystery series. While the first one was deeply personal, this one finds Nick attempting to help strangers. Yet there are bits and pieces that continue the story from the first book.

This story is strong. The various plot elements weave together. Naturally, this means I saw a few plot points coming early, but they are early plot points, so it's okay. The web continues to weave until we reach an emotional yet suspenseful ending. And it truly helps that we come to love these characters.

The story does stop a couple times for some musings on the nature of God and the universe, but even these are interesting. This is a dark, atmospheric thriller from one of the best in the Christian market.

This is riveting and fast paced. Christian cults explored and exposed in fictional setting. A great read!

No need to recap the story here as others have done a fine job of that. I too was introduced to Nick Barrett in the second book of the series (intend to get the first soon). Even so, reading the first is not required to enjoy the second.

Sigmund Brouwer breaks a number of rules in vogue these days among genre writers. He flips from first person to third person from chapter to chapter. But, the effect is powerful. First person is reserved for his private eye type narrative while third person fills in the gaps for what is going on with the other characters of the story.

The story itself is the real winner. Brouwer manages to get the reader to consider everything from racism to uptown/downtown snobbery in one compelling story.

This one goes into my must-read list.

Nick Barrett is doing a favor for some friends tracking down an old painting brought to Charleston, South Carolina, by early settlers. Instead of a friendly antiques deal, he finds himself involved with a religious cult, a group of racists who haveto revised a terrible punishment from the days of slavery, and hints of ancient voodoo--and a mystery that the police thought solved decades before.

Author Sigmund Brouwer writes convincingly of a south still caught up in the evils of its past--and evil men who use the Bible for their own goals, subverting its most fundamental rules. Like the south, Barrett is conflicted--in Barrett's case between hatred for his brother and the charity he shares with Angel and Retha. Brouwer's arguments about religion sometimes pull the reader out of the story. It's okay for Barrett to have faith, but he really doesn't have to share the reasons why he's abandoned the scepticism of his youth--twice--since it doesn't advance the story.

CROWN OF THORNS's strength is fast-moving action as Barrett and the young women who seem to infiltrate his life are plunged from one danger into another. Author Sigmund Brouwer delivers an engaging and page turning style that draws the reader in and delivers.

This story (the second in the Nick Barrett Mysteries) is WOW! It may be a bit confusing when you start reading it, expecting that you know what its going to be about, but WOAH! Hold on, don't get to far ahead of yourself.

Nick is still in Charleston, but this story is not totally about his mysterious past. I am not going to say much more, because I read it without knowing the story and I followed it rather well. I recommend this book highly.

It's very well-written.