Customer Reviews

To Darkness to Death (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Julia Spencer-Fleming's mystery series set in the town of Millers Kill, New York has already won rave reviews, awards, and legions of fans. TO DARKNESS AND TO DEATH, its fourth installment, should bring even more accolades to this deserving series.

Spencer-Fleming's main characters are Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne. As the two inevitably get drawn into solving mysteries in their small town, they also have developed an undeniable romantic attraction. The only problem? Clare is the town's Episcopal priest while Russ is Millers Kill's older, married police chief. The moral complexities of the pair's attraction to each other add a thought-provoking dimension to the series' excellent character development and exquisite plotting.

In TO DARKNESS AND TO DEATH, both Russ and Clare's relationship, and Spencer-Fleming's storytelling skills, are taken to the next level. The author takes the risky move of setting the novel's entire action in a single day, switching rapidly from character to character as she tells her story, often revealing events only through a series of overlapping perspectives. The result is a tale that is rich in dramatic irony, as the reader soon becomes aware of mistaken identities, lies, and misunderstandings that are unapparent to the characters, who do not have the benefit of these multiple perspectives. Despite making the reader feel all-knowing, though, Spencer-Fleming still has some tricks up her sleeves, and will almost certainly still manage to surprise most readers somewhere along the way.

Like other books in the series, this latest installment touches on environmental issues and on small-town politics. This time, a large estate occupied by a mysterious, reclusive burn victim is about to be sold to a large corporation and managed by the Adirondack Conservancy Corporation. The impact on the area's hunters, not to mention its logging companies and paper manufacturers, will be significant. It seems that every businessperson in town has a stake in the future of the land, and that some will go to great lengths to protect their own interests.

Spencer-Fleming has a good understanding of small-town life, and TO DARKNESS AND TO DEATH underscores many of her themes. All the characters seem related in multiple ways, connections that can provide support but also complications. Near the end of the novel, Russ Van Alstyne reflects, "It's true... We are all related. If not by blood, then by bonds we don't even realize. Until they're gone." In her mysteries, Spencer-Fleming offers not only good stories, but also reflections into the nature of human connections and the human heart.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

Julia Spencer-Fleming treads a fine line between professional respect and deep passion in her wonderful series featuring Russ Van Alstyne and Clare Fergusson. Like all really accompished series writers, she keeps her readers initimately involved in the struggles of her characters while continuing to create plausible circumstances for an Episcopal priest and small town police chief to be working to solve crimes together. This series has a brilliant take on sense of place, almost as if it were a third character. Well worth recommending.

I have enjoyed this series since the beginning. There is something very unique about Spencer-Fleming's style. She writes her dialogue in a very natural tone. Her characters are well-developed and interesting. The mysteries are challenging without being too complex to figure out.

That said, I have to say this is my least favorite book of the series. I agree with other reviewers on one major point. Russ and Claire are in the background way too much. At one point, there is something like 128 pages between scenes of them together. In that space, there is very little story involving either of them at all. This was very disappointing.

The story itself was not terribly interesting and I found myself having to reread portions just to remember who was who. Honestly, I skipped over many parts because it just got boring and tedious to read. Had Spencer-Fleming used characters we already knew, this might have been a better story. However, she brought in many new characters, of which maybe only one or two were even likable.

The scenes between Claire and Russ were excellent as usual but there just weren't enough of them.

With her first three books, Spencer-Fleming quickly became one of my favorite authors. She still is dispite this disappointing installment. I hope in the next book, the focus is back on the characters that have made me want to continue this series in the first place.

I can't name one author of a series who does not have at least one book that doesn't live up to the rest of the series. Hopefully this will be the only one.

I still recommend this book to her readers in order to keep up on the Russ/Claire storyline.

Too much time and space devoted to minor characters and not enough focus on the two major ones. This crime novel suffers from a disproportionate emphasis on the timber industry.

Because of the many positive reviews here, I picked this book up but found it choppy, with too many characters and with confusion because of the overlapping points of view. The two leading characters were flat, with the action happening all around them but no real sense of their personalities. The plot points relating to the kidnapping and to environmental concerns did not play out as really fitting together. I also thought that the author's dialogue was stilted and unbelievable.

Maybe it was unwise to choose this as the first one of the series to read but it seems to me that each book should be a stand-alone good read. That wasn't the case and I'm unlikely to follow up with others by this author.

I agree with others who pointed out that the main characters are missing throughout the majority of this book. I found the book for the most part to be a long read. I have also found my patience with the relationship between Rev. Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne at an end. Her character is always jumping in without thinking or thinking her way is best in police investigations where she has little experience. He finds her frustrating but, he's in love. We are to believe she is sincere in her vows with her church and yet she continues to have a relationship with a married man. In order to enjoy a book I need to like or find something redeeming with the characters. This is no longer the case with Ms Spencer Fleming's characters.

I was saving this book so I that I could look forward to more Clare and Russ, little did I know they would fail to show in this book of the series. I say series lightly because this book should not be included as part part of the Clare Fergusson/ Russ Van Alstyne mysteries. I am fairly new to the series and this was a huge disappointment since the characters I know and care about rarely appear. This book is peppered with minor characters and often less than plausible story lines.

I am sad to say I put this was down. Ms. Spencer-Fleming's fascination with deer hunting and subesquent deer skining was very off putting. It's a shame she feels she has to resort to this type of false sensationalism after a noteworthy first novel.

To Darkness And To Death lacked both style and substance and is a world away from what I grew to know and love in the first few books. My love affair with Clare and Russ is now over.

Reading this book made me angry at the person who first recommended the author. This was the most absurd plot I have ever attempted to follow. The heroes are only slightly less stupid than the villains. How many places can the Reverend Ferguson possibly "happen" to appear? At the crime scene? With the villian's wife? With the murder weapon? Ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous.

She hardly appears in this story.
The cover says:
A Clare Ferguson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery.
It should say: and every other resident of Miller's Kill and surrounding environs. There are more characters in this than a Altman movie! Quite a few of them aren't exactly bright bulbs.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the previous novels in the series, the whole Clare/Russ-- Hey let's solve a crime and fight against our mutual attraction-- theme is sorely missed.
When we do get the two of them together in To Darkness..it is good stuff.
I can't help it, the story crawled painfully along on broken glass, until Clare and Russ appear, especially Clare. What a rich character.
But, I can't complain, Spencer-Fleming has been simply outstanding with her previous novels, and others seemed to have enjoyed this one.
But, for me, it is all about Clare and Russ and their chemistry.
And we were treated to precious little of that in this outing.
I look forward to the next one coming in Oct 06.

Julia Spencer Fleming, in her new book, "To Darkness and to Death," describes the terrible events that occur in a small Adirondack town when a conglomerate called Global Wood Products is poised to purchase thousands of acres of timberland. Some residents of Millers Kill are resentful and angry about the sale. They resort to desperate acts, including kidnapping, assault, and murder to express their frustration and to exact revenge against the people who have wronged them.

The main characters are Clare Fergusson, an Episcopal priest, and Russ Van Alstyne, the Police Chief of Millers Kill. Although Russ is married, he and Clare have deep feelings for one another that they try to keep hidden. However, their mutual attraction has grown stronger with time, and the strain of pretending that they are platonic friends has become almost unbearable.

Spencer-Fleming has created a rich mosaic of diverse individuals to populate Millers Kill. Clare and Russ are compassionate and giving people whose self-respect and integrity prevents them from embarking on an extramarital affair. Eugene van der Hoeven is an emotionally and physically scarred recluse who stands to lose his beloved home if the land sale goes through. Randy Schoof, a logger, is deeply in debt; he panics and behaves rashly when he realizes that he will undoubtedly lose his job in the near future. The CEO of Reid-Gruyn Pulp and Paper mill, Shaun Reid, scrambles to prevent a hostile takeover of his company. The lives of all these people intersect in bizarre and unpredictable ways before the final drama plays out in an explosive conclusion.

"To Darkness and to Death" has an epic, universal quality. This book is reminiscent of a mini-Greek tragedy, in which the characters destroy themselves and their loved ones because of their arrogance, greed, selfishness, and stupidity. Spencer-Fleming captures the atmosphere of Millers Kill perfectly, contrasting the beauty of the area's scenic grandeur with the sick and ugly emotions that fester beneath the surface. The novel reads quickly and the tension grows unbearably as the story progresses. I wish that Spencer-Fleming had gone with a less busy ending. Too many melodramatic events occur one after the other, weakening the book's believability. Still, Julia Spencer-Fleming has created an engrossing, thematic, and well-written thriller with a powerful message.