Customer Reviews

Dead Man's Island-Large Print

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wealthy, arrogant Chase Prescott invites his long-ago colleague Henrietta O'Dwyer Collins to come to his private island to try to determine who is trying to murder him. He tells her that an attempt has been made on his life and that he is determined to find the culprit. He invites anyone whom he feels had the motive and opportunity to Dead Man's Island (renamed Prescott Island by the egotistic Chase.) Henry O accepts his invitation and joins the others for a few days on the isolated, mysterious island off the coast of South Carolina. The problem she encounters is that everyone present does have a motive and that makes it difficult for her to find the culprit. The action becomes more exciting towards the end when a powerful hurricane threatens the island and murders begin to occur. The solution to the murder is a convoluted one which defies logic and which makes me wonder why Chase invited Henry O in the first place. The book is very readable, however, and gives the reader many pages of real suspense.

I have been a fan of Ms. Hart's "Death on Demand" series, and was not looking forward to a new series and new protagonist. Boy was I pleasantly surprised! It is hard to convince a loyal reader to open up to a new character and setting, but Carolyn is able to do that. Where Annie Laurence is young and brash, Henrie O is older and savvier. This mystery is sharper, more serious, and suspenseful than most of the "Death on Demand" series. If Carolyn can find renewal by writing for two series, more power to her. She is obviously a very talented writer, and I am waiting happily for the next Henrie O AND Annie Laurence mysteries.

I'm usually very good at guessing "whodunit", so I was pleasantly surprised when I didn't guess who the killer in this mystery was. I correctly guessed who blew up the boat and sort of guessed who the killer was, but the ending just floored me. I even lent this book to my aunt, who's also good at solving mysteries, and even she guessed incorrectly.

I've read other Carolyn Hart books (she's the best mystery writer I've read so far) and this book is, so far, the best from her collection....and also, incidentally the best mystery I've so far, too.

I have read almost all of the Death On Demand series and, while I enjoy them, I thought this one was even better. Annie & Max have a life that is just a little too perfect Henrie O, while hardly fleshed out yet, seems to already be more of a real person. The plot for the mystery is classic but I don't have a problem with that. Lots of motives, plot twists I didn't anticipate, and while the ending was a little bit weak it was not too bad. An interesting, fast read and now I have another whole series to look forward to.

Henrie O. has just returned from vacation when she gets the phone call from Chase Prescott. Her old lover wants her help in something, but will only tell her once she has arrived on his private island off Southern Carolina. It's there that Henrie is shocked to learn that someone tried to poison Chase. With all the suspects on the island, all Henrie has to do is use her reporter background and find the right suspect before he or she succeeds.

Henrie isn't too keen on the idea, insisting the police should be involved. But she agrees to poke around. Once the villain tries to shoot at Chase, the stakes are raised. But the danger is only beginning when the group is trapped on the island as a hurricane approaches.

Reading the book, I couldn't help but feel the setup was familiar. We've seen it in lots of mysteries before - isolated group marooned from everyone else with a killer on the loose. Even given this, I couldn't stop reading. Part of this is Ms. Hart's style. It pulls you in and makes everything seem new. I got so engrossed in the second half I read it in one sitting. The few clues were so hidden by red herrings I didn't see them until after I'd finished.

So why the four stars? Because the ending was weak. While I have no problem with the solution, the way it was handled seemed rushed and forced. Almost like the author knew she was out of room and it was time to end the book.

I'd really like to give the book 4.5 stars. It's a great read that kept me glued to my seat to find out what was going on. With a little better ending, I wouldn't have anything to complain about.

Again, as with the last Hart i read, this is a good book, but there is something about it that i just do not like. In this case, i think, it has to do with the struture of the end: Henrie O is left, after all the action is over, writing to no purpose except directly to us, to unravel the final twist of the plot (and it's a doozy; Hart can develop surprising twists, no argument there). I don't like that feeling of being addressed directly (just as it is annoying when characters in films talk to the camera), unless it has been legitimised earlier in the book; in this case, it happens solely at the end, and with the specific purpose of surprising us. Secondly, and equally disappointingly, the twist is flawed: Henrie O's final solution is out of character for the person involved and is not an acceptable or believable answer to the problems set in the mystery. Hart is not by any means a replacement for Agatha Chistie -- her plotting is not sound enough -- but she is a good, quick, acceptable read for people who miss the Queen.

This book is not like the normal Henrie O mysteries I have read. I understand that this is her first in this series. That may explain why the book just wasn't a great one?!

The Henrie O mysteries are very different from the Annie and Max Darling mysteries. Henrie O is typically a strong woman who has lived through some tough times. She is able to be a stand up type of woman for those in trouble.

In this book however, I just remember thinking several times through out the book: What? or You have got to be kidding? or For Heaven's Sake... It just didn't click together. Much of what occured in this book just seemed so not real. For an author who writes Henrie O books that are fairly well grounded, this book was a dissapointment.

Although I might read this book again because I am generally a Hart fan, I don't know that I'd suggest it to many other people. I would suggest a different Henrie O story however.

Who killed Chase Prescott? Who cares! By the time I got to end of the book, I was just happy to finish. I just couln't get involved in the characters, and relationship between the protagonist and the victim just didn't ring true...and that last chapter....shock value for shock value only. Possibly if a million pages (was it that many?) hadn't been devoted to the hurricane, that seemed totally irrevelevant to the story anyway.....and the prologue....what's up with that? Gimme Agatha Christie, but, then, I am just a rambling accountant.....

I am not one for this kind of book, usually I go for horror. But the cover and the title got my attention and I could not put it down. It's the best thing that I have read in a long time.

Reminded me of And Then There Were None. This book is the first in the series, I think, that features Henry O, and I liked it a lot. It was creepy and cozy at the same time.