Customer Reviews

Dead Right (The Stillwater Trilogy, Book 3)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When her reverend father's car is pulled from a quarry, Madeline Barker is not ready to give up on believing that her father will someday return. Worried that her step brother Clay Montgomery will once again be the #1 suspect, she decides - against her family's wishes - to hire a private investigator to locate her father and the culprit behind his disappearance. Hunter Solozano is known as the PI that can find anything or anyone. He immediately steps on toes in the small Mississippi town that would rather solve their own mystery than let some California surfer dude do it. Hunter and Madeline are instantly attracted to each other, and to save money on expenses, she offers to have him stay in her guest house. But his close proximity is wreaking havoc on her emotions. When girl's panties turn up in the trunk of the reverend's car, no one believes that they can belong to the reverend, except for a select few that were there the night he disappeared, as well as his partner in crime. Suddenly everything that Madeline has left of her father is shrouded in doubt and she counts on Hunter more than ever to solve the mystery. Unfortunately, every clue Hunter uncovers could be bring heartache to Madeline when she learns the truth.

At times pretty gruesome due to the nature of the crime, Novak has ended the Stillwater trilogy with a bang. From book to book, each of the characters have retained the same personality (which is often not the case in a series). All the usual suspects are back and further insight into Barker's unscrupulous yet well hidden character are fully developed.

I literally couldn't put this book down until I read the last page. There were some definate surprises in store. I've said this in my reviews about the other two books, that I really cared about these characters, and this book didn't change that. I am sad to see them go. Brenda's writing was supurb as always and the ending was satisfying. Its always irritating to be hooked on a series of books only to find you've wasted your investment of time and be let down by the conclusion. Thats so not going to happen here. Read these books in order if possible and be prepared to go on a non-stop ride.

Of all the books in this series, the relationship between the main characters felt the least 'real' and deep in this one. Maddy's attitude when she finds out what the Montgomerys' did also really annoyed me because she's trusted, loved and been treated wonderfully by them for 20 years and suddenly they've been faking it all? Load of crap. "Dead Silence" was definitely the best of this series; stick with that one.

Madeline has waited 20 years to find out what happened to her father, the town of Stillwater's much respected reverend, she knows that he would have never willingly left her. The town has always thought her family murdered the reverend but she is not willing to believe that her beloved step brother, sisters or Mother had anything to do with it. They are her only family and they have always cared for and loved her.

When her fathers car is discovered in a nearby quarry, his body is no where to be found, but the trunk holds some vile secrets. Madeline reaches the end of her rope and hires a well known Private Detective from California named Hunter. She wants some answers so she can put the past behind her.

The conclusion to this gripping trilogy was suspenseful and more than a little disturbing. Some of the scenes were really hard for me to read and at one point I thought I would be sick. Madeline gets the answers she's been seeking, but they aren't easy to stomach, for her or the reader. The reader has known what happened 20 years ago since the first book, but as Madeline finds out the truth; the reader is granted a lot more detail.

Ms. Novak added a small twist to this story I wasn't expecting and I thought this tale was the best of the bunch. Despite the upsetting subject matter, I was completely enthralled. I was really curious how she was going to handle Madeline's story and if she would leave her in the dark or how she would have her face the truth about her father, she handled it beautifully.

This was one of the better suspenseful trilogy's I have read. I thought the storyline was exciting and the characters delightful. Watching the truth unfold from book to book was thrilling, a little heartbreaking and very emotional. This is a series well worth the read, Enjoy!

Dead Silence (The Stillwater Trilogy, Book 1)
Dead Giveaway (The Stillwater Trilogy, Book 2)

Cherise Everhard, June 2008

DEAD RIGHT is a complex, layered page-turner about good and evil and family and love. Wonderful male characters! I loved the heroine's brother and the hero! I couldn't stop reading until the last page!

Before I go any further, I need to state that I have a prejudice against series that run on and on without having some satisfactory conclusion at the end of each book. Having come to this series from mystery and fantasy reading, having a romance conclude satisfactorily in each volume was not precisely what I was reading for. If you read for the romance, you may well love this type of format and if you do, I believe you may well enjoy the entire series.

What interested me about the first book was that it turned the mystery concept on its ear. We know upfront whodunit and why. And for that matter, we can't even blame the perpetrators.

"Dead Silence" the first book of this series was a fast paced and interesting read. Unfortunately, my interest waned as I continued on with "Dead Giveaway" and finally "Dead Right."

In the final episode of this trilogy, Madeline Barker has wondered for 20 years what happened to her father. Reverand Lee Barker, who was esteemed even worshipped himself by the members of his congregation at the Purity Church, have blamed her step-family for his disappearance. Madeline has been the single holdout.

When her father's Cadillac is discovered at a quarry, she decides it's time to solve the mystery once and for all and hires CA private investigator, Hunter Solzano to solve the case.

Solzano has had serious family issues. The ex-cop, now PI, is newly divorced and not amicably. His stripper ex-wife caught him cheating with the woman next door and now the ex and his daughter aren't speaking to him. He's given up drowning his sorrows in the bottle and he's almost given up on the relationship with his kid as well.

In this final book of the series, we get an inside view of what happened with the Reverand via one of his old cohorts. This character's point of view is revolting in places at best. If you have an objection to reading about S&M particularly from the point of view of a pedophile, just don't even pick up this book.

Further, hearing the tale of the Reverand's death over and over from different points of view is just exhausting. Grace was an excellent teller of the tale in that she reacted to it in a more realistic manner. Maddy just didn't quite seem believable. For one, she lost her virginity just when? For another, how could a reasonable person think their father was 'perfect' when he clearly hated her mother and seemed to have no pity for her?

The forensics are also suspect. Why would the police department have a transcript of a cross-examination that was blacked out? Even in the 80's, police brutality was an issue. Was this machination the only way the author could show the police interrogators were rough on Clay?

And for that matter, spending that much time and energy on a long-dead cold case was just too much drama even for a hidebound small-town with small-minded people who had nothing better to do. The one thing that redeemed the series somewhat was a satisfactory ending and the fact that solving the crime actually put a current day criminal behind bars.

STORY BRIEF:
This is the final book in the Stillwater Trilogy. It continues the story about the unsolved death of Lee Barker. Barker was a sexual sadist minister who abused his stepdaughter and others. His wife and step children had something to do with his death and buried the body on the family farm. Madeline was his biological daughter and had no idea that Barker was evil. She also believed that the rest of the family had nothing to do with his death (which was false). 19 years after Barker's disappearance, his car is found in a lake. Sexual items are found hidden in the car. Madeline hires private investigator Hunter to solve the mystery. Hunter's investigation may hurt the step mother and her children who have been good to Madeline over the years.

REVIEWER'S OPINON:
The first two books I enjoyed a lot, but this one not so much. The heroine's wimpy emotional ignorance bothered me. Throughout the book, she adamantly made statements about people, and she was always 100% wrong. She told the police and her private investigator "he's not involved" "they didn't do it" "he's not hiding anything" "it had to be this guy." She was stupid and blind about the facts (frequently with tears in her eyes) which annoyed me. She also kept believing her father was a saint even when seeing evidence to the contrary.

The subject matter was unsettling. Sexual sadists abuse and kill young girls and others. The police hold a 16 year old boy in custody without any adult or attorney present and brutally beat him. I'm ok reading about these kinds of crimes in some books, but this book did it in a way that was unsettling. I didn't enjoy coming back to the story as much as I normally do. I've rated other books high that had terrible crimes, and I think it was because the hero or heroine drew me and got revenge or justice. The heroine in this book wasn't sympathetic enough to keep me.

There wasn't much romance. A lot of their conversation was he asking questions and she being in denial and objecting to what he was doing. They did get together at the end with a happy ending, but I would have preferred more romance. The book was primarily mystery and suspense.

DATA:
Story length: 433 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: none/mild. Number of sex scenes: 2. Total number of sex scene pages: 6. Setting: current day primarily Stillwater, Mississippi. Copyright: 2007. Genre: romantic mystery suspense.

OTHER BOOKS:
For a list of my reviews of other Brenda Novak books, see my 5 star review of "Dead Silence" posted 8/26/08.

I've enjoyed all three of these books in the "Dead" series. Brenda Novak writes well and her characters seem real. I couldn't put the books down. Throughly enjoyed all three!!

This is the 3rd book of the Stillwater Trilogy.

Brenda Novak sustains the suspense right through the end of this book by pulling no punches. The story line is both heart wrenching and gruesome at times. She continues to grow the characters that were fleshed out in the previous two installments, and creates an unforgettable character in Madeline Barker. She also continues to illustrate how the actions of Reverand Barker still effect the lives of the residents of Stillwater.

In this book, the main characters Madeline Barker and Hunter Solozano are both flawed - Madeline's unflappable belief in her father and Hunter's past are both used to develop the characters and to move the story line along. It's Madeline's coming to terms with the truth about her father that drives the plot forward in a gut wrenching manner.

I highly recommend this book. I guarantee that you won't be able to put it down. It is written in such a way that the characters will stay with you long after you turn the final page.

First let me say that I have enjoyed everything that I have read by Brenda Novak. This was a great series. The characters were well developed but left you wanting to read more, so I was so glad that Grace, Clay and Madeline each had their own book. Each was affected differently by Reverend Baker, their step father and in Madeline's case father. Their lives changed so much with his murder. I really liked the ending to this book. Without saying too much and giving anything away, Brenda Novak doesn't just end the book with a HEA. She lets you worry about that for at least a few pages! I strongly recommend that you buy this series. I honestly cannot say I enjoyed one book over the other I enjoyed them all.