Distemper [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Beth Saulnier (Author), Vida Vasaitis (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2000

After a career-making murder case, sharp-witted journalist Alex Bernier swears she's going to report stories, not make them. Then a serial killer declares hunting season in her upstate New York university town - and is only too happy to keep Alex in his twisted loop. But Alex doesn't know that her rabidly clever subject is out to kill story - permanently.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If ever a mystery novel about serial mutilation could be called delightful, this one could. Saulnier (Reliable Sources) romps playfully through a story of love, death, animal rights, journalistic ethics, college life and small-town politics. The tale begins when a naked female corpseAcomplete with unexplained scrapes on her hands and kneesAis found in the hills near a small college town. Local reporter Alex Bernier quickly immerses herself in the mystery: first as journalist, then as the roommate of a subsequent victim and finally as a potential target herself. Alex must overcome her need for self-protection as she is caught between her desire to get an increasingly hot scoop and her journalistic scruples, and everything gets even muddier when she starts a surreptitious fling with the lead cop on the case. Although the denouement falls just a touch flat, Saulnier's energetic prose provides such pleasure that reader aren't likely to mind. The first-person narration is consistently fresh and funny, vivid right down to its smallest observations ("He looked like a trick-or-treater with an empty plastic pumpkin," Alex says of one disappointed colleague). Alex herself makes an appealing and utterly convincing protagonist, at once witty and sensible, loving and tough. Though promotional materials tout the book's Gen X appeal, this mystery's mix of lively intrigue, sparkling writing and simple human warmth should earn it a far broader readership.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"If a mystery about serial mutilation could be called delightful, this one could... The narration is fresh and funny...vivid." -- Publisher's Weekly, May 8, 2000 (starred review) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: John Curley & Assoc; Unabridged edition (November 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792724178
• ISBN-13: 978-0792724179
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,523,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Second effort shows range and guts, May 25, 2000

By 

Jeffrey Anbinder "Beeeej" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Distemper (Alex Bernier Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

Beth Saulnier's second novel is at least as good as her first, "Reliable Sources." This time she tries her hand at a police procedural (which, unlike a "drawing room" mystery, doesn't start with the premise that the killer is one of a small group of characters you already know about)... and she nails it right out of the box.

One of the great pleasures of this book is getting to know narrator/protagonist Alex Bernier even better; her witty, informed, but vulnerable personality is three-dimensional and fairly leaps off the page. Like all good protagonists, she's good at getting herself into danger. But sometimes how she gets out of it is so surprising that I have to wonder if Saulnier has ever read any formulaic mysteries before, because she sure isn't shy about breaking the mold when she writes mysteries of her own.

Publishers Weekly said in their review of "Distemper" - "If ever a mystery novel about serial mutilation could be called delightful, this one could." And they've got it right - it's gripping, harrowing, and occasionally downright disturbing, but above all it's thoroughly enjoyable.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Saulnier's Second Take Earns Repeat Customer, August 8, 2000

By 

Lisa Cameron-Norfleet (Ithaca, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Distemper (Alex Bernier Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I forget, exactly, how it was that I came to own a copy of Beth Saulnier's first novel (Reliable Sources), but I can tell you that it was grudgingly. Living (as she does) in Ithaca, NY, I'd seen enough of her cable access movie review show and read enough of her columns in the local paper to know that I tended to disagree with her assessment of things. Reliable Sources got me, though; hook, line, and sinker...partially, I will fully admit, because of the fact that I, too, have spent time working the beat as a reporter in Ithaca and recognized our "local color" with great hilarity. So, when I saw that Distemper was out, I immediately bought my copy and promptly devoured it within 24 hours.

Beth's dialogue is on-the-money real, her humor is just twisted and jaded enough to suit my own, and Alex Bernier is the right combination of gutsy, stupid, smart, talented, and just plain old lucky to be a believable character...not to mention a crack reporter. This book is well-crafted and full of excellent symmetry of plot points that do not, as many do, jump out and scream "this is a plot point!" at you. Plenty of good old-fashioned writer deceit kept me guessing about the killer throughout and making wild statments of accusation about various characters until all was revealed. I love to be had by an author. It's so much more satisfying than figuring out the whole thing on page twelve and then waiting for the rest to unfold. Beth did an excellent job of screwing with my head.

If I have one disappointment in Distemper, though, it is the revelation. Three hundred some-odd pages into this fabulous mystery--and with less than one hundred to go--everything comes to light. From there out, it's a race to page 388 and I could almost envision Beth's editor lurking near her keyboard, hassling the writer to hurry up and wrap the darn thing up, already. I came out of it feeling a bit like I'd just been picked up by a golf cart at the 24th mile of the Boston Marathon.

Bottom line, of course, is that I will anxiously await Beth's next novel and devour that with similar intensity. I will be hoping, though, for a slightly more satisfying ending. And I have absolute faith that Beth can deliver it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read!, January 29, 2002

By 

Progressive Dad "751-man" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Distemper (Alex Bernier Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

The only problem with this book is that I lost sleep because of it. I skipped right over the chapter breaks, rather than put it down and turn off my light. Seriously, the term "page turner" has never been more appropriate. Plus it was actually scary in a serious roller-coaster sort of way...and I don't even own a dog (huh? Don't worry, just read it). Alex Bernier- the heroine- is fun and human, even better than in the other Beth Saulnier book I read (and that one was really good, too, Reliable Sources). We're not talking War and Peace here, but for a cold night under the covers, a warm day on the beach, or 30 minutes during lunch, the Bernier mysteries can't be beat!