Ecstasy [Paperback]

Beth Saulnier (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446613703
• ISBN-13: 978-0446613705
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,704,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intertwining Plots R Us, April 7, 2003

By 

Jeffrey Anbinder "Beeeej" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Ecstasy (Hardcover)

First of all, let's get this out of the way: I think it says a lot about Beth Saulnier's clarity of writing that she did a better job of explaining Lake Source Cooling in a single paragraph than Cornell did in a dozen press releases.

Okay. Now, the book.

One of Saulnier's greatest talents is that of combining seemingly unrelated plots in a way that doesn't seem unlikely. There's a great old poem, "What It's Like to Live in Ithaca," that does a great job of illustrating how interdependent people can become in the town on which Saulnier's Gabriel is based.

If you've ever lived there you'll understand; if it's not outlandish for the pedestrian in your path as you career down Buffalo Street in a brakeless VW Bug to be your ex-wife, it's certainly not that far-fetched that people involved in a university's controversial, multi-million dollar Lake Source Cooling project would cross paths with the people running a hippie music festival, and a group of teenagers who attend the festival every year, in such a way that none of their lives will ever be the same.

As usual, Saulnier manages to have her alter ego Alex Bernier move seamlessly among the various antagonists, learning just enough to confuse her (and us). And as usual, you might think you see the next step coming, but you probably don't. Yet when it all comes together, it makes such perfect sense.

The characters are almost all three-dimensional, and only someone who has a truly thorough insight into human nature could draw so many different viewpoints so well. Every character, somewhere along the line, will surprise you. I'm still not a fan of mass-market mysteries. But Beth Saulnier writes really good books.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ecstasy says it all!, March 14, 2003

By 

S. Gould "gouldpjaks" (Woodmere, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ecstasy (Hardcover)

Beth Saulnier's Alex Bernier deserves the award for best character in a mystery series. She is irreverent, funny, courageous, intelligent and utterly compelling. In this, her fifth appearance, Alex, a features writer for the Gabriel Monitor, is exiled to the neighboring town of Jaspersberg to cover the annual Melting Rock Music Festival. With four nights of loud music, annoying young kids and living in a tent to look forward to it doesn't seem like things can get any worse until the kids start dying from tainted LSD.

The deaths signal the end of Melting Rock but not of Alex's investigation. It's soon evident that the deaths were not accidental. Then Alex notices that many of the people involved with Melted Rock and the drug scene are also part of a bizarre protest at the new Deep Lake Cooling Facility at Benson U. Is there a connection? Why were the boys killed?

The aspect of this series that I enjoy most is the engaging dialogue between Alex and Cody, her significant other, and among Alex and her fellow reporters on the Monitor staff, Madison, O'Shaunessey, Ochoa, and ex Monitorite Gordon Band. This reparte is so realistic and well constructed that I feel as if I've participated in the discussion and often find myself offering suggestions about how to proceed with the investigation. Of course, I'm never as clever as Alex and her cohorts but I have the pleasure of going along for the circuitous journey toward a final revelation.

If you have yet to read an Alex Bernier mystery start with 'Reliable Sources' and read them all in order. If you're already a fan I know you'll enjoy this latest entry.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beth Saulnier deserves more fame!, March 27, 2003

By 

M. S. Butch (Katonah, New York USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ecstasy (Hardcover)

This is the fifth Alex Bernier book, and I would not have seen it if I did not consistently search online for new books by Beth Saulner. Alex, a reporter for the Gabriel (aka Ithaca NY) Monitor, and her friends are totally entertaining, adn have more depth than a lot of contemporary PIs. The stories usually revolve around the nature of Gabriel as a college town and the plots are never simple-minded. In short, if you have not discovered these books, you are really missing something great.