5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Cozy Enough..., October 14, 2009
This review is from: A Face at the Window (Home Repair Is Homicide Mysteries) (Hardcover)
In full disclosure, I have to admit I love Sarah Graves and the Home Repair Homicide books are among my very favorite mysteries. So, it was with great anticipation that I read my copy of "A Face at the Window". I have loved (as in 5 star loved) pretty much every other book in her her series, and often go back to listen to them a second time. I am a native Californian who now dreams of visiting Maine one day because of my affection of this series.
So, it is hard for me to admit that I didn't "love" this one--and I really didn't enjoy it much. Actually, I felt like I was being tortured right along with the victims in this book. The level of violence and descriptions of it were often sickening and difficult to get through. Broken teeth, gushing blood, serious head injuries, and almost drowning in a ditch are just a few things the characters in this book must endure. And this is just a tiny taste of the unrelenting violence dished up in this book.
This may be an acceptable plot for a horror movie, but not for a cozy mystery. I realize that Graves has taken the cozy formula and tweaked to be her own version in her previous books, and that is one reason I love her books. But this book has NO coziness, no sense of the lovely town and family and friends that I have come to love in this series, and is instead non-stop violence and torture. I read the Home Repair Homicide books to get a taste of small town Maine, and enjoy a stay in that world and walk the halls of her federal style home. Working out the mystery side of it is always "fun", but this book has no fun to be had. Instead of feeling that cozy feeling of being entrenched in Eastport, I felt cold and sickened. The entire plot revolved around two unlikeable characters NOT from Maine (Marky and Anthony), and they took up the majority of the dialogue and page time. I missed the close relationship she has with her son, his loyal side-kick Maggie, the loving best friend Ellie and her salt of the earth husband, and the solid support of Wade, Jake's husband. These elements were almost entirely missing along with the seafood casseroles, baked salmon, and undeniable cozy feeling that Eastport typically provides.
If I wanted a walk on the dark side I know what books to read, but I never choose to read those books. I read as a pleasurable escape, not to read every detail of a brutal kidnapping. As a mom of 3, the thought that baby Lee (who I have come to love through this series) was kidnapped and her babysitter brutally beaten and left for dead in the woods was just too much for me. I can handle other characters in the stories facing peril, but not this child, a character that Graves has done a beautiful job of creating. There is a fine there, and I am afraid it was crossed to the wrong side in this book.
I hope that Sarah Graves goes on to write many more books in this series, and do look forward to reading those. I have gotten countless hours of comfort from reading them, and in that way have been a gift to me. This one was not my cup of tea, but perhaps that is just me. I love reading about Eastport and the characters she has created.
I also really enjoy the narrator of this story, Lindsay Ellison. She does a fantastic job of being the voice of Jake and adding in hints of the Maine accent.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, But....., January 20, 2009
This review is from: A Face at the Window (Home Repair Is Homicide Mysteries) (Hardcover)
I've read the whole series but this one just didn't keep my interest. The usual cast of Eastport characters are dispatched early on in the story which may have been part of the problem for me. I thought the plot was so-so although the story did move right along. On the plus side, I felt the character of Anthony was very well written and actually generated quite a bit of sympathy. There has been a void in this series since Victor was written out...he was always such an interesting and unpredictable character. I wish the author would develop another character along the same lines. Not a bad read but not the best in the series by far.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Sadly, I think I am finished, January 7, 2012
There is a saying that all good things must come to an end. I think that pretty much sums up my feelings about this series. I was a huge fan of the "Home Repair is Homicide" series by Sarah Graves and thought they were some of the best books the genre had to offer. Set in Eastport , Maine they were probably best categorized as cozies, but there was a bit more realism and plausibility to them than is typical. I read the first one, "Dead Cat Bounce" back in 1998 and loved it! Over the years, there have been some I liked more than others but enjoyed each and every one. The last one I read, "Trap Door" seemed to be a departure from before. While there was always a bit of an edge to them this one seemed to take a fairly serious detour toward dark. I thought it was good but lost my motivation to read them as soon as they came out in paperback. I finally got around to borrowing "Face at the Window" from my library and settled in for what I hoped would be a good read.
I want to make sure that folks understand my perspective before reading what I am about to write. I usually read a book this size in about two days. It was day number four yesterday and I was only 40% of the way in. I wasn't eager to get back to it - it felt more like a chore to read it. It is slow-moving. At about 15% of the way into it the only thing that happened is that Jacobia was beginning to fix a hole in her sidewalk and two thugs are driving to Maine. At 40% of the way in Jacobia is still dealing with the hole in the sidewalk, has managed to get herself into physical peril, and two people have been kidnapped. Pages and pages and pages are devoted to Jacobia trying to get herself out of the tight spot. I don't want to go into too much detail about the situation to spoil it for other potential readers but I couldn't believe how much ink was devoted to describing glass breaking, Jacobia mulling over the implication of the glass breaking, and the description of rocks shifting. I finally stopped reading and just left her in danger.
I VERY rarely quit reading a book. I usually find some reason to keep going until the end but not this time. This book doesn't have the charm of a cozy, doesn't have the speed or action of a thriller, and doesn't have the intrigue of a traditional mystery. I am not sure how I would classify this narrative, but whatever Ms. Graves was trying for didn't work in my opinion. I also very rarely write a review for a book unless I have completed it but the fact I couldn't force myself to finish says a lot. The only reason I didn't give a 1-star rating is because some of the descriptions of the area are wonderful and held glimmers of what I had come to love.
It is with great sadness that I think I will no longer follow the series. I checked other reviews for the next book and they aren't filled with ringing endorsements either. While I have spent many, many enjoyable hours in Eastport and grown fond of Ellie, Jacobia and the rest of the characters I think the end has come for me.
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