Customer Reviews

Fearful Symmetry (Sara Selkirk Mysteries)

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

 

 

At the Oxfam store in Bath, septuagenarian Imogen Beven puts out an old fur piece for sale. Animal rights activists Anna Ward-Partigan and Bren kick up a fuss to get it removed from the shelf. Imogen tells the irate duo to leave. As they do he says he will get even with the SOB. Not long afterward, Imogen receives a package in the mail. When she goes to open it, the package explodes. She dies in the hospital.

Detective Chief Inspector Andrew Poole leads the investigation into the letter bomb homicide. He is distracted by his estrangement with his wife Valerie; she punishes him for an alleged affair with his beloved internationally acclaimed cellist Sara Selkirk that he wants but has not acted on out of fears of hurting his three children. Andrew learns of the Oxfam incident. He interviews Anna, who admits Bren vowed he would get even, has since vanished, and demands she see her father a judge as her animal rights idealism vanished once she understands the trouble she is in. A second homicide forces Sara into the investigation.

FEARFUL SYMMETRY is a fabulous tale that starts off as a pure English police procedural, but towards the middle becomes an amateur sleuth investigation. The transition is effortlessly handled so that the audience accepts Sara's involvement without blinking. Andrew is an intriguing protagonist struggling with his growing love for Sara, but trying to remain faithful to his wife. Czech composer Herve Pretescu accentuates the personal drama when he meets Valerie and already knows Sara, but in turn somewhat overwhelms the mystery. As with the finely tuned FUNERAL MUSIC, Morag Joss provides a delightful mystery that looks deep into the key quartet.

Harriet Klausner

This second installment in the Sara Selkirk mystery series was a bit of a let down for me. Not because it was badly written book, but because the mystery subplot played a poor second fiddle to Sara's frustrations over her feelings for married DCI Andrew Poole. The story unfolded very slowly and the suspense and tension levels were barely discernible. What saved "Fearful Symmetry" was Morag Joss' clear and precise character portrayals and how she made her characters the focal point of what was going on.

Cellist Sara Selkirk is not feeling very happy or sanguine right now. First she allowed her agent to persuade her to work with the famous Hungarian composer of modern music, Herve Petrescu (he's writing a very modern and contemporary piece for her), in spite of the fact that she really doesn't like Petrescu's music very much. And then she's allowed herself to be lulled by the famous man's sex appeal into agreeing to find him suitable accommodations while he's in Bath. (Actually what Petrescu was angling for was to live with Sara while they worked on his composition. Something that Sara suddenly discovered she just wasn't up for just then). And if that's not all, there's the messy complication of her relationship with the very married DCI Andrew Poole, who has agreed to give his failing marriage another go in spite of the fact that's he very much in love with Sara. So that when Andrew finds himself in the middle of a letter bomb killing, Sara finds herself taking an unnatural interest in the case. The victim was a not very well liked old lady who had had an altercation with a pair of animal rights activists over a fur coat. The police think that one activist sent a letter bomb to the woman to make a point. But Sara instinctively thinks that some secret in the old woman's past may be at the root of her death. If she could only get Andrew to listen to her...

The novel unfolds over the course of a few months in autumn, and as such is a little slow moving. And the fact that the book seemed to circle over and over again around Sara's and Andrew's twin frustrations over the state of their relationship only added to the nothing-much-happening-here feeling. However, the author's colourful and loving depiction of Bath, together with her precise, vivid and full bodied character portrayals saved the book and made it a more interesting read. Some readers may, however, grow a little tired and irritated of Sara and her frequent outbursts of anger and feelings of superiority -- I know that I did. And I also found myself, unexpectedly, feeling sorry for Andrew's wife, Valerie. It is fairly obvious that she's not a likable character, and yet I couldn't help feeling sympathetic towards the outclassed Valerie. All in all, "Fearful Symmetry" is a well written novel. It is just not a very satisfactory mystery novel because the atmosphere of suspense and intrigue was not always there, and because the entire mystery subplot was often overshadowed by Sara's emotions. About a two-thirds through the book, things do pick up at a breath-neck pace, and everything is tidily tied up. And I couldn't help wishing that the entire book had had that same feel and tone.

The first half of this book seems to have been written tongue-in-cheek, detailing the pomposity of third-rate modern composers, aging opera singers, their hangers-on and emulators, in an irresistibly deadpan fashion. The central love affair between Sara the professional cellist and Andrew, the policeman who studies cello with her, is not the main attraction of this book - nothing really new happens in their relationship, except for one surprise toward the very end of the book which remains undeveloped. Rather, the point lies in the other characters' facades and the contrast with their underlying agendas. This is indeed a bit like Rendell or P. D. James without their tightly woven dark elegance. Through Sara Selkirk's perceptive yet inept blundering, facts are uncovered and the connections between these dysfunctional, sometimes repellent, yet often sympathetic, individuals come to light.

Adele, the autistic daughter of an opera singer, is vividly drawn and totally credible, at least to me, although I must admit I have not read lots of books about autism. She is gifted with perfect musical recall and a technically admirable but inexpressive voice, as well as the ability to recall and reverse visual patterns, and it is this gift around which the plot revolves - the "fearful symmetry" of the title. Her character will "vibrate in the memory" as music does; we will also remember her pitiable yet somehow heroic mother and the young Chinese boy who truly loves her. Joss has a wonderful gift for tragi-comedy and although this is certainly not a perfect book, it's nonetheless enjoyable for what it is...a way station, on her way to writing "Half-Broken Things," a prize-winning novel which I am eager to read.

Morag Joss writes well, but I would not put this book in the class of a true mystery. It takes ages to get through it, long paragraphs of descriptions of gardens, etc., whole bios of all the characters, even minor ones, that, though interesting, are not necessary. The romance issue between the two protagonists is drawn out agonizingly. Will Andrew leave is wife for Sara? Andrew's marriage is one that has grown boring, Sara and he have so much more in common, but he frets about his children should he leave Valerie. At the end of it all, one is not too sure one cares. I kept saying to myself, let's get back to the mystery, if there is one.

One of only a few that I can't wait for and can't put down and then say, "Wow, what an experience" A new experience for those who can hardly push through P.D.James! She's still good, of course, but it's a whole different world in the books of Morag Joss. Please, mystery fans, get one and see what I mean!!

i particularly liked Funeral Music and hurridly ordered this book assuming it would be equally good. i was disappointed and skimmed much of it. the story meanders too much, the characters think and talk too much and there is not a coherent and direct story line. i'm hoping the next book in the series moves more quickly. i have started Half Broken Things by Joss and have higher hopes for it.

A first class debut novel, evocative of both Ruth Rendell and P.D. James; followed by two successor novels in the series but presumably there will be no more; perhaps a difficult diad to construct consistently -- the police inspector and Sara Selkirk -- but classy all the same.