Customer Reviews

A Field of Darkness

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Cornelia Read's debut novel tells of a cynical, hard-bitten woman as she takes an interest in the fates of two generation-old, brutal, unsolved murders. The story is well set, flows nicely and parcels out clues and red herrings at the right pace. And thank the gods she didn't try to run a couple dozen subplots--this is a focused story.

What I liked best, though, was Read's writing style. You know how sometimes there's an author whose turn of phrase you just like--who could make a grocery list interesting? That is what struck me here. They say that an author's work is to put into words what most need to say but lack the phrasing. At this art--and it is a rare one in an era of plodding writing--Read is simply outstanding, a tremendously incisive chooser of the right metaphor. I found myself most interested to see what she'd come up with next.

The other area that impressed me most was character development. The protagonist's oft-disappointed humanity breathes and has a pulse. Read juggles quite a few characters and does them well. Interestingly, if there was a single child in the book (save reminisces by adults), I don't remember him or her. I sense that this was deliberate but I haven't figured out why--could be anything from puckish playfulness to an atmosphere-setter. Could be the author, a mother of twins, had strong personal reservations about children in a setting where violent murders occur.

The mystery/crime novel folks will like Read, but her style and skill will reel in a much broader audience. Me, for example.

A FIELD OF DARKNESS starts, quite literally, like a house afire. The house that catches on fire --- burned down for the insurance money --- is in Syracuse. So is heroine Madeline Dare, and the house may be in better shape. Madeline is 25, a refugee from the Old Money, Eastern Socially Attractive world of the Hamptons and the Great Camps of the Adirondacks. (Perhaps the most cutting insult Madeline gets in the course of the book is a reminder from a frosty relative that she won't be allowed to buy back her parents' share in the family campground.)

So instead of summers by the lake replete with Southside cocktails (gin, lemon and syrup with a mint garnish) and winters spent indoors contemplating Winslow Homer originals and the crimes of one's forefathers, Madeline ends up in upstate New York, working for the local paper, writing about "winter drinks," green bean casserole recipes, and the wonders of the midway at the 1988 New York State Fair. You hear about culture shock, as poor Madeline experiences cultural cardiac arrest.

But Madeline (who reminds us that Syracuse is in the top four in the country in Cool Whip consumption) is not the first of her tribe to make the trip upstate from the Hamptons; her cousin Lapthorne was there years before, as a soldier at Camp Drum in the late sixties. He was there, as it turns out, at the same time as the famous murder of the unnamed, enigmatic "Rose Girls," left stark and alone in a cornfield garlanded in red and white flowers. And it turns out that one of Madeline's rustic in-laws has found Lapthorne's dog tags while plowing that very field.

That's the mystery at the center of A FIELD OF DARKNESS, and it has a lot to recommend --- tragedy, beauty, the relentless passage of time, the complete lack of motive for the killings. Madeline, wisely, doesn't want any part of it. But her curiosity overcomes her (understandable) reluctance, and before too long she's poring over the old photographs of the crime scene in the newspaper morgue, interviewing witnesses and getting in over her head. In many ways, Madeline is the worst possible detective for this --- or any other --- case. She's nervous and depressive, with a knack for saying precisely the wrong thing to the wrong person. But her great gift is her undeniable talent for observation, which gets more acute when she's in a horrible environment or situation.

Of course, it's a talent that rightly belongs to author Cornelia Read, and in her first novel she shows herself to be a sharp, caustic observer of crime scenes and purely social disasters. Read has an unerring eye for the false and the ridiculous, and both the barrooms of upstate New York and the drawing rooms of Long Island make for rich, ripe targets. She switches between them with aplomb, capable of describing both Low Rent entertainments (where a character named "Vomit Girl" makes a memorable appearance) as well as those of High Society (one key character enters a scene aboard his yacht). In between, Read populates her tale with memorable, quirky supporting characters, including a frightened silhouette artist, a cattle auctioneer with a fortunetelling sideline, and Jerry Lee Lewis as his own bad self.

A FIELD OF DARKNESS is sheer joy, complete with cutting prose and gleefully off-kilter pop culture references. Read pulls off the difficult job of combining perfectly timed comic situations and observations with a murder mystery that's deeply weird and disturbing. She writes with assurance, flash, and more than her fair share of talent. Just like her book, Cornelia Read is starting out her career as a novelist like a house afire.

--- Reviewed by Curtis Edmonds, who writes the "Northbound" blog at [...].

< I feel like a freakin' prude reading this book, all disturbed by the lack of formal prose. Seriously - feeling like I need to suck back a cold one just to make it through the oh-so can you believe the fact that I'm, like, breaking the rules of social norms and writing all free and stuff? >

Imagine reading an entire book written like the above paragraph. See, I can do it too! And I'm not a self-proclaimed WASP or a hippy or a writer or anything!

I'm baffled Cornelia Read received praise for using such an "authentic voice." At its bare bones, it comes down to too many contractions, distracting fragments peppered across each page, sloppy "hip" (ha!) language like "...he harshes out on whoever's available" and "...but I was late for work and started to get pissy," and descriptions that begin with the word "all" (ex. "It was all creamy stucco and white..." and "its potato-potato idle all basso profundo in the predawn quiet."). I can't count how many times I rolled my eyes while reading this book - frankly, I found Read's "dazzling new voice" and "knife-like wit" tedious at best and irritating at worst.

Despite the above, I will be curious to see Read's next book. I'd like to know whether A Field of Darkness in really written in the protagonist's 1st person voice or whether this is simply Read's writing style. If it's the former case, Read went overboard; and if its the latter, I think it reflects an inexperienced writer trying to astonish the literary world with her rule-breaking prose. Yawn. It's been done.

Another reviewer said it quite well - 'It's a self-indulgent book, with clanging overtones of "clever me," and a lack of tension that makes the entire effort rather flabby.'

A FIELD OF DARKNESS, a debut novel by Cornelia Read.

Madeline Dare, is the central character. The author has created a refreshingly, different fictional character. Madeline is employed as a food and drink columnist, in a small town newspaper. She is complex, streetwise, a closet debutante. She comes across as nervous, certainly not too refined and is blessed with a unique sense of humour and maybe slightly pessimistic. Much of this , I would assume would derive from the attitude of a certain branch of her own family! All of which enhances her personality. She lives in upstate New York. She does not particularly like the town in which she lives. This changes, when her often absent husband, Dean, is once again back in town!

The story starts, quite unobtrusively. The year is 1988. Syracuse. A pair of dog tags discovered in a field. Buried in the same place, where several years before, the bodies of two murdered girls were unearthed. The killer(s) were never found. The real shock for Madeline is seeing the name on the tags. The name of Lapthorne Townsend, her own second cousin and a great favourite of hers.

Madeline, against her own better judgement, and certainly those of her friends, decides to try and discover the truth. Her investigations lead her to her child-hood home where old family secrets are unlocked. She realises the full impact of proceeding with her quest, when another murder takes place. Increasingly, Maddie becomes concerned with her own safety.

As the events progress, we are introduced to other characters. Ellis is Madeline's best friend. Where Maddie has self doubts, would take time to second guess before actually committing herself, Ellis is completely different. Her maxim on life, is do it now. She very quickly, and with some pangs of jealousy from Maddie, falls for the handsome Lapthorne. Her work colleagues, Simon, Wilt and Ted (the boss from hell) offer little in the way of constructional help as Maddie struggles to come to terms with the way her investigation is progressing.

Cousin Binty. Discover her for yourself, if you will. But tread with care!.

Kenny, landlord of the Town's local drinking place, becomes something of a Father figure. Offering Maddie advice relating to the investigation, as well as concern for her immediate well-being.

Sufficient just to add, that the ending of the book is as exciting as it is suspenseful.

A FIELD OF DARKNESS, is an enjoyable, and entertaining read. It's real success lies in the writing. Hard to define exactly, but because of this the theme of the story seems completely fresh. The characters are vivid and there are some delightful one line phrases - quote, `Later that night I'd asked Kenny where he'd gone to college. His answer won my heart: "Vietnam. It was pass-fail."` There are also some well observed culture references.

All in all, it is a really good read. It's..... different. !

I've seen all the glowing reviews for this book, and to be honest I'm pretty baffled. The "unique voice" I keep hearing about seemed to me to be forced and stilted and overrun with juvenile cliches and contrived metaphors. I have to admit, to a point it was amusing, but I don't think it was amusing in quite the "look how clever I am" way it was intended. It was self-indulgent, and vaguely offensive in parts - especially knowing the "heroine" was based so closely on the author. The homophobic slurs on the part of her characters were received without reproach or offense from the main character. Some say it's a rookie mistake for a reviewer to confuse the author with the character, but in this case I think it was the author's mistake to blur the lines so severely between mystery and self-serving autobiography.
The fact that the plot was so predictable was secondary to the frustrating prose and poor character development. I get the whole fallen rich kid thing, but it was hard to muster up any sympathy for a character I just couldn't bring myself to like. And I can only help but wonder - why am I the only person who was disturbed by the fact that she wanted so badly to sleep with her cousin?

F. Scott Fitzgerald meets Carl Hiaasen in this hi-larious debut novel from Cornelia Read. Parts of this book are laugh-out-loud funny, but the murder mystery zips along, too, propelled by the zaniest cast of characters this side of East Egg, as well as an assist from the Brothers Grimm. In the great tradition of the American aristocracy, Read's fictional Dare family gets nuttier as the money runs dry. I highly recommend this book.

In 1988 coming from Long Island affluence, though the poorer side of the extended family, Madeline Dare surprises her family and friends when she marries railroad worker Dean Bauer and moves to his hometown of Syracuse, New York. Madeline struggles with her venture outside of civilization especially since her spouse is on the road, (make that the rails), in Canada a lot. While Dean is away from home, Madeline writes fluffy articles for the Syracuse Weekly newspaper.

Madeline visits Dean's family farm. Her father-in-law shows her the dog tags of Lapthorne Townsend, her favorite cousin from the Oyster Bay, Long Island kin, that he discovered in a field in which two unidentified girls were found murdered with their throats cut in 1969. With a need to prove Lapthorne's innocence, Madeline investigates the cold case homicides.

A FIELD OF DARKNESS is a terrific chick lit amateur sleuth starring a delightful in your face protagonist on a crusade to prove her relative could not have killed anyone two decades ago. The story line is filled with plausible twists as the heroine stumbles, rumbles, and tumbles her investigation. Madeline's asides on social issues add to the fun of a wonderful tale ably augmented by strong support characters who mange to bring the best and worst, most times both of magnificent Madeline.

Harriet Klausner

As with so many inexperienced writers, this novel gives away a lot more about the writer than the written-about. Hopefully, Ms. Read's personality is not as harsh as her semi-autobiographical writing would imply. The plot was workable, the protagonist credible (if a bit obnoxious) but the rest of the characters were portrayed negatively. Also, 6 pages of the author's autobiography - complete with pictures - was more than I wanted to know.

Read's debut novel is a sharp, witty, articulate murder mystery full of quirky characters, fun pop culture references, and edgy (but not cruel) observations about human nature.

The main character is Madeline Dare, a downstate NY debutante who grew up among wealth, but her particular branch of the family tree has gotten a bit shabby. She ends up married to Dean, an upstate farmboy-turned-inventor and they live in Syracuse where Maddie works as a journalist for a small weekly paper. She spends her days writing articles on such riveting topics as green bean casseroles and hot winter drinks, and dreaming of the day she and Dean can leave town and never look back.

One day everything gets a little weird when Maddie is confronted with an old set of dog tags that her father-in-law uncovered when he was plowing a field - a field that happens to be the scene of a 20-year-old unsolved double homicide. The name on the dog tags is the name of Maddie's favorite cousin and she is gradually, reluctantly drawn into investigating this long-ago crime in order to prove he wasn't involved.

I thought the plot was delightfully twisty, with enough clues to allow the reader to try to solve the crime along with Maddie, but enough turns and surprises to make me doubt my conclusions several times along the way.

But my favorite thing about the story is the fascinating cast of characters, including Madeline herself. She's smart, funny, flawed, messy, and human. I love the fact that she isn't always perfectly likeable, although I did...like her, that is.

I can't wait to see what Ms. Read writes next!

I was in the writer's group when Cornelia was developing this book. You might think that makes me biased, but I can honestly say that I have a well-deserved reputation as a brutal critic. As someone who loves good literature I take intense pleasure in a rewarding read. On the other hand, lesser works tend to offer me only irritation and frustration, which unfortunately tends to come out in my critiques. The difference is similar to that of listening to a great musical talent like Joshua Bell, and the nails-on-chalkboard scratching noises made by a child. Cornelia has an exceptional gift for phrasing and expression. Her use of language has a musical quality that is intimate, moody, and seductive. The characters are distinctive, interesting, unusual, and yet vividly real. She conducted extensive research and drew upon a wealth of fascinating personal and family history which has been distilled into sparkling bits of essence that inform scenes and characters. The plot has been carefully crafted into a deliciously wicked journey. As someone who loves fine literature I am grateful to have been a witness to the birth of this novel and the public expression of a great literary talent.