Customer Reviews

The Fourth Wall

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The solving of a 70-year old murder is a hard plot to handle. The reader must be engaged in long ago happenings yet have a sense of immediacy and urgency about a victim and contemporaries who are long dead.

The book is poorly paced, too long, and the plot sprawls. The victim is not found until page 166, and by that time, my interest was flagging. The heroine is resolutely young, young, young. I had the feeling she has never visualized a life beyond 30.

However, Ms. Saulnier deftly characterizes supporting players and obviously has insider knowledge of community theatre. Because so much of the plot involved the architecture of a crumbling historical theatre, a site map would have been welcome. The characters, with the exception of the heroine, are lifelike and attractive. She stays away from the oddballs, who are basically dull except for their quirky lifestyle or appearance. All are recognizable human beings.

What I found most interesting were Ms. Saulnier's thoughts on preserving historical buildings. She is thoughtful and presents both sides of the question in an appealing manner. I would have liked more sense of location; the place could have been Indianapolis just as easily as New York State.

I found the solution to be a letdown; the present is handled better than the past. The motivations of the cast of 1926 characters are slim and shadowy. Grade: C+.

Beth Saulnier reaches new heights of frustrating the hell out of her readers with this, the third novel in the Alex Bernier series. Even for those of us who aren't great devotees of the pop mystery genre, if you believe you're a smart, perceptive person you often believe you should be able to suss out what's really going on, solve the mystery before the narrator/protagonist does. But not Beth's books - God love her, she drives me CRAZY with legitimate misdirection and intricately detailed subplots. This time, despite completely missing whodunnit, I even thought I'd found some holes in her plotting - but she managed to plug them all closed for me. (...)

I started reading this series because Ms. Saulnier is a friend of a friend of a ... Anyway, I didn't know what to expect when I started, but I've been impressed with her work. The Fourth Wall is a real step forward from Distemper (which was pretty good). Life in this college town is really believable, the story keeps you guessing, and the little twist that pops up in the middle regarding her already complicated love life is absolutely inspired.

I thought it took too long for the story to finally return to the events referred to in the opening, but it sure helped keep me hooked, so I guess Saulnier knew what she was doing.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next one.

Okay, I am becoming something of a regular here. I just blew through all three books in the series and loved them all. This one- Fourth Wall- is a bit more thoughtful than the others, less scary, more creapy. And there is a real chilling moment at the end that is so very good. It took a few chapters for me to settle in to it but then suddenly I was at the end, ink on my fingers. I was not a big mystery fan before I picked these up, and maybe I still am not (I tend mostly to non-fiction and hate(!) Agatha Christie), but Beth Saulnier is onto something here with this character and I am glad to be along for the ride. She has a new one coming out soon- I already preordered it. What can I say? I'm hooked. Buy it so you can say you read her before she was famous.

The Fourth Wall is the third book about Alex Bernier, investigative reporter, and these books just get better and better. Alex, is a wonderful character with a great sense of humor, but she also has depth, which a lot of mystery heroines lack. It's written in the first person, so you really make friends with her. The mystery took several curves, and the end result suprised me. I'd definately recommend reading all the Alex Berneir mysteries, starting with "Reliable Sources".

It's great to stumble across a book as fun and engaging as Beth Saulnier's The Fourth Wall. I hadn't really ever heard of her before and after reading this novel, I don't know why. The Fourth Wall is an excellent crime/whodunit novel with a terrific heroine. Alex Bernier is a twenty-something reporter in upstate New York with a detective boyfriend and an uncanny knack of attracting trouble in the worst way. Three dead bodies show up in the novel and only one of them is clearly a murder case--but it just happens to have been dead for about 80 years. The various story lines are very well entertwined and the resolutions are all plausible and satisfying. This is an excellent escapism read, very entertaining. Enjoy.

I've just finished The Fourth Wall, and I've already finished the previous 2 Alex Bernier books. This one is Beth Saulnier's best one so far. Alex is caught up in not just one but three separate murder mysteries, all pretty much unrelated but Saulnier links it all up pretty well. The parts of the book about Alex's personal life adds spice to the story and insight to her character. I liked the way Saulnier began and ended this book, absolutely fantastic.

Beth Saulnier delivers another solid installment in her Alex series. I strongly recomend reading the series in order to get the most out of each book. With each novel her writing becomes smoother and stronger. In this novel in particular she deftly guides us through the story. For being a relatively new author she is creative and quick witted. Thumbs up!

Even though she is a Republican I am falling in love with Alex Bernier, the heroine of Beth Saulnier's series. The Fourth Wall is the third in the series, and I strongly recommend reading them in order. Alex's life--as important and as interesting as the mysteries--is best understood chronologically. Alex is young, about 27, and a newspaper reporter in a small college town in northern New York. She is tough, funny, girly, very smart, independent, nosy, non-sentimental. She's not a perfect creation--she does not have female friends, she dismisses feminists although of course she has benefited greatly from previous and present-day feminists, and as I've already mentioned her politics are suspect. But Saulnier has created an outstanding voice--spending time with Alex is delightful. The mystery in The Fourth Wall gets a bit convoluted. However, I highly highly highly recommend all three books. This is a series to look forward to as it continues.

Life in Gabriel is quiet and very predictable except for the recent weather that seems like endless summer. Reporter Alexandra Bernier conducts an investigation on a group of concerned citizens who want to "Save the Starlight Theater" from demolition. The grandiose theater still contains an air of class that can be rebuilt if time allows it.

The leader of the group, Sissy Billingham, does everything in her power to obtain funding to stop the destruction of what she and her group considers a historical monument. However, before she can come up with a strategy, a car hits her. Alex and the police believe it is first-degree murder and not just an accidental vehicular homicide tat occurred. When Alex beings making inquiries, professionals beat her up, but she continues her investigation even as her actions increase the danger.

The third Alex Bernier novel is a fast-paced, action packed investigative reporter tale with a cast that seems very real. A romantic subplot relieves some tension when the action seems ready to overload the reader. Beth Saulnier proves her abilities as an entertaining writer, who with more books like this one and its predecessors, will soon obtain quite a following.

Harriet Klausner