Customer Reviews

Gaits of Heaven (Dog Lover's Mystery)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have read and enjoyed all of the previous books in this series, so much so that I pre-ordered this one and eagerly awaited it. But I found it not up to the previous standards. For me there was too much ado about
dysfunctional, doped up psychotherapists and their distinctly un-charming disfunctional children, and not nearly enough about Holly and Steve and their relationship, and not enough about the delightful Malamutes Rowdy and Kimi.

Often in books and on TV, when a romantically charged relationship results finally in marriage things become
less interesting, and that has happened here. I missed Holly's hilarilously awful father, and his amusing
second wife. My favorite characters got short shrift in favor of a not very appealing cast of misfits.

The brightest spot for me was Dolfo, a bizarre-looking mutt who had been passed of as a hot new dog breed, a Golden Aussie Huskapoo, to his clueless owners, who don't want to inhibit him by making him wear a collar
or leash.

In an unlikely ending a platoon of therapists meet in a vain attempt to unite the unpleasant troubled family,
but most of them are too drugged to care.

Any good series is allowed one weak one, and for me, this was it.

I really wanted to like this book.

I know that Holly as a character is written to be rather superficial. She's dazzled by big names and celebrity, whether it's Julia Child or famous dog trainers, fashionable street addresses, educational and dog institutions, brand named dog food or titled pooches. All have gotten her gushing approbation, and for the most part, her naive enthusiasm has been a fun ride.

The flip side is that she just as strongly sounds out against anything she doesn't like: cheap addresses and clothing, poor hygiene and personal habits, garish jewelry and stereotypical characterizations have all gotten a lot of page time. Most of the books in the series seem to rise or fall on a maniac/depressive line. When Holly (or Susan?) is up, she gushes about what she loves (dogs usually, or whatever) the carping asides are minimal and the books are interesting and fun.

When she's down, the characters are drawn harshly and critically, Holly dwells on unpleasant details, asides and negative or even prejudiced descriptions and the book is not fun.

This book is not a happy one. Holly starts off the book being critical of her mother, surprisingly since formerly she always spoke of her in glowing terms. But now she blames Marissa for posthumously causing her ring nerves, and for being a "hypercompetent martinet". I admit I got tired of Holly complaining in past books about her father, who seemed generally good hearted, and whose pull with the AKC she never hesitated to draw on when needed, but was so embarrasing to her in other ways that she tried to avoid him the rest of the time. I was hoping after her marriage to Steve she'd reconcile more with Buck, grow up a little. Instead it seems she's now started after Marissa. Not that we couldn't read through the lines about that relationship in previous books, but at least Holly always spoke well of her. So that started off the book with a disappointing jolt.

Virtually every newly introduced character after that unauspicious start is dysfunctional as well, even the featured dog. And while praise of her own dogs usually adds amusement and uplift, there's very little of them in this book. Instead Holly spends a lot of her time at "home" when she used to obsess over her dogs (or her email), instead obsessing over one of her many other pet peeves, weight, in the person of an overweight houseguest, describing how she throws out much of her own food, cooks green beens, and counts every bite the character eats. She actually uses the word "disfigured" to describe her. Her own dogs come into it when one gorges on the guest's secret foodstash. The other new characters are given the same unloving detail, with something dysfunctional brought up with all of them. Without spoiling the plots to describe this, when *every* new character is introduced in a negative way, there's something wrong.

I'd hoped that Holly's obsession into negativity in the latter part of the series was due to her disappointment over Steve's marriage to another, or her previous head injury, or something related to a series plot that now that she was married to Steve or recovered from her concussion, the character's former likability would return. I.e., a plot point. It would be hard to keep reading her otherwise. But instead of marriage soothing Holly's lapse into crabbiness, and swinging her mood up, the author seems now to be using Steve for more of the same critical asides. Steve delivers a long lecture to the houseguest that sounds more like Holly "channeled" instead of his formerly mild mannered self.

People read series cozy mysteries for entertainment, and often for character development. Holly's character started out a bit strange, but often fun, and usually likeable. Even the murderers at times had a redeeming quality or two. But now Holly just isn't likeable, and even the non murderers are drawn harshly. She seems to see characters now always negatively, often stereotypically and sometimes in a downright prejudiced light that seems out of base with supposedly liberal Cambridge. She has everything she could want, (except perhaps a bigger yard) but she continually finds faults to dwell on, to obsess over. If she's angry at her mother for being a "hypercritical martinet" she needs to stop channeling that critical nature in her own fictional life. Or the author should stop channeling it in her books.

Carping isn't a very admirable quality in any character, much less being entertaining. A whole book of it without relief is not a pleasant or fun read. I know this author has written good books, and I hope she gets over her funk and writes them again. This series deserves better, as do the readers. But this book was not one of them.

Susan Conant, Gaits of Heaven (Berkley, 2006)

I was prepared to give this a mediocre review and pass it off as a relatively unmemorable mystery until Conant started talking about how awful it is to be overweight. From there, the longer the book went on, the more offensive it got. And it's not a case of Conant making fun of fat people. It's worse than that-- it's pity. Cloying, stinking pity that glops all over everything else in the book. It's at that point that the book goes from being mediocre to being terrible. I'd planned to give this my usual review, with a paragraph of plot summary and then a breakdown of the book's good and bad points, but I find that I can no longer remember any good points. Aside from the obvious (pointed out above), the pacing is godawful, the mystery setup is handled clumsily, and the resolution, as it does with so many bad mysteries, involves getting everyone into a room and having the solution to the mystery spoon-fed to them. (And us, of course, for the few who didn't see it coming a mile off.) I read a book or two as bad as this in the last month, but I didn't read any that were worse. *

If you like her other books, you'll like this one. A fun light read, full of funny, off topic asides and dogs. What else does one ask of a Conant book?

I almost gave up on this book twice, something I rarely do, especially with an author I've read before.

There was virtually no joy in this book at all. The psychobabble of the therapists that surround Holly would drive me away from ever seeking help if I thought most therapists were like this.

Fiction novels are escapist reading, and I can certainly take quirky characters, but the assortment in this tale was too much. Holly went too far when she decided to throw out all of the food she thought Caprice she not eat. One more reference to green beans would have landed the book in the discard pile. Holly was not likable at all this time.

The story line and cast of characters were interesting and typical of a Holly Winter story. But the writing - yikes, what happened? There were so many convoluted sentences and lengthy diversions comparing psychiatric interventions to dog shows that the story clunked along.

I own everything she's written that I can find. I love her character Holly and have read and re-read all of the books. I bought the new cat book and enjoyed it.

However, my first problem is with the cover. The covers used to be whimsical with the dog bone motif or lovely artwork. The latest covers have been okay, somewhat impressionistic, not great. But this one is simply awful. What is the problem with book publisher that they don't want to pay an artist for good work? I've noticed this problem in other authors' work and hope that publishers reverse this trend and get back to putting great art on their covers.

This books seems rushed and not well edited. Her previous works were delightfully written and Holly, while fanatical, was a likable character. Holly acts out of character in taking in a human she's just met and seems to be floundering in what to do about the dog in the story. Where is the decisive Holly of The Dogfather? Holly dealt with a human stray, Gloria, in Bloodlines and dealt with the situation more realistically. It's much more in character for Holly to take the dog, not the human. Remember Max in Dead and Doggone? And, bringing back Anita the Fiend as a nemesis is a ridiculous plot device that is beneath Ms. Conant. This book leaves out two of my favorite characters, Althea and CiCi. Where are they? Why waste precious pages on Anita and leave out Holly's adopted aunts? Anita becomes the deux ex machina by which the killer is revealed, but the reason for her being in the story at all seems contrived. Anita is very much out of place here, even more than she was in the Wicked Flea.

The most annoying device used in the book is the insertions of incidents in which Holly was not directly involved. Ms. Conant has used this in the past to give us insight into Buck's world, but the constant jarring placement and mix of characters participating in this device did not add to the story line. I suppose this is to give the reader a peek into other characters without the tedium of the happenings reveal via dialogue?

One last thing: okay, we get it, you know LOTS of folks in the psychotherapy field. We get that billing, insurance, etc. is a problem, but this was boring to read about.

I will continue to buy Ms. Conant's books, but I hope to see the return to the wonderful storytelling I've enjoyed in the past. From her books, I've gotten dog raising, feeding and training information that has been invaluable. I've been introduced to authors such as Barbara Pym and Elinor Lipman. For all the flaws in this book, it's still a story about Holly and her dogs and I love it anyway. I'd recommended it, but don't expect it to be the Barker Street Regulars.

A fun cozy mystery with a good plot to keep the pages turning. The setting of Boston and the therapist couple in therapy is handled well. Fans of Holly Winter will enjoy the glimpse of her happy married life (with dogs). It is not as funny or as doggone whacky as, say, the first five books in the series but it did not resemble dog-food processed through a dog and deposited on the carpet either.

Although since this book was about a dog whose owners had "issues" with housebreaking there was a certain amount of that as well. There aren't any dog shows or arcane (ar-canine?) tidbits of dog lore in this, but it's okay. It's kind of like an old dog we had when I was a kid, a bit lame, but I still loved him. Same with this book, and this series.

Found the story enjoyable but this book writing itself seems to be stilted. Would probably continue reading her books.

Everyone here has hit upon all the reasons that this is such a disapointing book from an author I used to like. I had to laugh when I saw the blurb on the cover comparing it to "The Cat Who" series. This series is heading in the same direction straight down. For several reasons most of them covered already by other readers, the books does not seem consistent with her previous books, the trying to control another person, problems with her mother, etc. However the most glaring to me, as someone who owns 5 dogs, is the fact when Sammy gets into the junk food, Holly gives a sigh of relief when she gets the Pepperidge Farm Oatmeal Raisin cookie bag out of his mouth. Someone as knowledgable about dogs as these books have always indicted Ms. Conant is should know absolutely that raisins are more toxic to a canine than chocolate is. A small point I realize, however, it just annoyed me to no end. Either the author isn't as dog savvy as she has always seemed to be or she is getting a little writing help and not even proofreading.