Customer Reviews

An Isolated Incident

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I really liked this book. I am an avid reader of mysteries and who-done-its. This book was one I couldn't wait to get to at the end of a long day. It was just downright interesting. Although I had the bad guy correctly pegged in about the middle of the book, it was still a good read. It probably helped that I live in the Great Pacific Northwest, making it all the more interesting. The characters were interesting and human. In one's own mind, the scenery was magnificent. I'm going to read Ms. Sloan's other book very soon.

I am a librarian in Brooklyn. One of my patrons has been nagging me for months to read this book, claiming that it is terrific. Boy, is she ever wrong! Although the book had possibilities, as it progressed, the writing deteriorated steadily. Sloan makes a mishmash of racism, police procedurals, small town gossip, an ambitious reporter and many other ingredients that are too muddled together. Instead of a crisp resolution, the book falls flat at the end. I knew who the murderer was, so there was little suspense there. Sloan should have fleshed out her characters and constructed a plot that was a little less busy and a little more put-together. The book was too long and it sagged after the middle. Sloan also hits the reader over the head with her message that we must be more tolerant and less small-minded in our relationships with those whom we perceive to be different from us. I do not recommend "An Isolated Incident" to readers who enjoy crisp writing and a sensible plot line. I was quite disappointed.

I was fortunate to discover this author! This book was a great read providing lots of suspense and a surprising ending that shocked me! Susan Sloan is not your average fiction writer. A must read-great entertainment!

This book is a well-written suspense. I thought I had the mystery figured out in the first two or three chapters and was reading to verify that I was correct. The author never once loses sight of making the reader believe that the police are on the right track, that the real killer has been released on a technicality, that the sniper has a good motive even though he is legally wrong. The identity of the killer is not revealed until the last paragraph -- but when the reader reviews the clues, the solution is airtight. I couldn't put the book down.

The surprise was not the killers's identity - I knew/suspected who the murderer was in this fine story right from the beginning, based on the description of the victim's feelings in the first chapter. (I'm not usually that good at figuring out solutions in mysteries, either).

What was surprising was the way the story appeared to be a standard, well-written mystery - very straight-forward... until the last few chapters when the lives of the leading characters unraveled and changed drastically. Even though I was sure I knew who the killer was - the ending was so oblique and so dark that I was taken off-guard. In fact, my initial reaction was - "Huh"? I turned out the light - and started to go to sleep when the meaning hit me! Migod! I did NOT go to sleep right away - and books seldom affect me that way. After the shock wore off, I kept thinking - 'Yeah - but the DNA will tell the truth - won't it'...........?

A mystery that makes you think & feel? What's this??

Reading this over, it looks like I've written a mystery right here, in my effort to not divulge too much - but hey - aren't reviews supposed to pique your interest?

A small town on an island off the coast near Seattle is a microcosm of races and religions, but is mainly populated by WASPs. When 15 year old Tara Breckinridge is murdered, the locals are quick to refute the possibility that it could have been done by one of their "own". The local police chief, Ruben Martinez, is expected to find the culprit without too much difficulty, but when the investigation is under way for 3 months without a result, he and Detective Ginger Earley come under severe criticism from the council and townspeople. The two have recently formed a romantic relationship and are working slowly but steadily through possible clues when Ginger is made aware that Taras' history teacher at the local high school, Jerry Frankel, was released from his prior teaching position after being accused, but not prosecuted, of a relationship with a teenaged girl. When the town learns that Frankel is being questioned, a wave of anti semitism sweeps through the community, with so called devout churchgoers writing hateful letters to the newspaper, and avowed, upright Christians letting their fears blind them to their own bigotry. I found this to be a frightening read as it shows just how quickly the veneer of normalcy can be stripped away, exposing human prejudices to be so near the surface, and how hatreds born out of fear and ignorance can take over a seemingly civilized community.

I have just finished "An Isolated Incident" and was thoroughly impressed by the author's work until about the last 50 pages...the book had captivated me right up until the end where Ms. Sloan not only did a terrible job of explaining what had happened, but basically just ended the book, there was no sense of completion. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes a good murder mystery but I would like to tell the next reader to be prepared for a bad ending!

The author had good intentions, but needed a much lighter touch for this book. The premise of an isolated island community rocked by a shocking murder is very intriguing. Unfortunately, the author didn't bring any new ideas to the mix. The killer is obvious from the first few chapters, and the rest of the book is comprised largely of heavy-handed caricatures and anvil-dropping. I don't like books that talk down or preach to the reader, and this did plenty of both.

I read this book and thought I had an understanding of the characters. Then we get to the last quarter of the book and everything is completely unexpected except for the killer. I had that figured out in the beginning. I don't believe true suspense in mysteries is achieved by having characters in the end doing completely unexpected, out of character things.

A very interesting story of a murder that happens in a small town and the consequences. The characters seemed very real, as did the community. I had a hunch of who the killer was and had to speed all the way to the last page to see if I was right! Wasn't a nail biter, but good all the same.