Customer Reviews

Quaker Indictment

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1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have previously enjoyed Irene Allen's Elizabeth Elliot novels, especially as she has revealed the rich community setting of a Quaker meeting and the inner spiritual life of her protagonist Friend. I was tremendously disappointed in this book. Allen removes Elliot from her natural location, and, as Elliot spends the novel commenting on her dislocation, so the reader feels dislocated as well, with no reward. The circle of Friends whom Elliot relies on is gone, and the characters and suspects she encounters here are not developed enough for us to care. The reader is told much but shared with not at all. I hope if Allen continues to write this series that she returns Elliot to her home in Cambridge and novels that are more fully developed.

I really loved all three of the previous books in this series. I am not a Quaker, nor even a Christian, but I was deeply interested in Elizabeth Elliot and her spiritual journey, which complemented in a very suitable way the mystery story in each book.

I had some difficulty in believing that the same author had written this book. It was preachy, unfocussed, digressive and completely unsatisfying, all things the previous ones were not. I have much sympathy with the political position the author takes in this book, but it's a d**n poor mystery story, and not even a good political rant, as each gets in the way of the other. Distressing.

I read a previous Allen Quaker mystery, "Quaker Witness", and enjoyed it though I found her repeated reference's to Elizabeth Elliot's age annoying. "Quaker Indictment"'s ageism is much worse. The two main characters met in college 40 years ago--therefore they are in their early 60s. Yet Allen repeatedly calls Elliot "the old Quaker". In the library copy I read, a previous reader circled some of the "old Quaker" references and why, "Why is 60 old?". Indeed, Ms. Allen, why do you characterize her as "old" so often? How old are you? Perhaps to you 60 seems the apex of decripitude. But the incoming Speaker of the House is 66; would Allen call Nancy Pelosi "an old Speaker"? I chide Allen's editor for not recognizing the ageism and correcting it. The story as a whole is not well done and the characters do not develop. It hardly deserves one star.

The "old Quaker", as she is constantly and irritatingly referred to in Quaker Indictment, should not have left Massachusetts. The mystery is simplisticly plotted, the characters are one dimensional and the political pronouncements are banal. I read a lot of mysteries, I have always been interested in Quakers and I love the Northwest. This novel, which should have had so much going for it, was a disappointment on all counts. Make another choice.

Too often, a "Christian" mystery isn't Christian at all. It may include a clergyman sleuth or a church setting, but the Christian faith has no bearing on anyone's conduct. Happily, that is not true of Irene Allen's QUAKER INDICTMENT.

Her heroine is Elizabeth Elliot, clerk of the Quaker Meeting in Cambridge, MA. She doesn't so much solve mysteries as participate in them, usually because of her religious beliefs. In this one, she joins her old college roommate in investigating radioactive contamination around Hanford, Washington. This is a real nuclear facility with a documented history of deceiving the public over nuclear emissions. When Elizabeth's friend is murdered, Elizabeth relies as much on prayer as deduction to uncover the killer.

Allen's plots are tight with at least one satisfying twist. Her secondary characters are vivid and present varying responses to committed Christianity. Her style can be a little stiff, perhaps reflecting the age and arthritis of her heroine. I enjoy Allen's work as much for the moral questions she raises as the puzzles she presents. I think you will too. There are 3 other titles in the series, equally satisfying. We may never face murder, but this Christian "detective" can teach us how to apply our faith in situations of stress and fear. Not bad for "light" reading!

Kathleen T. Choi HAWAII CATHOLIC HERALD

Elizabeth Elliot leaves the comfort zone of her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts to travel to Seattle to visit her college roommate, Reba Nichols. While she is there Reba asks Elizabeth to accompany her to her parents' old home which is near an area where plutonium was once produced. Reba wishes to sell her parents' former home but she wants to make sure that she is not selling land that has been contaminated by radioactive material. The two women travel to the area in question and Reba attempts to get soil samples which can be analyzed so that she can be sure the land is safe to sell. Soon the women are involved in a cat-and-mouse game with federal officials and Elizabeth is shocked at the lengths the government will go to in order to protect its secrets.

I disagree with many of the other reviewers who feel that this is a 1-star book. I found it to be an interesting story and I learned a lot about government subterfuge during the Cold War. Elizabeth did seem uncomfortable being far away from her home and her spiritual friends but that is often the case with people whose religion is an important part of their lives.