Customer Reviews

Reliable Sources (Alex Bernier Mysteries)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Too many of today's legal thrillers and mass-market mysteries share the same cynical, cinematic voice. Maybe they've had their uniqueness ground out of them by middle-of-the-road-minded editors, or maybe the writers don't have the talent for anything but clever mimicry. I'm tired of the daring-lawyer-who-gets-too-close-to-his-client, and of the infallible-career-woman-with-kids-and-a-disturbing-knowledge-of-forensics who seem to make up most mystery writers' protagonist lists these days.

But Beth Saulnier has come up with a fresh new voice in journalist Alex Bernier - a strong, three-dimensional character with realistic flaws and foibles, and a classic penchant for digging deep while missing what should be obvious - not just to her, but to us.

I was very impressed with the number of threads Saulnier kept going at once, each one providing a possible suspect (or two). The only down side to this was that I still craved resolution for a few of them after I'd turned the last page.

The guilty pleasure of being an alum of the university on which "Benson" is based, and of still living in the city Saulnier has fictionalized as "Gabriel," may have increased my enjoyment. It was fun trying to guess what bar the "Citizen Kane" was, for instance - and trying to remember if there really are any one-way streets going *up* East Hill rather than down.

But, much as with Allison Lurie's "The War Between the Tates," or Matt Ruff's "Fool on the Hill," the setting does not overwhelm the plot and the characters, so people who've never set foot in Ithaca should still find it a compelling, tantalizing mystery. And even if you figure out whodunnit before Bernier does (as I did), the suspense of "how will she get out of THIS?!" is pretty tasty.

As has become the trend in paperback mystery, the first chapter of Saulnier's next novel ("Distemper") can be found after the last chapter of this one. Cruel and inhuman! Is it June yet?!

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the rest of the books by this author. While I figured out early on "who done it", which I don't generally do -- I read for pleasure and relaxation, not to solve the case before the end of the book -- I still enjoyed the mystery. But knowing the Who, I had to keep reading to find out the Why. I thought the plot was very well worked out. Overall a very enjoyable read.

Beth Saulnier's leading lady, Alex Bernier involves herself in just the kinds of intrigue I used to imagine I might enjoy had I been as brave, as irreverent, and as bright as she is. Instead I'll gladly settle settle for reading Alex's exploits. 'Reliable Sources' is a great introduction to Alex and her small but compelling gang of cohorts. The book which involves an unauthorized investigation by Gabriel Monitor reporter Alex Bernier into the supposed suicide of her lover and friend is refreshingly well told. Alex is honest,intelligent, humorous and both a reflection of and sometimes critic of her generation x culture. I reccommend reading the entire series of Alex Bernier mysteries. I could not stop at just one.

Beth Saulnier's Reliable Sources is a terrific, suspenseful thriller. Set in the fictional upstate New York town of Gabriel (which sounds an awful lot like Ithaca), the novel follows twenty-something Alex Bernier a reporter for a local paper as she deals with the apparent suicide of her boyfriend, another reporter. As she digs into the details surrounding his death, she becomes convinced that it was murder. The story is compelling and holds together very well. The dialogue, the characters, Alex's interior monologue, the ending, it all works and it all works well. Enjoy.

I'm not what you would consider a mystery buff...so I can't give my opinion on how this book stands up in the genre. All I know is, I couldn't put this book down. I feel Ms Saulnier developed her characters extremely well. I often found myself wrapped up in their lives. If you read this book and thought it was ok, but decided not to pick up her second book, DISTEMPER...you've made a mistake...DISTEMPER is definitely the stronger of the two (two out of four now, I'm currently reading the third). And besides, in DISTEMPER we get introduced to Cody. Trust me...you want to know who Cody is.

Reliable Sources is a terrific story, written with humor and feeling. Saulnier catches the feeling of Gabriel and the personalities of her characters with skill and style. Alex Bernier is a worthy new heroine and I am anxiously awaiting the next books!

What a terrific book! I waited until "Reliable Sources" first was published before reading it, and could not put it down. This book keeps the reader dying to find out what is on the next page. It is funny and scary, cleaver and gripping. I cannot wait to read her next book. My "kid sister Beth" is an author extraordinaire, and if I could buy stock in her I would. Anyone who reads this, her first book, will eagerly await the others to follow.

I picked up this book looking for a nice little distraction at the end of the day. I figured that with a chapter or two a night, I could unwind a bit and sleep easy. I was wrong. The little ... was tough to put down- I actually had to force myself to turn out my light, and I purposefully avoided commuting with anyone I knew so I could have some quality reading time on the train. Alex (the protagonist) is funny and smart, believable, and sounds like a helluva cook. Enough twists and turns to keep me glued for hours. I can't wait for the Alex Bernier Cookbooks, or the next in the series!

This mystery novel is the first in a series featuring Alex Bernier, a female reporter in her mid-20s working for a small newspaper in a fictional Upstate New York college town (clearly modeled on Ithaca, home of Cornell University). Alex gets caught up in a series of supposed suicides at the local gorge and their apparent connection to one of her recent features about a gay bashing incident on the college's campus. With the help of her friends Mad, a womanizing fellow small-tower, and Gordon, a hot-shot reporter recently demoted from the New York Times, Alex slowly begins fitting all of the pieces of the puzzle together, and, not surprisingly, finds herself right in the middle of the action.

Although this was a solid and engaging mystery, I'm not sure if I will go on to read other books in the Alex Bernier series. I wasn't really able to connect with the main character, who I found to be overly flippant and whose emotions did not ring true to me, although perhaps this was just due to our age difference (Alex is 25; I'm 36). However, this book is likely to appeal to most fans of the mystery genre, especially 20-somethings who could relate to Alex better than I was able to do so myself.

This is the first book I have read - that I could not put down - in a long time. Alex Bernier is a character I can relate to. She's a young professional woman who is sassy, fun, charming, and always getting herself into something. There is the right combination of plot and character development to keep me looking forward to hangin out with Alex every night. I finished the second book - Distemper - in the series, and am starting the thrid right away. Highly recommend this series!