Customer Reviews

The Snake Tattoo

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

 

 

In this gritty, quick, and amusing sequel to "A Trouble of Fools," no-nonsense PI Carlotta Carlyle has her hands full every way she turns. Her dear friend Mooney is all over the Boston tabloids, accused of being a cop on the take. Her beloved Little Sister, a spunky hispanic child named Paolina, is stuck in Colombia with no way home. A missing persons case involving a teenaged rich girl is beginning to smell like big trouble at Boston's preppiest high school. And to top it off, Carlotta's bathroom is being remodeled in deep brown and day-glo orange by The Twins, shady brothers who divide their time between the job and Carlotta's roommate Roz.

All in all, Carlotta wants a long, hot, uninterrupted bath. But the only person she can think of who has the bathtub of her dreams is Sam Gianelli, her currently off-again passionate lover who also happens to be the son of Boston's Godfather.

The plot is fast and furious, and the mysteries are satisfying in this 1990 outing. Carlotta's real concern for Mooney, a stalwart and dedicated cop who's been framed, is shared by the reader. And her palpable disdain for the rich-kids' tony prep school is equally shared. But this doesn't mask the real essence of the book: Will Carlotta's bathroom ever be finished?

A fun read. Highly recommended.

A good rainy-day author. Here's an excerpt "I had the strong feeling that [they] were in a Plymouth Reliant motoring toward some southern state where you could marry your first cousin provided you were both over the age of eight." Such wry wit permeates the book and makes for a fast, fun read. I'm glad she's written so many other books. I can't wait to read them all.....

Carlotta Carlyle can barely makes ends meet with her two jobs as a cab driver and a private investigator in Boston. She counts herself fortunate when she gets two cases at once, but she soon regrets her decision to take them both. Her first client is a young teenage boy who hires Carlotta to track down a 14-year-old girl who is missing. The second case involves Carlotta's longtime friend and ex-boss, Lieutenant Mooney, who asks her to track down a missing witness who can testify for him in a case against a man who accuses him of assault. As these two cases unfold, Carlotta has to deal with two irresponsible plumbers who threaten to turn her bathroom into a garish horror. Author Barnes artlessly weaves the criminal cases in with Carlotta's personal life which is often hilarious and never dull. This is a worthy follow-up to Trouble of Fools, the first book of this enjoyable series.

In this, the second installment of the Carlotta Carlyle series, Barnes successfully combines the New England prep school scene with the pornographic combat zone of Boston. It's not an easy thing to do, but it works quite well here.

I enjoyed this book more than the first book. Carlotta is growing as a character and was easier to warm up to. I also got a kick out of Barnes' take on the prep school scene -- having visited more than a few in my days as an admission director for a liberal arts college.

The book is a little out of balance -- she's also on a case to get her buddy, Mooney, of the hook and his case takes a back seat to the preppie case. I'm also got a bit tired of the "humorous" interludes involving the remodeling of Carlotta's bathroom.

Bottom-line: An enjoyable read for Carlyle fans but not worth lots of effort if you can't find a copy easily.

Carlotta Carlyle from A TROUBLE WITH FOOLS, gets stuck with a none functioning bathroom, her little sister in Columbia, a mentor who makes the papers as a crooked cop and a young teen who finds life on the streets preferable to home.
A fine continuance for a budding detective who knows no other way than to keep plugging away until all the layers of Boston sleaze are stripped away. Into her life comes Sam, an old flame but balanced by Lt. Mooney who needs a friend against his own kind who intend to destroy his testimony before Internal Affairs. Complicated personal relationships move this second entry and make a smooth read. Enjoy Charlotte and The Brothers who owe her roommate a favor.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

I wasn't so sure about Carlotta when I read the first book, but she's really starting to grow on me. I'm not reading them in any particular order - which might be helpful, but isn't really necessary because the focus of the book is really the mystery, not the side bits of fluff (though in this book, the side bits were really good). Barnes creates great characters, good plot lines and a nice pace - pretty much all you can ask for in a mystery. I would recommend her Carlotta Carlisle series to anyone who likes a laid back, good ole armchair mystery.

The book fills with tense, actions, humor, and funny. The whole book is unpredictable! it makes me keep guessing what is going to happen next. It makes you laugh when you are nervous about what is going happened next. The book is fun and easy to read, and I love the main character! The book brings out a lot of dark sides of real life but without making reader feel depressed or hopeless about the world. When I was reading the book, I see and understand more bad sides about the society, but the writer brought it out by warm and fragrant way.

Because of the main character was a policewoman and became a private cop. She always has a lot of situations need to solve, and has to social with different kinds of people in her daily life. There always must be many things that annoying her, but she always can make her own happy in any kind of situation; she is pretty optimistic! Her personality makes readers fill with hopes and happiness while reading the book.

While I was reading the book, I not only learned how to solve problem by Carlotta's inference, but also learned how to look at things from different sides. Linda Barnes - the writer of the book, she wrote the whole story with stimulation and humor, it is really good for teenagers to read the book after school. She teaches readers things while readers enjoy reading. There is no hard word or sentence in the book; it is a good choice to read after a whole day work to relax!

The Snake Tattoo runs only 220 pages or so in hardcover, but it seemed like 520, given the number of PI/police procedural cliches packed into this formulaic little number. See! I'm doing it too--Linda Barnes has clearly infected me with her paint-by-numbers attempt . . . I just can't stop it! Turn the cliche machine off, now!

This book is full of calculatedly 'quirky' characters right from central casting, but with a little side trip to marketing to give them 'edge': the sexy but emotionally volatile girl PI. The outwardly tough but soft-hearted cop. The politically correct cast of supporting characters who exhibit all the right attributes of 'diversity' except any remotely interesting characterization.

The plot is predictable and overwrought.

Finally, Barnes insists on using her protagonist to spout off what are obviously her own ideological biases: just a hint, Linda -- intelligent readers find this boring and insulting.

Don't waste your time on this one.