Customer Reviews

Three Sisters (Charlie Moon Mysteries)

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

 

 

For the first time in a Charlie Moon mystery, I am hardly able to wade through the book. This new writing style makes it very hard to follow the story line, which starts out to be a great story, but is so chopped up with cute little asides, that I am ready to just read the end and be done with it. Even the characters personalities do not seem right. So please, give us back the real author and get back to those great and sometimes a little bit scarry Charlie Moon mysteries.

What happened? The characters are fascinating, the pace is fast, intriguing plot, and there are some adroit lines, but this Charlie Moon suffers from too much author interference. The author asides are confusing. Are they ironic or sarcastic?
The ending lasted about six pages too long; p. 296 is a satisfying conclusion. The last ten pages are just plain corny. Maybe the reader expects more of James Doss. THREE SISTERS does not deliver, except in rare passages does Doss's lyrical prose style surface. There is also, a notable change in the values of the characters which makes the reading jarring, especially if you've followed the series. We'll wait for the next one to see if Charlie & Daisy get back on track.
Nash Black, author of TRAVELERS and SINS OF THE FATHERS.

I really like the Charlie Moon books. The stories are interesting and funny and Aunt Daisy is wonderful. It has also been interesting to watch the author grow as a writer. I don't know what happened. This plot isn't bad, but the writing is, well, I don't know what to say. Arch? Maybe the author no longer has anyone who will tell him the truth about his books. Disappointing.

I have followed these stories from the start and have watched them get better and better and then sort of slip. Especially stylewise. Are all of these cutsey narrative devices necessary? They certainly do not do the story any justice, or the author. James D. Doss is an author I admire but I must say that here he has not offered the characters, the story or the readers any respect. Perhaps next time he will take a hint from Charlie Moon and shoot from the hip.

After having read all the books in the Charlie Moon series, this one has me baffled. Author James Doss has constructed a great character and now, suddenly, his writing style and presentation have changed drastically for the worse. This book is certainly cumbersome to read, with alterations between character dialogue and narration that makes things confusing and really cuts into the overall "voice" of the novel. This change in Doss' style has drawn more than a few critics and, should the series continue in this direction, I think it will be it's downfall.

I was so excited to read the new Charlie Moon (Three Sisters) that my family gave in to my whining and gave me the book before Christmas. It has not been an easy read. The intellectual, smooth, narrative style that I associate with the Charlie Moon books is gone. The prose is often interrupted with literary gimmick. In the theater, it is called "breaking the fourth wall" and, in old, hard-boiled detective novels, it was standard fare. In this case, it is distracting. I keep going, "huh?"
Mr. Doss, it was a cute idea that pretty much sucks. In a new series, it could work. But please give us back the Charlie Moon tales that draw us into the mystical instead of jolting us back to reality every few paragarahs.
Well, I am off to wade through the second half of the book. Wish me luck in trying to separate the marvelous story from the gimmick.

THREE SISTERS JUST DOES NOT DELIVERY IN THE JAMES DOSS FASHION IAM USE TO IN PASSED READS. SORRY I WILL NOT BUY ANOTHER.

Three Sisters, James D. Doss's highly anticipated latest book, did not do justice to the anticipation. The main characters were all in place, the setting was as it should be, and the story line was fine...when you could find it. In his previous books, Mr. Doss used "author asides" to tweak interest in the next chapter and to provide additional humor. These were well done and added to the overall story. This trend has been growing in the last few books that he has written. However, this latest book was "over the top." There was too much author entertaining and too little story. Boredom set in on several occasions. The book was a big disappointment. Mr. Doss needs to get back to what he does best: writing a great mystery.

I was very excited when the latest Charlie Moon book came out. But reading it was a different matter altogether. The story line was good, as is all the Charlie Moon books, but the writing style has completely changed, and not for the better. It was sometimes difficult to follow with all the author's 'cute' little comments. The style does not go with the story, maybe only because I had come to expect and enjoy the original writing style. I can only hope future Charlie Moon volumes will be back in the original, enjoyable style, otherwise, I don't believe I can keep wading through the extraneous to get to the real story.

I must agree with the other reviewers, questioning what happened to his previous style. This book deserves NO STARS - it borders on asinine - definitely too silly when it comes to some of the Aunt Daisy sections. If Doss doesn't return to his widely admired style, I guess he will lose a lot of readers. Many pages/paragraphs I simply skimmed to avoid the stupidity of the situations. Bad News! Is he having medical problems? Senility? What????