Customer Reviews

Total Eclipse (Abridged)

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

 

 

One of the best mystery suspense novels I've ever read, and I'm very critical! Extremely literate, complex, and believable, as well as being very very creepy. Read it practically all at one sitting, couldn't put it down. Up there with Presumed Innocent and Silence of the Lambs, don't know why it's not more popular here in the US.

Buying a secondhand book by an unknown author is always a bit of a gamble so I was pleasantly surprised by this book which was one of the most readable, offbeat and engrossing thrillers I had read in some time. I did guess the ending quite early on but this in no way spoiled my enjoyment. The characters are highly believable and Ms Rigbey, without preaching at the reader, makes many valid points about the current day obsession with physical perfection. Only one complaint - I HAD to finish this book and sat up until the small hours to do it - now I'm knackered

I have two books by Liz Rigbey and hope the other one will be better.
This one is way too slow to keep me reading. After 100 pages I gave up.
A complete waste of time.

I rather recommend books that are thrilling from the first page like "In a Dry Season" by Peter Robinson, "A Place of Execution" by Val McDermid, "Night over Water" by Ken Follett, "Landscape of Lies" by Peter Watson, "Tom Ripley" by Patricia Highsmith or "The Unforgiven" by Patricia MacDonald.

What I enjoyed most are the characters in the story whose personalities and quirks persisted to the end. I liked especially those who stood on the sidelines such as the bubbly Kim; the librarian, Mrs. Cleaver, who would sneak out for a smoke; the honorable Dr. Berlins; the ready-to-help Candice and the peculiar Nose. The children of Lomax were also endearing, as well as Deputy Dawg. However, Julia remained cold throughout and I could not empathize with her miseries and loneliness even at the end. I know that there is a connection with Lomax' resolution of his earlier suspicions regarding Dr. Berlins that contributed to his change in the end but I could not really feel it the way I wanted to. I think that there should have been more in the final confrontation between Lomax and Julia.

This book is fairly interesting, but with a distinct lack of cohesion throughout. After the second read, it becomes apparent that most of the book is poorly developed and that the only suspense and interest is from the rather unusual and surprising ending - which could also have been a lot better with some serious development. (I almost missed it totally the first time round)