9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Distracting punctuation and fragmented plot, December 14, 2001
By A Customer
I am a fan of this series, and have very much enjoyed the four preceding books in it. This one, however, was a disappointment. First and foremost, the author has developed an extremely quirky use of colons. This may sound unduly fussy on my part, but the appearance of the colons is more than just a misuse of a punctuation mark: the author uses colons in this book as a substitute for appropriate paragraphing and sentence structure. The ubiquitous colons make the work read in a very fragmented manner. I prefer paragraphs and complete sentences; the colons seem almost lazy, and prevent the language from having any flow to it.
Second, the characterizations and the plot were both fragmented. Like a Russian novel, numerous characters were introduced, but without enough about them to enable me to remember who they were between appearances. Perhaps this problem is related to the first one I mentioned, in that the abrupt writing style of this book distracted me from the content.
I am looking forward to more books in this series. Coming out so soon after the fourth in the series, this one might have been a bit rushed (releasing it in the summer would have been infelicitous). I am more than willing to forgive this lapse in an otherwise very enjoyable series.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jake and Ellie solve a particularly grisly murder, December 12, 2001
Jake and Ellie arrive at Faye Ann Carmody's house and things are suspiciously silent. Worried, they enter the house to find a sea of blood. They fear the worst, Faye Ann's violent drunken husband has finally killed her. They are relieved when a dazed Faye Ann appears from under a pile of comforters. Unfortunately, she is covered with blood. When Jake enters Merle's butcher shop to see who is actually dead, she finds him, neated chopped up and wrapped in butcher paper. Jake and Ellie need to find out who killed Merle, because Faye Ann is not capable of either the crime or defending herself.
This was a little more grisly that the usual Graves mystery, but very good. The author introduces us to even more of the unusual characters of Eastport, and life in a Maine seaside town in winter. Very Very good mystery!!!!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
scooter mcgoo, April 7, 2009
I have enjoyed each of her books. They are well written and have good plot development. One can easily imagine the setting of each situation.
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