FEATURED AUTHOR - Alice K. Boatwright is the author of the Ellie Kent mysteries, which debuted with Under an English Heaven, winner of the 2016 Mystery and Mayhem Grand Prize for Best Mystery. The series continues with What Child Is This? and In the Life Ever After. Alice has also published other fiction, including Collateral Damage, three linked novellas about the Vietnam War era; Sea, Sky, Islands, a chapbook of stories set in Washington’s San Juan Islands; and Mrs. Potts Finds Thanksgiving, a holiday parable…
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Recent comments: User reviews
After a rather gripping initial setup, with a classic apparent murder and associated inquest, the action trails into a more gentlemanly type story of pursuing a quarry while tending to genteel relationships.
A short and enjoyable read, if not terribly challenging. I found Lester's tendency to take everything at face value initially somewhat amusing and annoying at the same time; apparently that's what's done in Society.
The main character is a lawyer who (from the previous case) has acquired a reputation as an investigator/fixer. He is therefore summoned by the law partner he works for to Elizabeth (New Jersey) in order to delve into a runaway bride case. The short novel moves along well and the small circle of uncomplicated characters are generally sympathetic. The plot is largely conflict-free, which I found rather relaxing, although the reader is indeed drawn into peeling back the layers of the mystery. An easy read, if not terribly challenging.
I read the original Deathworld trilogy a number of years back and had a good, strong impression from the first novel; the reviews here of it I think are fair. This one was entirely forgettable (and I had in fact forgotten it), however. The unique world-building, character tension and relatively sophisticated look at psychological dynamics featured in the first are all missing here. Instead, we get a retread of the engineer-among-primitives story with farcical interactions between the main characters. The characters also seem to be mostly acting in accordance with sending a hamfisted message about moral relativism and religion, to the point of spouting extended monologues on the topics. Regardless of where you fall out on the philosophical debate, it makes for a disappointing read.
My recommendation would be to stop reading with the original Deathworld - the ending there was satisfying enough - and skip this, which features some of the original characters acting like cardboard cutouts or complete idiots. About the fourth time Jason dinAlt saves his captor/tormentor for no particular reason other than to have a convenient foil, it gets old.
I don't rate it a complete loss because the author knows how to tell a good adventure story, but the interesting parts are still not worth the investment in time.
As more of an ensemble cast, the characters are perhaps not as individually gripping or detailed as in comparable Oppenheim stories, but are developed well enough and have interesting things to do. Worth the read.
The author does his usual good job of introducing sympathetic heroes, fast-paced action, tough opposition, and a few interesting minor characters thrown into the mix. The man vs. world theme is repeated a lot in Harrison's works (cf "Deathworld" and the Stainless Steel Rat series), but there are enough differences in plot and setting to not make this story routine or predictable. I thought the introductory scenes were fascinating in and of themselves.
The only hiccups I ran across were some hand-waving regarding the organization the protagonist ends up working for, along a bit of dated male-female interaction. This story also appears to have been a setup for a series that never continued, which made the very end feel a little shoehorned into the rest of it. However, well worth the read.