|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
I always enjoy Cleeves' Vera series, but her latest, THE DARK WIVES, might be my favorite. Vera Stanhope has aged during the series as her curmudgeonly ways have become familiar to readers. In this 11th book, Vera has reacted to events from the previous book, THE RISING TIDE, by looking inward and developing a more generous spirit. Sensitivity hasn't been a strong suit for Vera in the past, but as she investigates the death of a young social worker and the disappearance of a teenager in his care, she reflects upon the needs of children in care and how poorly the system sometimes meets those needs. At the same time, a new member of her team, a young woman quite unlike any she's known previously, forces her to confront the need for more flexibility in dealing with her staff. Vera even imagines expanding her world by making friends with a character in the book, something she hasn't done in any of the prior ten books in the series. Although Cleeves continues to define her main character by her social reclusiveness, she is giving her a bit more scope to grow, a development that adds depth to Vera's character and allows the reader to see her more sympathetically.
At the start of the book, a young man working at a privately owned home for disenfranchised teens is murdered. A girl from the home is missing, and it is not known if she is another victim or the murderer. As Vera's team searches for fourteen-year-old Chloe, their investigation moves from the seaside setting of the home to the wilds of rural England closer to Vera's cottage, and more deaths occur. The final scenes take place during a dark festival during which all the children of the town head out into the unlit fields to search for a witch. The witch is found, as is much else.
The complex plot had me hooked from the start, and the settings – both seaside and rural – were so well written I can still see them in my mind days after finishing the book. Vera is not the only character who comes alive on the pages. Cleeves has a terrific skill in developing characters that seem to walk right off the page into the readers' lives. THE DARK WIVES has me chomping at the bit for the next book in the Vera series.
§ Sharon Mensing, retired educational leader, lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors in Arizona.
Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, August 2024
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
