|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Alaska state trooper, Sergeant Liam Campbell, is very unsure about his life right now. He's trying to decide if he should take a promotion in another part of the state and return to his wife or if should he remain where he is with his girlfriend, Wyanet Chouinard. Just as he was trying to figure out what to do, an old World War II plane was found in the middle of a melting glacier. To make matters worse, an arm is discovered in the plane with the hand clutching a gold piece and now Liam has to also figure out who the arm and the gold belonged to. Into this mess is the sudden murder of seventy-four year old Lydia Tompkins. Liam had met Lydia a few days before her murder when she hit a man with a jar of sun dried tomatoes as he was trying to break into her car. In the short time they knew each other, Liam had grown very found of the spunky Lydia, so the news of her murder hit him hard. Liam and his deputy, Diana Prince, were the only police in town, so consequently it was up to them to find out what happened to the plane, who the arm used to be attached to, and to find Lydia's murderer. Little did they know that of all these events were related. I've always been a fan of Dana Stabenow, especially of her Kate Shugak mystery series. Even though I have enjoyed the Liam Campbell novels as well, I've always found them lacking for little something. BETTER TO REST is not the exception. It lacks the drama and suspense that's usually in Stabenow's books. And the on again, off again, relationship between Liam and his girlfriend, Wy, is starting to get rather stale. The unspoken, constant, ongoing angst that they have towards each other makes me want to scream at them to either get on with the affair, or end it already. Just please don't make the readers suffer though it anymore. One good note in this book, is that Stabenow's sense of humor is very evident here as it is in her previous books. While searching the murdered Lydia's home Liam is embarrassed to find a tube of vaginal moisturizer in her bathroom. Liam can't permit himself to acknowledge that she needed it for sexual activity, and so he spends an immense amount of time trying to think of another reason why the seventy-four year old Lydia would need such an item. And then there is the state of Alaska itself. No one can describe the beauty of Alaska as well as Dana Stabenow. Reading the descriptions of her home state is worth the price of any book and the time spent reading it. Her words form the perfect picture and you would swear that you actually saw the glaciers instead of reading about them. Stabenow's female characters are usually created with first-rate skill. They all have different qualities, some good, some bad and all are very interesting. But her male characters all seem to be cut from the same pattern. They all have fled to Alaska, running from their lives and families. Liam Campbell is the same way. BETTER TO REST is not one of Stabenow's better Liam Campbell stories, but it isn't all that bad either. I enjoyed the humor and of course the wonderful writing even though the beginning was a bit on the slow side. Adding to the plodding pace and confusion, is the fact many of her female characters have male names. Time and time again I had to go back to the beginning of the book to figure out who was who and whether that character was a male or female. If you're a fan of the author I'd say you should definitely give this book a try. If you haven't read any of her books before I'd suggest you try one of the Kate Shugak mysteries first. This one is a good enough book, but her other series is outstanding.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, October 2002
This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
