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John McIntire is the constable of the small town of St Adele in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He does not much like policing his neighbors as life is difficult and just about everyone cuts a few corners to survive. In the aftermath of a fierce ice storm, the town is slowly trying to make repairs and dig themselves out. One of McIntire's neighbors, Nick, finds a large sum of money burned in a jar in his yard. In this container are some paper shreds. Nick's wife Mia wants to keep the money and modernize the house, but Nick tells McIntire about it. Some of the documents seem to have belonged to Rose Falk. Almost 20 years before a portion of the community moved to Soviet Karelia in order to build a better world. Unfortunately the Cold War and the Red Scare put an end to many people's dreams. Rose and her husband were thought to have been with those traveling to Karelia. The discovery of this jar, makes it seems likely that she never made the trip. With a little bit of investigation, McIntire manages to find two skeletons. One of these skeletons is Rose but the other skeleton is not the right size to be her husband. Who this second skeleton is and where her husband is are both questions that plague this investigation. Somehow McIntire must find out the truth about these missing Communists without sacrificing his own family and peace of mind. WITCH CRADLE starts off very slowly. It takes at least 50 pages before the plot picks up and the story begins to move. Because a large part of this book deals with Communists in a small town and the ideals of a previous generation, it takes a longer time for a clear picture of the actual story to emerge. Approaching this book as a modern reader with a better understanding of the politics and problems that occurred in the 1930s and 1950s it is hard for me to simply sit back and follow the story. Because I did not grow up in this era, I feel more frustrated and aggravated by the mentality surrounding Communism and politics than those who grew up in this era would feel. If I were a less cynical reader or a reader from an older generation these elements would not be viewed as a fault. None of the characters that appear in WITCH CRADLE are necessarily heroic or outstanding. All of the characters, including McIntire, are primarily concerned with survival. The winter is unforgiving and the weak always suffer. In a lot of ways this book is more depressing than a typical mystery. Even though some mysteries are dark and depressing, this book has a sense of hopelessness not found in many books. Even though all of the characters survived this ice storm and this investigation, no one's life has changed for the better. This investigation has not changed anything; everyone still has to worry about the next storm, about sick family members and survival. WITCH CRADLE does not provide the sense of closure or release that is found in many mysteries. This lack of closure or sense of accomplishment could be viewed as a negative by many readers.
Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, February 2006
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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