The Mystery Starts Here

I got to within 30 pages of the end of “Never Fear” and just quit. I was SO disgusted, I couldn’t force myself to finish. I’m STILL not entirely sure what the damn book was about.

First of all, the protagonist, Alex Dillieo is suppose to be a woman, but I didn’t believe it for a minute. Some men can write good women characters, some can’t – Frost can’t.  I never believed she was female – and I can’t really point to any one reason why. Just a feeling. And, the investigation took place over the course of, I think, four days but….Alex never changed clothes, showered or apparently ate! EEEUUUU. There were a couple of contrived love scenes between Alex and her partner but they were very awkward and unbelievable.

Speaking of her partner, his name was Harrington. One of the other main characters name was…Hazard. I kept getting them mixed up! Why Frost had two main characters with such similar names, I have no idea but it was not a good idea. That’s a newby mistake and should NEVER have come out in a published novel. Where on earth was the editor?????

Okay so the plot. The author keeps remarking on things that apparently happened in a previous book. I hate that! I haven’t read the book (and certainly won’t now) so it slowed the progress of the novel. Alex is contacted because a man who said he’s her brother was killed, or committed suicide, but Alex doesn’t have a brother. Alex, a cop with Pasadena PD, goes off to investigate. I’d love to give you a synopsis of the plot but I honestly can’t. It was so damn convoluted, I simply could not follow what was happening. It had something to do with a serial killer from 18 years previous who may…or may not have been Alex father. There were coincidences all over the place – another newby mistake and a couple of times my eyeballs were rolling around in my head so fast I stopped reading and said out loud “OH come on!!!” Yeah, that bad.

So, if you feel you have to read “Never Fear” I’d suggest you get it from the library. And if you do – would you please explain it to me? I don’t have a clue.

Want to read a GOOD dark mystery? Pick up a copy of my mystery, The Worst Evil, available at: www.whiskeycreekpress.com

While I haven’t read all the books in Kruger’s Cork O’Connor series, I have read several and enjoyed them. I really wish I could start each new series character at the beginning but….

That said, I picked up “Vermilion Drift” because I was familiar with the character. Let me say right off the bat that Kruger is a very good writer. His descriptions of northern Minnesota are sharp and picturesque – you can see those clear blue lakes, hear the wind blowing through the tops of tall trees, small the fresh air. Too bad Kruger left out one important element. Mosquitoes. Hey, I grew up in Minnesota, I know. Those little buggers are all over the place and have been known to carry off small children! Okay, so that was a bit of an exaggeration. My point is that Kruger has idolized the place.

The book starts slow – not good. I teach a Novel Writing Class and always instruct my students to start in the middle of something – grab the reader and make him or her want to continue. In the beginning of “Vermilion Drift”, Max Cavanaugh, owner of a iron ore mine on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range, wants Cork O’Connor to find his sister. She’s been missing for a week and Cavanaugh is getting worried. Cork had been Sheriff of Aurora, the town closest to the mine at one time, but is now retired and only does consulting work as a P.I. The book meanders on for about 20 pages until FINALLY six bodies are found in the Vermilion mine. I won’t ever try to explain what a drift is – it took the book about four pages, four BORING pages. Well, now we finally have something interesting – especially because five of the remains seem to have been in the mine for over 40 years, since “the Vanishings” on the Indian Reservation. Of course Max’s sister is the newest member of the macabre scene.

Sound confusing? Yes, it is. There is a lot of Cork dreaming of his dead father, who was also a Sheriff, lots of characters from “the Rez.”  There are too many characters, too many subplots and quite frankly too much Indian mumbo jumbo.  Cork is one quarter Ojibwa Indian but seems to identify almost completely with his Indian roots.

There were far too many coincidences in the book, a lot of deux ex machina. I think Kruger is simply running out of ideas or getting tired of the character – or something. I figured out quite easily who killed the modern woman and throughout the story we know who killed all the older bodies. There really isn’t a lot of action in this book and I had to force myself to keep reading. When Cork finally figures out whodunit, I was happy that I’d guessed correctly and ready to close the book….but wait. Kruger wasn’t finished! He went on for about 30 more pages, having Cork sit in a sweat lodge with his old Indian friend so he could “finish the journey.” Any reader with half a brain had already figured out who killed all the people 40 years ago – the author basically told us! I skimmed the remaining pages but was disappointed. Kruger should have stopped the book when the modern mystery had been solved.

Right now I’d have to think long and hard about reading another Cork O’Connor book. Good old Corkie has grown boring.

Want to read a GOOD mystery that is exciting from beginning to end? Pick up a copy of “The Worse Evil” at www.whiskeycreekpress.com