I have to say I was disappointed in this book. It started off great and really held my interest. The main character seemed interesting and the descriptions of the South Carolina Low Country completely drew me in. But about 1/4 of the way in the book things kind of started to feel strange, and I just couldn't get back into the story.
Joey is visiting Beaufort, SC, to visit his retired parents. Joey's dad, Marshall, grew up in Beaufort and after having decided to return there found out he has been diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia. The disease is affecting his short-term memory and is also causing long ago memories to stand out vividly. Joey soon learns of a long-standing hate between his father and the well-to-do Hammond family, as well as mysterious events from his father's past that seem all-too real to Joey's father. When someone in the Hammond family is found murdered, Joey worries that his father might become a suspect and tries to find a way to protect him while still trying to discover how the past is now affecting the present.
As I stated earlier, I really was enjoying this book until about the 25% mark. The descriptions of Beaufort and the surrounding areas were great. But then about the time that Joey began his relationship with Leela, the pacing began to feel extremely off.
Pacing problem 1: Once the murder occurred, Joey became convinced that his dad could have been responsible based on things mentioned in passing in conversations he's just had with people he hadn't seen in years. It began to feel like an episode Murder, She Wrote. It was like Joey was saying, "Well, So-and-so said that this guy didn't like my dad's best friend, so when he disappeared he MUST have been MURDERED!" or, "This guy apparently liked this girl because So-and-so mentioned it, so he MUST have KILLED HER!" There was just A LOT of jumping to conclusions with very little evidence. More time should have been spent following up leads, researching the past, or trying to figure out exactly what happened before Joey and his "sidekick" Leela started playing detective and taking things that very well could have been rumors or coincidences and treating them like hard facts (and she felt like some kind of weird sidekick, and not a partner or a fleshed-out character).
Pacing problem 2: Then to make matters worse things that did not have to be repeated were oftentimes reexplained for no good reason, while other things were described in redundant and excruciatingly unnecessary detail.
Pacing problem 3: (This might be a spoiler) Huge components to the mystery were left to Joey and Leela to "deduce" (and by that I mean jump to conclusions based on little to no evidence and then take them as hard facts...see above), and so when facts were finally confirmed by Marshall, they lost all their emotional impact on the story. This man who has been struggling with his memory is finally able to talk to his son and reveal important events from his past, but Joey (and the reader) is just sitting there like, "Yeah, we already knew that, Dad...and...?" And THEN, where there is a pretty huge reveal that no one saw coming, instead of playing out the scene in real time, the author decides to relate the scene as a recording. So instead of narrating things like tone of voice, body language, and other immediate feelings, everything is completely robbed of emotion. That was a very strange choice, to me.
Pacing problem 4: (Again, trying to to give away too many spoilers) When the killer was finally revealed, this person and their "relationship" to Joey just came off as completely bizarre and out of the blue. I was just sitting there reading like, "Huh?!" It really felt like the author just needed to wrap up everything and found the most convenient scape-goat.
I will say that this was a very fast read. So if you are looking for something to read on vacation or at the beach (preferably somewhere between Cherry Grove and Hilton Head!), and reading a book that comes across as an episode of Matlock doesn't bother you, then give this book a try. If you are looking for something more hard-hitting, well-plotted, and gripping, then I'd skip this one.
Joey is visiting Beaufort, SC, to visit his retired parents. Joey's dad, Marshall, grew up in Beaufort and after having decided to return there found out he has been diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia. The disease is affecting his short-term memory and is also causing long ago memories to stand out vividly. Joey soon learns of a long-standing hate between his father and the well-to-do Hammond family, as well as mysterious events from his father's past that seem all-too real to Joey's father. When someone in the Hammond family is found murdered, Joey worries that his father might become a suspect and tries to find a way to protect him while still trying to discover how the past is now affecting the present.
As I stated earlier, I really was enjoying this book until about the 25% mark. The descriptions of Beaufort and the surrounding areas were great. But then about the time that Joey began his relationship with Leela, the pacing began to feel extremely off.
Pacing problem 1: Once the murder occurred, Joey became convinced that his dad could have been responsible based on things mentioned in passing in conversations he's just had with people he hadn't seen in years. It began to feel like an episode Murder, She Wrote. It was like Joey was saying, "Well, So-and-so said that this guy didn't like my dad's best friend, so when he disappeared he MUST have been MURDERED!" or, "This guy apparently liked this girl because So-and-so mentioned it, so he MUST have KILLED HER!" There was just A LOT of jumping to conclusions with very little evidence. More time should have been spent following up leads, researching the past, or trying to figure out exactly what happened before Joey and his "sidekick" Leela started playing detective and taking things that very well could have been rumors or coincidences and treating them like hard facts (and she felt like some kind of weird sidekick, and not a partner or a fleshed-out character).
Pacing problem 2: Then to make matters worse things that did not have to be repeated were oftentimes reexplained for no good reason, while other things were described in redundant and excruciatingly unnecessary detail.
Pacing problem 3: (This might be a spoiler) Huge components to the mystery were left to Joey and Leela to "deduce" (and by that I mean jump to conclusions based on little to no evidence and then take them as hard facts...see above), and so when facts were finally confirmed by Marshall, they lost all their emotional impact on the story. This man who has been struggling with his memory is finally able to talk to his son and reveal important events from his past, but Joey (and the reader) is just sitting there like, "Yeah, we already knew that, Dad...and...?" And THEN, where there is a pretty huge reveal that no one saw coming, instead of playing out the scene in real time, the author decides to relate the scene as a recording. So instead of narrating things like tone of voice, body language, and other immediate feelings, everything is completely robbed of emotion. That was a very strange choice, to me.
Pacing problem 4: (Again, trying to to give away too many spoilers) When the killer was finally revealed, this person and their "relationship" to Joey just came off as completely bizarre and out of the blue. I was just sitting there reading like, "Huh?!" It really felt like the author just needed to wrap up everything and found the most convenient scape-goat.
I will say that this was a very fast read. So if you are looking for something to read on vacation or at the beach (preferably somewhere between Cherry Grove and Hilton Head!), and reading a book that comes across as an episode of Matlock doesn't bother you, then give this book a try. If you are looking for something more hard-hitting, well-plotted, and gripping, then I'd skip this one.