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Deborah (162 KP) rated The River of No Return in Books

Dec 21, 2018

At nearly 600 pages, this isn't a short read (although the font is quite large.....) and although, after a slowish start, I did really get into the book, the ending left me feeling disappointed - not enough to give 4 starts this time. The right ingredients are all there, it's just that this is a pretty long book and at the end of it we got very little explanation or resolution of story threads. It was more like Part One of a larger novel than book one of a series because so little is resolved at the end of this, so it doesn't really work as a standalone novel.

My more usual reading matter tends towards historical fiction/mystery/romance, do maybe this was why I was happier once we were back in the Georgian period than in the modern, or maybe it just took a while to get going. We are nearly a third into the book before the big jump back in time takes place, so maybe it wasn't just a feeling. A lot of the stuff beforehand is trying to explain and set up the plot rather than just let it happen.

Kudos

Bob Dylan: Like a Complete Unknown

David Yaffe

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Bob Dylan is an iconic figure in American musical and cultural history, lauded by Time magazine as...

The Little Book of Stonehenge

Meredith MacArdle

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Published in association with English Heritage, this fact-filled gift book is the perfect tribute to...

A Cruel Necessity

L.C. Tyler

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The first John Grey historical mystery The theatres are padlocked. Christmas has been cancelled. It...

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2322 KP) rated The Sharpest Needle in Books

Feb 3, 2021

Blackmailing a Star

It’s August 1939, and silent film actress Marion Davies has been receiving poison pen letters from someone calling himself Argus. The letters threaten to reveal something from Marion’s past, something that could ruin her current relationship with William Randolph Hurst. When she turns to Lillian Frost and Edith Head for help, Edith can’t help but think there is more to the situation than there first appears to be. Then a dead body turns up. Can Lillian and Edith figure out what is going on?

There is so much to praise in this book. The plot is strong and always keeps us engaged. It does get a little convoluted as we reach the climax, but as long as you pay attention, you’ll follow what is happening. Real people and fictional characters rub elbows seamlessly, and they all appear fully formed to us. I love watching for cameos. The news of the day impacts the character, and therefore us. Yet we also have talk about the films coming out during that time, which I enjoyed. This is more than a Hollywood mystery. If you enjoy historical mysteries, you need to read these books today.