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margaretpinard's review
3.0
A unique premise, and lots of twists and turns in this mystery, set evocatively in County Clare, Ireland.
I liked the town, the matchmaking festival tradition, the nosy Irish besoms, and the individual family dramas. Some of my favorite bits:
p89 'gasoline exhaust, damp sheep wool, & Atlantic tang' p144 'so stingy he wouldn't give you the steam off his piss' p37 'disillusionment breeds resentment, which is a kind of hatred'
This is a mystery with a lot of beautiful literary style. Recommended for lovers of whodunits and Celtic mysteries.
SPOILER
But I have to say, the plot was a little too twisted for me, I didn't sympathize with the main character's ultimate wish to keep her dad out of prison, and I was frustrated by the several instances of referring to something which the reader had not yet seen: pieces of paper, multiplying inhalers, duplicate knives. The gimpy hand sounded like such a clue but didn't seem likely to have been caused by a rock fall. Connie's calm confession, when we'd never even talked to her before. And the twisted love/revenge story that keeps on giving! It felt a little too Days of Our Lives-Stefano style for me.
However, no glaring plot holes, gorgeous language characterization (I asked the author at a reading how hard it had been to do dialect, and she said she hadn't really used dialect, but when I read the book, there was a definite shift of syntax and vocabulary for the Irish folks which I heard and appreciated!), and some humorous human foibles to boot.
I liked the town, the matchmaking festival tradition, the nosy Irish besoms, and the individual family dramas. Some of my favorite bits:
p89 'gasoline exhaust, damp sheep wool, & Atlantic tang' p144 'so stingy he wouldn't give you the steam off his piss' p37 'disillusionment breeds resentment, which is a kind of hatred'
This is a mystery with a lot of beautiful literary style. Recommended for lovers of whodunits and Celtic mysteries.
SPOILER
But I have to say, the plot was a little too twisted for me, I didn't sympathize with the main character's ultimate wish to keep her dad out of prison, and I was frustrated by the several instances of referring to something which the reader had not yet seen: pieces of paper, multiplying inhalers, duplicate knives. The gimpy hand sounded like such a clue but didn't seem likely to have been caused by a rock fall. Connie's calm confession, when we'd never even talked to her before. And the twisted love/revenge story that keeps on giving! It felt a little too Days of Our Lives-Stefano style for me.
However, no glaring plot holes, gorgeous language characterization (I asked the author at a reading how hard it had been to do dialect, and she said she hadn't really used dialect, but when I read the book, there was a definite shift of syntax and vocabulary for the Irish folks which I heard and appreciated!), and some humorous human foibles to boot.
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