Rating: 
Summary: What a let down!
Review: After Koko I was eager to start mystery. From the reviews and all, I thought Mystery would be a continuation of the Blue Rose murders, but not really. This was nothing but a mystery story of the boring variety; the kind where the main character goes around interviewing one person after another; what a yawn. Stick to Horror Mr. Straub you do that much better. Thank God its Value priced. Yes I bought the audiobook version but I don't think I missed much, perhaps the connection with Koko? Anyway, if you like a mystery read it but not for a horror fan like myself.
Rating: 
Summary: I Know What You Are...
Review: Every once in a while you read a book that absolutly floors you. Mystery, the second book in Peter Straub's Blue Rose trilogy, does just that. It starts out with an excellent opening, a near death experience to the book's main charechter Tom Passomre, and takes off. Tom comes out of this experience with a strange fascination for death and murder and is confronted by an old man named Lamont who shares his obsession. Together they begin to investigat two murders, one past and one present. What follows is an excellent tale of suspense, deceit, and of course murder.What makes this novel work so well is how intimatlly Straub understands his charechters. He's not satisfied to leave this excellent story with card board cut out charechters. Instead he breathes life into it and before long they are no longer just people on a page. Instead they are old friends who you come to know very intimatley. For me the main thing that makes charechters work in a novel is dialougue and Straub has no problem with this. He makes every word and emotion believable. He engulfs you into these people's lives and you genuinlly care about everything that happens to them. I don't dare to give away the end but let me say it will certainly come as a shock to even the most experienced readers of mystery novels. With this book Straub has catapulted himself to the top of my list of favorite author. Here's hoping for many more years of excellent writing just like this from one of today's best but least known authors.
Rating: 
Summary: Quite Poor...
Review: I did not enjoy this book. The characters are weak, the story line is unfullfilling and never really resolves satisfactrorly. A number of issues are never completely explained. Very difficult to empaphise with the main character. The island of Mill Walk in the Caribbean is completely unlike any island that exists in the region. A very poor try at a mystery, unimaginative, uninspired, watse of time.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Trilogy
Review: I've never understood why Straub is considered a horror writer. His books can be arcane, mystical, compelling, and mysterious, but gruesome or frightening I've never found them to be. "Mystery" is his best, IMHO. Tom and his grandfather Lamont experience an immediate, subliminal meeting of mind and spirit, though Tom does not become cognizant of their kinship for quite some time. I have to confess to some confusion in some sections of the plot, but it plays itself out with subtlety and holds one's interest to the end. Intriguing.
Rating:
Summary: Best book you haven't read . . .
Review: Let me prefrace this by saying this happens to be my favorite book of all time. That having been said; Peter Staub, like Stephen King, is no Dickens here people. I will not try to compare him to Dickens. What Straubs writes are great characters and even better plot twist. "Mystery," his best work, is about Tom Pasmore a boy who view of the world is changed forever by a near death experience. With a new respect for his life and a fascination with death, Tom Pasmore begins a journey into his small town's past (as well as his own), to solve two murders; one commited in the present and one commited 3 decades ago. It is an amzing story of a boy growing up, finding himself. This is a taught thrilling adventure that I am SURE will become one of your favorite novels. It's fast fun read that you will not regret.
Rating: 
Summary: The Shadow Knows!
Review: Of Straub's "Blue Rose" murder mystery trilogy, this middle entry is probably my favorite, though The Throat is his best. It has a weak start and takes a while to warm up, but once it does it reads very well. What makes this one work is the characters, especially amateur sleuth Tom Pasmore and his mentor, Lamont Von Heilitz, an elderly Sherlock Holmes who is presented as the original model for Lamont Cranston, radio's "The Shadow." The girlfriend Pasmore picks up along the way livens things up considerably, as well. Something prevalent in all Straub's work, and especially so here, is status consciousness and the American caste system of money. Pasmore is from the wrong side of the tracks - i.e., "not rich" - and manages to get himself sleuthing around the upper crust, to the resentment of imminently less noble characters with larger bank accounts and trust funds. Straub has a true detective's sense of crime and its motivations - namely, sex and money - and he presents them very credibly. More importantly, he convincingly portrays the strata of corruption that money breeds, and the way it maintains itself. This is a very strong, typically well-plotted Straub story, whose flaws are a rather slow start and too great a length. The story is standard murder mystery fare - it's the characters and the style in which it is told that make it worthwhile.
Rating:
Summary: A Mystery to Me
Review: Peter Straub's trilogy of "Koko," "Mystery" and "The Throat" is a complex and sometimes overwhelming read. In "Mystery" we meet young Tom Pasmore, who after a near death experience, is able to psychically link to an unsolved murder committed by Blue Rose. The Blue Rose scenario prevails through this book and is once again resurrected in "The Throat." Trying to figure out who Blue Rose really is turns out to be quite a chore for Tom and his new found friend, Lamont von Heilitz. There are plenty of interesting secondary characters, a pretty vile grandfather, and assorted villains and heroes. "Mystery" is well constructed and maintains interest a little better than its predecessor, "Koko." With "The Throat," Straub finally hits his mark and makes the trilogy a worthwhile, if difficult, journey.
Rating:
Summary: One of the richest and most haunting stories ever written
Review: The "hook" with Peter Straub's novel was that a popular horror author has written a book titled "mystery". Had the author changed genres? This was what I wondered in High School when I first picked up the book. I had read Ghost Story (excellent) by Mr. Straub and was intrigued that he would write a book titled "mystery" with no apparent supernatural creatrues or doings found in the pages. But what authors like Peter Straub remind us of is that horror and fear and dread are all psychological in essence and that you can be scared and affected by a book that has no ghosts or no monsters. "Mystery" stands as a perfect novel in my eyes. While Ghost Story may be Straub's best "horror" novel, and one of the best ever I might add, this novel achieves greatness amongst ANY class of fiction. The characters are wonderful. Straub not only makes you love them, namely Tom Pasmore the antagonist and his mentor Lamont Von Heilitz, but he makes you be there WITH them. You long to learn the mysteries of the past. You long to learn the ways of a sleuth. I was right alongside Tom Pasmore in this story. I felt for him, I grieved with him, and I detected with him. Simple as that. The plot sounds simple but is so much more complex. Tom Pasmore, a young boy who is nearly killed in the beginning of the novel, takes up the art of mystery solving. He is fueled by a wonderful, reclusive neighbor who was once a "detective" himself. Tom then applies his knowledge to try and find a killer in the present and ultimately in the past. Mystery is about a young man's journey into adulthood and the hard truths about life. It is about realizing that secrets and untold truths swirl around us every day and that sometimes finding them out can be satisfying and other times dreadful. I left this story with a sadness in my heart. I simply didn;t want to leave the story. Mystery has suspense. Mystery has heartache. Mystery has, of course, a mystery. But what Mystery has most of is heart. It is simply one of the richest and most haunting stories you will ever read. One final note in case you didn't know. Mystery is the middle book of a trilogy that beings with Koko and ends with The Throat. You don't have to read Koko to read Mystery, and vice versa. But you DO have to read them both before reading The Throat. One more thing... The Throat is almost as good as Mystery. Almost.
Rating:
Summary: One of the richest and most haunting stories ever written
Review: The "hook" with Peter Straub's novel was that a popular horror author has written a book titled "mystery". Had the author changed genres? This was what I wondered in High School when I first picked up the book. I had read Ghost Story (excellent) by Mr. Straub and was intrigued that he would write a book titled "mystery" with no apparent supernatural creatrues or doings found in the pages. But what authors like Peter Straub remind us of is that horror and fear and dread are all psychological in essence and that you can be scared and affected by a book that has no ghosts or no monsters. "Mystery" stands as a perfect novel in my eyes. While Ghost Story may be Straub's best "horror" novel, and one of the best ever I might add, this novel achieves greatness amongst ANY class of fiction. The characters are wonderful. Straub not only makes you love them, namely Tom Pasmore the antagonist and his mentor Lamont Von Heilitz, but he makes you be there WITH them. You long to learn the mysteries of the past. You long to learn the ways of a sleuth. I was right alongside Tom Pasmore in this story. I felt for him, I grieved with him, and I detected with him. Simple as that. The plot sounds simple but is so much more complex. Tom Pasmore, a young boy who is nearly killed in the beginning of the novel, takes up the art of mystery solving. He is fueled by a wonderful, reclusive neighbor who was once a "detective" himself. Tom then applies his knowledge to try and find a killer in the present and ultimately in the past. Mystery is about a young man's journey into adulthood and the hard truths about life. It is about realizing that secrets and untold truths swirl around us every day and that sometimes finding them out can be satisfying and other times dreadful. I left this story with a sadness in my heart. I simply didn;t want to leave the story. Mystery has suspense. Mystery has heartache. Mystery has, of course, a mystery. But what Mystery has most of is heart. It is simply one of the richest and most haunting stories you will ever read. One final note in case you didn't know. Mystery is the middle book of a trilogy that beings with Koko and ends with The Throat. You don't have to read Koko to read Mystery, and vice versa. But you DO have to read them both before reading The Throat. One more thing... The Throat is almost as good as Mystery. Almost.
Rating:
Summary: A disturbing story, wonderful to open up your mind.
Review: The story follows the life of a boy who has a special gift for seeing past the facade of how things appear to look to how they really are. His death only broadens this spectrum and creates questions that he feels need to be answered. Lamont von Heilitz is his guide along the path to his enlightenment and self-discovery, and along the way he finds out things about his family and world that he only dreamed were true. The writing style is direct, provoking an emotional reaction to the situations described. By a simple style, Straub draws you in and makes you face what Tom faces. I have not read any of his other books, but I feel that this one has made such an impact on me that I will definitely have to look into what other creations he has penned into existence.
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