Mystery

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: Decent Book-- For Peter Straub
Review: Mystery was the third book by Peter Straub that I have read, and was probably the best. It seems that his work (in general) starts off rather slow and then gets interesting only to disappoint at the end. This was probably the least disappointing ending, although it did leave me wanting a bit more.

I found Tom Pasmore to be more interesting when he actually acted like a teenager, and not so much when he became Lamont von Helitz; who is a character that I find pretty unbelieveable.

Another thing that was odd was that in his effort to make this book timeless (can be related to any time period), Straub failed and just made me feel like I was reading a novel that takes place in 1940 but had a bunch of inconsistencies.

Overall, I find Straub to be a decent writer who spends too much time trying to be fantastic and not enough time making his work believable and interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Expected More
Review: Not as good as one would have expected. A Hardy Boys adventure writ large. Ghost Story is still superior.

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: 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: Excellent but slow moving mystery
Review: Of the Blue Rose Trilogy, which also includes Straub's KOKO and THE THROAT, this was the least intense, though it certainly boasts the most intriguing plot. The three novels in this series are almost experimental in nature, resembling an artist's notepad in which ideas for short stories are introduced, discarded, and then reworked later on. The common threads running through the stories are the Blue Rose murders, Millhaven and Tim Underhill, though the latter two are disguised here. MYSTERY can be read all by itself and appreciated, but it should be supplemented with KOKO and, at least, THE THROAT. Reading all three in order of publication, one gets the feeling of reading the same story told from different points of view, like the Gospels so often alluded to in THE THROAT.

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: 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: 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: A good read.
Review: Simply put, a good read. The first Straub book I have read. A lot better than the Michael Slade/Stephen King style of gore and horror. Much less predictable than most.