A Grave Talent

Rating:
Summary: The Lone Reader Reviews "A Grave Talent"
Review: "Human voices wake us, and we drown." (T.S. Eliot, _The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock_)

In "A Grave Talent", Laurie R. King makes a vigorous and original debut in the "mystery" genre. The characters provided are immediately memorable (even the subcharacters resonate and possess their own existences after they have come and gone), and a meticulous attention to detail is enhanced by noticeably superlative research and scholarship.

The plot is direct and unflinching; small female children are being slain and deposited in a remote but well-trafficked area near San Francisco. Others have covered this ground with chilling and eventually deadening precision. Where King shines is in the interleaving of superior human stories with the underlying "whodunit" suspense. It is unnervingly easy to lose the thread of the plot in interesting and tangential ways; I routinely found myself unable to distinguish whether I was reading the story for the culmination of a character's anecdote, or for the culmination of the mystery established.

This, to me, is the essence of a good mystery. It delves into the murk of human motivations, and, without creating artificial tensions, allows the tension of the narrative to evolve from the minutae of the characters' existences. You find yourself engrossed in the sidebar explanations of a character's life, and only afterwards realize that the motivation for their actions has been explained, without overt pedantry.

The story starts rapidly and develops just as rapidly, changing voice periodically without being jarring. There is little to no dimunition of the forward action of the narrative; flashback episodes are avoided, with narrative backtracking occurring through character-driven anecdotes. King vehemently avoids overexplanation, favoring historical brevity in her characters; of all her gifts in characterization, it is her willingness to allow her characters idiosyncracy and enigmatic behavior that shines.

If I were to sum up my reaction to "A Grave Talent", I would do so thus: Laurie R. King knows people, and in that knowledge lies the power of her narratives to engross, hold and eventually enthrall the reader.

Given a rating of four stars because I covet a house on Russian Hill, and reviewers are supposed to be idiosyncratic.

Thanks for reading,

Ashton Treadway

Rating:
Summary: Heartily recommended
Review: An excellent book I'd heartily recommend to anyone interested in mysteries/thrillers with an art twist. It is a San Francisco police investigation, revolving around a famous female artist, Vaun Adams, who has been in jail (under another name) for the murder of a child. When three more little girls are murdered near her current home, a hippie enclave, she's the logical suspect. But the detectives almost immediately conclude that she was wrongly convicted the first time, and is the victim of a frame by someone who hates her. The art elements (the description of her work, of her studio, and of her) as well as the characterizations, settings, private lives, motivations and detection are handled extremely well. The identification of the criminal, and the police pursuit of Vaun Adam's enemy, trying to catch him before he can kill again, is packed with suspense.

As far as I know, King has not written again about the art world. I wish she would. I think I've read every art-related mystery still in print, and a lot that aren't, and this is one of the best. She includes the perfect amount of information about art and the artist, enough so the reader has a sense of it, an understanding of the plot, but not enough to bore the reader.

Rating:
Summary: Heartily recommended
Review: An excellent book I'd heartily recommend to anyone interested in mysteries/thrillers with an art twist. It is a San Francisco police investigation, revolving around a famous female artist, Vaun Adams, who has been in jail (under another name) for the murder of a child. When three more little girls are murdered near her current home, a hippie enclave, she's the logical suspect. But the detectives almost immediately conclude that she was wrongly convicted the first time, and is the victim of a frame by someone who hates her. The art elements (the description of her work, of her studio, and of her) as well as the characterizations, settings, private lives, motivations and detection are handled extremely well. The identification of the criminal, and the police pursuit of Vaun Adam's enemy, trying to catch him before he can kill again, is packed with suspense.

As far as I know, King has not written again about the art world. I wish she would. I think I've read every art-related mystery still in print, and a lot that aren't, and this is one of the best. She includes the perfect amount of information about art and the artist, enough so the reader has a sense of it, an understanding of the plot, but not enough to bore the reader.

Rating:
Summary: I was disappointed
Review: Discovering the "Mary Russell" series was a reading highlight of the year for me. So you can imagine how excited I was to start "Grave Talent." It was not all that. I found myself falling asleep through the narrative, and pushed through to the end out of sheer determination.

Ms. King's greatest strength is how she portrays her characters: they're complex and contradictory, with frustrations that strike me as real. However, the plots of her mysteries are not suspenseful. The villain is usually revealed (or I figure it out) in the middle of the novel, and then there's a long waiting period before the big violent confrontation. Before, I could excuse this rather humdrum pattern because the characters and their emotional development were so fascinating. However, in "Grave Talent", the protagonists were boring, the style rather heavy-handed, and the mystery plodding.

I realize this is Ms. King's first novel, and perhaps it's unfair of me to compare this with her later works, but I just didn't enjoy "Grave Talent."

Rating:
Summary: Strong readable narrative
Review: Do you enjoy great writing for its own sake? Then this book is for you. But I was dissapointed with the story. This book was recommended as being tops in modern mystery writing and I felt strained and cheated. I didn't like any of the characters. They were not believable. The situation of Tyler Road just wouldn't wash. A lot of writing seemed pasted in to make a bigger book. At the end I was hungry for a Linda Barnes book or a Donald Westlake. I wish I had started skimming earlier instead of waiting until I was 4/5 of the way through the book. If I donate this book to the Senior Center I will do so with a handwritten caveat.

Rating:
Summary: Strong readable narrative
Review: Do you enjoy great writing for its own sake? Then this book is for you. But I was dissapointed with the story. This book was recommended as being tops in modern mystery writing and I felt strained and cheated. I didn't like any of the characters. They were not believable. The situation of Tyler Road just wouldn't wash. A lot of writing seemed pasted in to make a bigger book. At the end I was hungry for a Linda Barnes book or a Donald Westlake. I wish I had started skimming earlier instead of waiting until I was 4/5 of the way through the book. If I donate this book to the Senior Center I will do so with a handwritten caveat.

Rating:
Summary: Even better than the many recommendations I received...
Review: I *loved* _A Grave_ Talent_, and immediately bought the 2 subsequent Kate Martinelli mysteries. Kate's a great character, as is her partner Al Hawkin (kind of reminiscent of the relationship between Cornwell's Scarpetta and Marino), the mystery is a real page-turner, and the rendering of interpersonal relationships (between Kate and Al, between Kate and her lover Lee, between Al and Lee) is among the best I've read in the genre. I know the Mary Russell series is more popular, but I'm not a fan of historical mysteries, and I'm very pleased to have this series so I can enjoy King's excellent writing.

Rating:
Summary: Don't be Blinded by the Cover.
Review: I began this novel blind-sighted by its fluorescing orange cover but finished it with a clear vision of Laurie King's characters and the motive behind the crimes. The plot allows for digressions into her characters' histories and the murderer's motive. Her digressions prove that she is in no rush to publish sequential novels, which is a fault, in my opinion, of the many other murder mysteries I have read for a college course. The reader is allowed to get to know her characters with time, just as any relationship requires. For example, the relationship she creates between her lead detectives Kate Martinelli and AL Hawkin is honest. They start out testing one another and it is only when each has proven his/her capability that a trust is formed. It is not a matter of gender as I had suspected at the start of the novel. Upon the introduction of Hawkin I was concerned that King was going to depict him as the stereotypical male- chauvinist-boss-man character that Martinelli will have to gloriously over come. Not so. Hawkin is as judgmental as anyone would be when assigned a high profile case with a new-to-the-job partner. He is different because he is open to her success. He respects her when she demonstrates her strength in the field.

To understand Hawkin, Martinelli, and her other characters, King doesn't just tell the reader but rather shows their personalities through their emotions, behaviors, and thoughts. In addition to accomplishing strong character development, this technique validates any motive behind the crimes. There is a digression into the past of Vaun Adams, the suspected murderer, that provides information on why she could or could not be the murderer and if not, than reasons to suspect another.

I suggest putting sunglasses on so that this book can be approached and read. I finished this book with a desire to get to know Kate and Al and the gang better in King's mysteries to come.

Rating:
Summary: Don't be Blinded by the Cover.
Review: I began this novel blind-sighted by its fluorescing orange cover but finished it with a clear vision of Laurie King's characters and the motive behind the crimes. The plot allows for digressions into her characters' histories and the murderer's motive. Her digressions prove that she is in no rush to publish sequential novels, which is a fault, in my opinion, of the many other murder mysteries I have read for a college course. The reader is allowed to get to know her characters with time, just as any relationship requires. For example, the relationship she creates between her lead detectives Kate Martinelli and AL Hawkin is honest. They start out testing one another and it is only when each has proven his/her capability that a trust is formed. It is not a matter of gender as I had suspected at the start of the novel. Upon the introduction of Hawkin I was concerned that King was going to depict him as the stereotypical male- chauvinist-boss-man character that Martinelli will have to gloriously over come. Not so. Hawkin is as judgmental as anyone would be when assigned a high profile case with a new-to-the-job partner. He is different because he is open to her success. He respects her when she demonstrates her strength in the field.

To understand Hawkin, Martinelli, and her other characters, King doesn't just tell the reader but rather shows their personalities through their emotions, behaviors, and thoughts. In addition to accomplishing strong character development, this technique validates any motive behind the crimes. There is a digression into the past of Vaun Adams, the suspected murderer, that provides information on why she could or could not be the murderer and if not, than reasons to suspect another.

I suggest putting sunglasses on so that this book can be approached and read. I finished this book with a desire to get to know Kate and Al and the gang better in King's mysteries to come.

Rating:
Summary: Don't be Blinded by the Cover.
Review: I began this novel blind-sighted by its fluorescing orange cover but finished it with a clear vision of Laurie King�s characters and the motive behind the crimes. The plot allows for digressions into her characters' histories and the murderer's motive. Her digressions prove that she is in no rush to publish sequential novels, which is a fault, in my opinion, of the many other murder mysteries I have read for a college course. The reader is allowed to get to know her characters with time, just as any relationship requires. For example, the relationship she creates between her lead detectives Kate Martinelli and AL Hawkin is honest. They start out testing one another and it is only when each has proven his/her capability that a trust is formed. It is not a matter of gender as I had suspected at the start of the novel. Upon the introduction of Hawkin I was concerned that King was going to depict him as the stereotypical male- chauvinist-boss-man character that Martinelli will have to gloriously over come. Not so. Hawkin is as judgmental as anyone would be when assigned a high profile case with a new-to-the-job partner. He is different because he is open to her success. He respects her when she demonstrates her strength in the field.

To understand Hawkin, Martinelli, and her other characters, King doesn�t just tell the reader but rather shows their personalities through their emotions, behaviors, and thoughts. In addition to accomplishing strong character development, this technique validates any motive behind the crimes. There is a digression into the past of Vaun Adams, the suspected murderer, that provides information on why she could or could not be the murderer and if not, than reasons to suspect another.

I suggest putting sunglasses on so that this book can be approached and read. I finished this book eager to know Kate and Al and the gang better in King's mysteries to come.