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The Twisted Root

The Twisted Root

List Price: $7.50
Your Price: $6.75
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent as usual
Review: After a delightful three-week honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands, William and Hester Monk return to London. Hester starts anew her battle to redesign the nursing profession along the lines of Florence Nightingale's work during the Crimea War. Being a Victorian gentleman, William, is determined that his business as an enquiry agent flourishes so he can support his spouse. Hester understands her beloved's goal as a sign of the times.

Lucius Sturbridge turns to William for help when his betrothed Miriam vanished without a trace from a garden party five days ago. No one has seen her since she disappeared. Recognizing that the distraught Lucius loves his intended as strongly as he loves his Hester, William reluctantly agrees to investigate. He finds the carriage that transported Miriam, but the driver is dead. The police first arrested Miriam, but freed her when they felt the suspect's foster mother had a stronger motive. When Lucius, mother is killed, the police arrest Miriam again. The prisoner knows more than she is saying, but is willing to take her information to the gallows. Hester begins her own inquiries in order to save Miriam's life.

Anne Perry always provides her fans with an interesting story with THE TWISTED ROOM being one of her best. The archaically formed nursing profession (circa 1860) is examined, leaving readers to shake their heads as the participants are considered on a par with charlatans. The who-done-it is entertaining because the audience knows that the prime suspect is hiding information that would prove her innocence. This moves the reader to wondering why Miriam would rather die than reveal the truth. Ms. Perry appears heading towards another award with this winning historical mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: EXCELLENT! SHOCKING! I want to read it again!
Review: After the surpising twist to the end of A Breach of Promise, I thought Anne Perry had used up all her shock value. I was very mistaken! Bravo Ms. Perry you are an excellent writer and never cease to amaze me with your plots! I can't wait to be surprised by Half Moon Street! Excellent!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Anne Perry does it again, and again and again...
Review: Although I will continue to read any and all of Anne Perry's Victorian novels that come my way, I am ALWAYS ready to scream at her habit of having her characters echo themselves and each other constantly. She reiterates actions, thoughts and opinions to the point of making me cry out, "I get it, I get it." And do we really have to have numerous characters speak of another as "poor little thing" or some such stereotypical phrasing? Really...it's like the same person with different names saying THE SAME THING in the SAME tone about the SAME incidents. She also goes into much too much rehashing of plot.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Ms. Perry needs to tighten her writing.................
Review: Anne Perry never fails to fascinate with her Victorian mysteries - and this Monk tale is certainly no exception to that rule. Wielding a twist that makes you shiver, this plot never feels contrived or hokey -- outcomes simply reveal themselves to be completely believable, sensible and brilliant. Read this book, and two things will happen: first, you won't want to put it down until you finish; and second, you'll spend most of your future time and money devouring more of Perry's delicious mysteries.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wow
Review: Anne Perry never fails to fascinate with her Victorian mysteries - and this Monk tale is certainly no exception to that rule. Wielding a twist that makes you shiver, this plot never feels contrived or hokey -- outcomes simply reveal themselves to be completely believable, sensible and brilliant. Read this book, and two things will happen: first, you won't want to put it down until you finish; and second, you'll spend most of your future time and money devouring more of Perry's delicious mysteries.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Monk & Hester, happy at last, still get their perpetrator
Review: Anne Perry's newest book, The Twisted Root, is a worthy successor to her previous Monk & Hester books. Settled into domestic bliss, Monk is a private investigator and Hester a hospital volunteer. Together with Oliver Rathbone, who still loves Hester, they discover who murdered a coachman. Lady Callandra Daviot returns as does Rathbone's father, two wonderful characters. A new young policeman is introduced, and I hope to find him in future books. My only small concern is Miriam Gardiner, charged with murder, does not appear as much in the book as I would have liked. Should any of these books ever be made into movies, I would cast Alan Rickman as Monk, Emma Thompson as Hester, & Jeremy Northam as Rathbone. Any comments?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Incredible imagination
Review: Excellent story, at first when Monk found Miriam and she told him that she is innocent, but she can't tell anything because nobody will believe her and because is better if she die that telling the true, I thought that the book doesn`t worth it, but I kept reading because the book keeps you interested in the story, so I said: "OK, I am sure that at the end I will regret to finish the book but I will."
When you get to the end of the book, you will see that Miriam was right, she will be better dead that telling everybody the truth of what she saw in Lucius house, I don`t know if this story could happen to a woman, but I wish not.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Twisted Root : A William Monk Novel
Review: Excellent! One of the best Anne Perry books I have read. When you think you have it figured out, finding you are wrong makes it that much more enjoyable. I highly recommend this book.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: This is much too sordid, even for Anne Perry.
Review: Having read many of Anne Perry's books, especially in the Monk series, I am used to her morbid outlook on life. However, her obsession with extremely dark and perverted people is getting to be a little much. To Perry's credit, she handles William's and Hester's relationship very nicely in "The Twisted Root". She also effectively describes Rathbone's discomfiture at having let Hester "slip through his fingers". However, the mystery itself is ridiculous. It is filled with absurd coincidences and a truly sick and cynical take on human nature. Perry should try to write some mysteries that are a little less sensational. If she feels that it necessary to be outrageous to sell books, then she has a very low view of the public, indeed.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Monk and Wife Struggle With Wedded Bliss and Solve a Mystery
Review: I have been a fan of Anne Perry's detectives [and formerly one wife -- now two wives] for many years. The plot of this novel is intriguing and complex as is customary in Perry's works, and, in addition, we get to see the jockeying for position in their newly-combined home between the amnesiac investigator William Monk and the opinionated nurse Hester Latterly Monk. These scenes are fascinating and show that Perry not only knows her Victorians but is also knowledgeable about the human heart, regardless of time. All in all, this was an excellent read. From the moment a young woman mysteriously disappears from a croquet game at one of Britian's grand country estates in the company of one of the family's male servants, there is seldom a dull moment.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. May the author provide us with many more.


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