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Summary: Listen to the Silence
Review: "Listen to the Silence" is the 21st Sharon McCone novel by Marcia Muller. I think that this novel is one of the best, if not the very best, of this long-running series. While cleaning her father's attic after his death, she finds papers which document that she was adopted by the McCones. She decides to look for her birth parents and her investigation takes her from Montana to Boise, Idaho to Modoc County in northern California. Someone doesn't want her to find out the truth, and Sharon finds her life is in danger as she gets closer to the truth. This novel is fast-paced and the mystery of her birth parents keeps the reader turning the pages. This novel by this wonderful author is highly recommended.
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Summary: The Marvelous Evolution of Sharon McCone
Review: Being a mystery writer whose first book is in its initial release, I have been fascinated by Marcia Muller's work and her evolving Sharon McCone character since I first began reading this series nearly two decades ago. Over the course of nearly two dozen books, Muller has allowed Sharon McCone to grow up and mature from a quasi-counter-culture twentysomething woman working as a PI for a nonprofit San Francisco legal clinic into the fortysomething owner of her own private investigation agency. Muller has pulled off this transformation more convincingly than I have seen in the works of any other mystery author.In LISTEN TO THE SILENCE, Muller adds fresh twists to McCone's background. Upon the death of her father, McCone discovers why she is the only child in her family who appears to be Shoshone. The reason is simple and obvious. She was adopted by the McCones and her birth family's roots rest on a Native American reservation. McCone's discovery of her adoption launches her on one of her most fascinating investigations. I found this book engrossing, and I was once more amazed at how Marcia Muller manages to add new facets to one of the classic characters in contemporary mystery fiction. I recommend this book highly.
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Summary: Could not put the book down . . .
Review: Bought this book on Friday night, started it on lunch break at work on Tuesday. Finished it Tuesday night before going to bed. Great book! Could not put this book down. Not just a personal profile of McCone, but insights into us all and our concept of who we are. Really was involved in this case with Sharon and when I got to the last page, I wanted to keep going. How long must I wait for the next episode? Too long. More. More.
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Summary: One of Marcia's best
Review: For a while, I was reminded of Yvette Melanson's true story "Looking for Lost Bird" and maybe that's where Marcia Muller got her inspiration for this fork in the Sharon McCone series? The book doesn't have the depth of Sherman Alexie - but, hey! It's a fine branch in the "whodunit" genre. This was my first Marcia Muller/ Sharon McCone book. It was easy to get into because the book takes the series off on a new path, so the new reader needn't be familiar with lots of background.
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Summary: Rez Lite
Review: For a while, I was reminded of Yvette Melanson's true story "Looking for Lost Bird" and maybe that's where Marcia Muller got her inspiration for this fork in the Sharon McCone series? The book doesn't have the depth of Sherman Alexie - but, hey! It's a fine branch in the "whodunit" genre. This was my first Marcia Muller/ Sharon McCone book. It was easy to get into because the book takes the series off on a new path, so the new reader needn't be familiar with lots of background.
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Summary: One of Marcia's best
Review: I just finished reading this book and it was great. I was hooked by the 3rd page. Sharon found out she was adopted after her father dies and she sets out to find out who she really is and almost gets herself killed doing it. This book was so hard to put down. It is one of Marcia Muller's best.
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Summary: Listen to the Silence
Review: M. Muller has done it again! This eagerly awaited chapter in Sharon McCone's life was read in less than 24 hours. If I reviewed this book more than the above, the content would be given away. I must say I was disappointed to find out that Sharon McCone was born in 1959 - Edwin of the Iron Shoes was out in 1977 which would have made Sharon 18 years old. This distressed me as I view her as an old friend who has matured along with me over the years!!
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Summary: Mass Production
Review: Marcia Muller writes like somebody who has just accomplished a 3 week seminar on how to become a "bestselling author". This book is based on three ideas: The adopted child's search for its biological parents, a bit of Indian culture & history (esp. Shoshons) and, finally, the truth in the unspoken. Muller adds to this meat some ketchup (e.g. an unrealistically friendly friend Hy) and cheese. Sharon McCone, the protagonist, seems to know in advance what people try to hide from her. At the end of the 342 pages, what a surprise, she knows everything. Muller's prose is completely uninspired and uninspiring. Compared to the contemporary witty and intellectually rich European crime fiction (Henning Mankell, Maj Sjöwall, Per Wahlöö, Wolf Haas) this book is just boring mass production. My conclusion: No more Marcia Muller!
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Summary: Buy this book! A great summer read...
Review: Marcia Muller's writing has been getting better and better, book by book. This, her latest, however, is a giant leap forward. I couldn't put it down! The dynamic plot moves along quickly, almost seamlessly, through some new and intriguing places. Her fearless Private Investigator, Sharon McCone, is more confident and believable than ever as she leads us to a whole new cast of (very attractive) characters. Fans of McCone will love this book. If you've not read Muller before, start with this one!
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Summary: Excellent, but
Review: Okay, Sharon has always looked different from her brothers and sisters, but when she asked, she's told that she looks like her great-grandmother. Now she is going through her father's legal papers, and there in black and white - adoption papers. She goes off the deep end and starts a search for her "birth" parents. Her mother's worst fears appear to be coming true, her daughter doesn't want her anymore. That, of course, or thankfully, turns out not to be true, but it seems to me that it would be hardest on the adoptive parents who might see their child's search for a birth parent as rejecting the love they have shared with the child for its entire life. The book is good, but as an adopted person myself, who has chosen not to look for "birth" parents because I suspect it would be too hard for my mother to accept, I think adopted children should be told from the get go that they were chosen and then get on with the daily part of living. Anyway, read the book it is very well done.
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