Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: "True Believers" is a fine mystery, complete with clues, red herrings, a baffled but determined hero and sufficient plot twists to confound the most able armchair-detective's reasoning. Better yet, it's a brilliant novel about religion as a complex force in American life and politics today. With characters ranging in devotion from athiest to born-again fundamentalist and all shades between, Jane Haddam takes her characters'passionate convictions seriously. How murder challenges all belief systems is the core of this satisfying story.
As always, the wit and clarity of Jane Haddam's prose shines in _True Believers_.
Rating: 
Summary: Religion,politics and murder most foul-a perfect mystery!
Review: "True Believers" is a fine mystery, complete with clues, red herrings, a baffled but determined hero and sufficient plot twists to confound the most able armchair-detective's reasoning. Better yet, it's a brilliant novel about religion as a complex force in American life and politics today. With characters ranging in devotion from athiest to born-again fundamentalist and all shades between, Jane Haddam takes her characters'passionate convictions seriously. How murder challenges all belief systems is the core of this satisfying story.
As always, the wit and clarity of Jane Haddam's prose shines in _True Believers_.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to Become a "True Believer"
Review: Anyone who has followed Jane Haddam's series about Gregor Demarkian and his Armenian American community in Philadelphia, his burgeoning relationship with Bennis Hannaford and the good and bad of the religious community will be enchanted with this newest contribution. The subject matter is thought provoking and witty. The characters are very true to my experiences. The best thing about the book is the elegant handling of very sensitive and controvsial subjects: the quasi-religious anti gay movement, the ever-convoluted Catholic Church in the United States, the position of all Christian churches toward their members who are gay, and last but not least, capital punishment. The reader is given the situation without judgement and with humor. What could be better. And it's amazing how similar the fringes of the "movements" all are. Even if they are polar opposites. This is a notable addition to this series. I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: Clueless
Review: As Bennis says about Gregor in the closing chapter of the book, "clueless." Generally I have an idea of who the murderer is by the three-quarter mark of the book. This one completely stumped me. My other favorite in this excellent series was "Not a Creature Was Stirring," proving, to me at least, that the last book in the series is as fresh as the first one. And just as well written.
Rating:
Summary: Another Gem!
Review: First, right off, I have to admit that I love and adore Jane Haddam. Her dry wit and her ability to cut to the heart of an issue are like a spring breeze through my soul. We don't agree on many issues, but I would not change a single thing about her . . . or about the way she writes. I have loved her books from the first one I read, and for me, each new book is another layer of delight for my reading pleasure. True Believers is no less. It is more. Not only does she understand the Catholic Church like few other writers, she understands my beloved Episcopal Church, too. And once again, she kept me guessing right up to the last. All of the clues were there, right in front of me, but I managed to miss the right combination of pieces to the puzzle. No other writer, for me, has quite the turn of phrase, adjectives, and thoughts of Jane Haddam. I laughed out loud and groaned in sympathy with Gregor and Bennis once more, and thoroughly enjoyed every moment of "True Believers". Where else would I find phrases like "she had all the fashion sense of a psychotic duck", or read about a digital machine for making sock balls? Where else could I be "in the minds" of characters I have come to so enjoy? Where else could I find such delight in Gregor's confusion over Bennis, and Bennis' confusion with Gregor? Where else could I read about an Armenian priest hooked on the Internet and on the love of learning? Where else could I glimpse another culture so like and yet unlike my own? Only in Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian series. There is no other like it, and every book is a delight of its own. True Believer's is the latest gem on the necklace. Don't miss it! If you see what I mean . . .
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!!
Review: I did not think Jane Haddam could top her last book, the most excellent Skeleton Key, but she has certainly done it with True Believers. I read this book in one sitting. I could not pull myself away from it. The book pulls you in from the first page and doesn't let go until the very last. Brilliant! I cannot wait for the next installment.
Rating:
Summary: terrific writer
Review: I discovered Ms. Haddam's books by chance, and I'm glad I did. Each book is as compelling and well-written as the first. This latest book is no exception. Her insightful character descriptions are the key to keeping her readers interested and involved in the mystery. I believe that readers who understand the characters get the most enjoyment from the stories. This mystery is one of the more complex ones, and kept me guessing until the end. I always enjoy the "goings on" of the neighborhood characters;all realistic people I can relate to.I look forward to reading the next one.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I love Jane Haddam, but I don't love "True Believers." Usually, the fact that Haddam is more conservative than I am doesn't get in the way of my appreciation of her writing, but here it did. Justifying the Catholic church's treatment of pedophilia as "that's just the way it was done then" really doesn't cut it anymore. The nonbelievers and religious liberals in this book are much more stereotypical than usual with Haddam, and the solution annoyed me so much that I ended up tossing the book across the room. I hope she's gotten this out of her system and the next will be up to her usual standard. If you're a new reader, I'd recommend "Bleeding Hearts" or "Dear Old Dead" over this one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Again.
Review: I've been reading Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian series as they came out from the beginning. They've all been good books, and with each one I know that I can expect a fine mystery, complex and realistic characters (who change and grow as the series progresses) and good writing. True Believers has all three. The writing is wonderful, the mystery kept me wondering, and the characters are all fully fleshed and realistic. This is true of both the regulars and those who appear just in this book. While I enjoy the character development of Gregor and Bennis and the other inhabitants of Cavanaugh St., I also appreciate the fact that the mystery and the plot are never sacrificed. Rather, the book is made up of interlocking strands, which tie together to make up the story as a whole, but which don't always intermingle. While the strands may not get mixed together, they progress together, affect each other, and in the end, the whole is cohesive and there are no loose ends. The story involves deaths at a Philadelphia church, and eventually encompasses the Catholic church where the deaths take place, the Episcopalian one across the street, and the fundamentalists down the road. It's a complicated story, involving child abuse, embezzlement, fundamentalism, the death penalty debate, and gay rights groups, and yet at the end the solution is straightforward and logical. While the mystery gets solved and all the storylines come together at the end, the characters don't just weather the storm and come out unscathed at the end of the story. Bennis has to deal with the impending execution of her sister (who had committed murder in an earlier book). People in Jane Haddam's books deal with the consequences of their own, and of others', actions, and it's part of what makes this book, and this series, as vital and interesting as it is. The books are always complex and the treatment of the issues involved, whether it's child abuse or anti-abortion activism, or the death penalty, is never superficial. These are realistic characters, dealing with real-life difficulties and their lives change as a result. True Believers is one of the stronger entries in the Gregor Demarkian series, and that is, in my opinion, saying quite a lot.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Again.
Review: I've been reading Jane Haddam's Gregor Demarkian series as they came out from the beginning. They've all been good books, and with each one I know that I can expect a fine mystery, complex and realistic characters (who change and grow as the series progresses) and good writing. True Believers has all three. The writing is wonderful, the mystery kept me wondering, and the characters are all fully fleshed and realistic. This is true of both the regulars and those who appear just in this book. While I enjoy the character development of Gregor and Bennis and the other inhabitants of Cavanaugh St., I also appreciate the fact that the mystery and the plot are never sacrificed. Rather, the book is made up of interlocking strands, which tie together to make up the story as a whole, but which don't always intermingle. While the strands may not get mixed together, they progress together, affect each other, and in the end, the whole is cohesive and there are no loose ends. The story involves deaths at a Philadelphia church, and eventually encompasses the Catholic church where the deaths take place, the Episcopalian one across the street, and the fundamentalists down the road. It's a complicated story, involving child abuse, embezzlement, fundamentalism, the death penalty debate, and gay rights groups, and yet at the end the solution is straightforward and logical. While the mystery gets solved and all the storylines come together at the end, the characters don't just weather the storm and come out unscathed at the end of the story. Bennis has to deal with the impending execution of her sister (who had committed murder in an earlier book). People in Jane Haddam's books deal with the consequences of their own, and of others', actions, and it's part of what makes this book, and this series, as vital and interesting as it is. The books are always complex and the treatment of the issues involved, whether it's child abuse or anti-abortion activism, or the death penalty, is never superficial. These are realistic characters, dealing with real-life difficulties and their lives change as a result. True Believers is one of the stronger entries in the Gregor Demarkian series, and that is, in my opinion, saying quite a lot.
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