Confessions of a Deathmaiden

Rating:
Summary: I like Death and this Maiden
Review: If you think you hate your HMO or PPO, don't sign up for the Abbot Kinney Medical Center/Silvanus Corporation/Biobreed plan, or you'll wind up dead. Particularly if you happen to be a member of the Tarascans, an Indian tribe in the war-torn Chiapas region of Mexico, sent as a Christ-like ambassador to the outside world to prevent the tribe, which is born with immunity to disease--this medical wonder has an intriguing explanation linked to the Aztecs, Toltecs and Mayans.

Tomas, a little boy who is the Christ-like figure in question, dies under the care of Frances Oliver, a deathmaiden. She is a member of the fictional Society of Deathmaidens, a hospice-like Dr. Kevorkian-esque group that acts as midwives to the dying, helping them transition with dignity. But Frances starts asking questions into Tomas' death. From the start, this unusual computer-and-TV-spurning heroine with friends such as the eccentric artist and deathmaiden would-have-been Pepper, gets tangled into that classic plot, the Greedy Doctor Frankensteins Gone Mad in Vast Conspiracy. Yes, it's an illegal organ-harvesting scheme painted as rich white people profiting off the sacrifice of an Indian tribe (the author admits she portrays the Tarascans as cannibals without any proof) and obscuring the very real need for organ donors. One of the doctors is named Faust. Not too subtle.

The plot is subtler as it takes a long time to reach its conclusion and uncover the evidence, but offers twists and turns; there has to be some suspense in this mystery, after all, but it's Frances' soul reflections and inner struggle that drive the book, as well as an exploration of the meaning of medicine and the value of death.

Rating:
Summary: A well written clever debut
Review: Francis Oliver is a death maiden in LA. This is a person who helps the dying cross over into the next world. (It is a fictional.) After witnessing the death of a young boy with the subsequent dispersal of his organs to recipients, she begins to suspect foul play. Her investigation into the matter proves her correct and now she must figure out just who is responsible and why.
The premise of the story is quite clever. The creation of the death maiden works quite well within the context of the well paced plot. However, the author did not know when to pull in the reins and wrap it up thereby rendering the conclusion a bit too drawn out and complex. However, it is a well written debut worthy of a reader's time.

Rating:
Summary: A well written clever debut
Review: Francis Oliver is a death maiden in LA. This is a person who helps the dying cross over into the next world. (It is a fictional.) After witnessing the death of a young boy with the subsequent dispersal of his organs to recipients, she begins to suspect foul play. Her investigation into the matter proves her correct and now she must figure out just who is responsible and why.
The premise of the story is quite clever. The creation of the death maiden works quite well within the context of the well paced plot. However, the author did not know when to pull in the reins and wrap it up thereby rendering the conclusion a bit too drawn out and complex. However, it is a well written debut worthy of a reader's time.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing believable about this one - slightly spoilerish
Review: I bought this book because I thought the title sounded interesting. I thought that it would be about a hospice worker who sits with dying people so they won't be alone when they pass on. But a few pages into it, I realized that the fictional deathmaidens have mystical powers and can tell when someone is ready to die and even sometimes heal them if they're not ready. So, okay, I like supernatural stories a lot, so I went with it.

But there's just nothing about this book that's believable, even if you can suspend disbelief while you read it. Ms. Oliver arrives for her assignment to help Tomas, realizes through her supernatural powers that he is not about to die and immediately leaves to go buy him some toys. When she returns, he's dead. I realize that she couldn't have known that would happen since she believed he'd live, but why was it so important to run right out and buy a bunch of toys for a comatose child? He needs to wake up before he can enjoy them, lady!

What follows as Ms. Oliver tries to find out the truth is a series of unbelievable adventures, some of which are very unpleasant (think torture chambers and sacrificed chickens). And just when you think maybe it's almost the end, as Ms. Oliver has done more detective work in one book than most other fictional sleuths have in a whole series of books, she announces, "But I had to find out more." Enough already. I love a good long book, but it should be obvious to most readers that this one has worn out its welcome way before it actually does end.

The most unbelievable thing of all, IMO, was that Ms. Oliver, who apparently has never done this kind of thing before, suddenly throws herself into being a detective with no hesitation, no qualms, nothing. Suddenly she is breaking into offices, masquerading as people she is not in order to trick information out of others, and trekking around in war-torn areas of Mexico like a pro.

As far as I can tell, the part about the Tarascans' immune systems and the discussions of mad cow disease are made up out of whole cloth. Not that I'm an expert, but the book kept referring to mad cow disease as a "virus." There was one brief reference to prions but not as a disease entity separate from viruses.

I admit it held my interest enough to keep me reading - I would have given up if I found it completely unreedemable - but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I know personally because of the fairly graphic descriptions of torture.

Rating:
Summary: Great new character, "movie-like" plot.
Review: I hope Ruth Francisco carries on her title character in more books. Francisco draws a compelling character in Frances Oliver, who has trained in the art of helping the dying into death within a hospice setting.

However, the book's plot gets away from this intriguing premise by setting the character in a rather workman-like plot, employing the age-old villains of big-business and shady medical experiments. I can just see Ashley Judd or Angelina Jolie
trooping through the Mexican mountains in designer duds after the "bad-guys" in the movie version of the book.

I'd love to see Francisco put her character in smaller, more intimate stories. Laura Lipmann and Carol O'Connell do this with their Tess Monaghan and Kathy Mallory characters.

Ms Francisco, please keep writing about Frances Oliver.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed Commuter
Review: I thought this book would be a good choice for the bus ride to and from work. I was wrong. I liked the premise, and it started off pretty good, but lost its charm about 1/3 of the way through. I agree with the reviewer who described the writing style as 'heavy handed'. I also had issues with the general likeability of the characters. 'Pepper', the best friend, is described as some hottie, boy-magnet, but comes across with about as much charm as truck driver. And I gradually grew to dislike 'Frances' (the deathmaiden), finding her to be critical, self richeous and overly-dramatic. When, after an unsettling discovery, Frances strips and throws herself into the ocean, as though to cleanse the filth of what she has learned from her being, I had to put the book down. I spent the rest of the bus ride contently counting potholes.

Rating:
Summary: Really creaks to the end
Review: It starts out as an interesting premise, but you can see this is a first time novel by the heavy-handed way in which the author feeds us the information about the duties of a deathmaiden and their supposed organization and philosophy. Add to that all the background on the Maya cannabilistic practices, and we lose sight of the characters, who are not really intriguing enough to sustain this book. A worthy first effort which could have used a great deal more editing.