Medusa

Rating:
Summary: OVERKILL
Review: If all six of Skye Moody's Pacific Northwest Mysteries are as bloody as MEDUSA, it's a wonder that her fictional Seattle isn't depopulated by now. I hesitate to estimate the exact body count because the deaths come steadily and numerously as Seattle raindrops. The attrition on law enforcement types alone is staggering, not to mention the mortality rate among bad guys, children, and innocent bystanders.

Robert Ludlum has met his match in Ms Moody who mixes enough criminal conspiracies in with the bloodshed to fill several normal thrillers. Smuggling, child abuse, pornography, protection racketeering, industrial espionage,and toxic pollution are all crammed together with countless murders into a single hyperactive plot. The heroine, Venus Diamond, behaves like a cowboy vigilante, conducting illegal entries, thefts, and wiretaps.

Moody writes good, edgy dialogue and makes effective use of Seattle and Puget Sound as a backdrop for her story. Her female characters - both good and bad - are complex and interesting, but her men tend to be cartoonishly black or white. My objection to her plotting is its literal overkill.

Rating:
Summary: OVERKILL
Review: If all six of Skye Moody's Pacific Northwest Mysteries are as bloody as MEDUSA, it's a wonder that her fictional Seattle isn't depopulated by now. I hesitate to estimate the exact body count because the deaths come steadily and numerously as Seattle raindrops. The attrition on law enforcement types alone is staggering, not to mention the mortality rate among bad guys, children, and innocent bystanders.

Robert Ludlum has met his match in Ms Moody who mixes enough criminal conspiracies in with the bloodshed to fill several normal thrillers. Smuggling, child abuse, pornography, protection racketeering, industrial espionage,and toxic pollution are all crammed together with countless murders into a single hyperactive plot. The heroine, Venus Diamond, behaves like a cowboy vigilante, conducting illegal entries, thefts, and wiretaps.

Moody writes good, edgy dialogue and makes effective use of Seattle and Puget Sound as a backdrop for her story. Her female characters - both good and bad - are complex and interesting, but her men tend to be cartoonishly black or white. My objection to her plotting is its literal overkill.

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating crime thriller
Review: In Elliot Bay, twelve-year old Tim Diamond and his two friends and next door neighbors, Henry and Pearl are playing pirates on the family yacht, the Caprice. The next thing anyone knows is nine-year-old Pearl is missing and presumed drowned. Henry swears that he saw Tim tie her up, push her in, jump into the water and hold her head under until she was dead. On the basis of Henry's testimony, Tim is arrested and though he is out of jail, he is wearing an electronic bracelet.

Tim's brother Bart calls Venus in Hawaii and begs her to come home to figure out what is happening. Venus, an undercover agent with the United States Fish and Wildlife agency, uses her police powers to horn in on the local investigation. The further she digs, the more she learns that her brother's story about a giant jelly fish taking Pearl away is true and the players in the game are some of her old enemies in the Russian Mafia. Much blood will be shed and many lives will be lost when the authorities try to bring all the guilty parties to justice.

MEDUSA is a fascinating crime thriller with plenty of action, a touch of romance and some family humor to keep the tension levels at a certain level. The heroine risks her own life and freedom to make certain the guilty parties pay for what they did to her family. She is feisty and courageous protagonist and readers will adore. There are many sub-plots that tie back to the central theme of innocent children who trust the wrong people and pay the price.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating crime thriller
Review: In Elliot Bay, twelve-year old Tim Diamond and his two friends and next door neighbors, Henry and Pearl are playing pirates on the family yacht, the Caprice. The next thing anyone knows is nine-year-old Pearl is missing and presumed drowned. Henry swears that he saw Tim tie her up, push her in, jump into the water and hold her head under until she was dead. On the basis of Henry's testimony, Tim is arrested and though he is out of jail, he is wearing an electronic bracelet.

Tim's brother Bart calls Venus in Hawaii and begs her to come home to figure out what is happening. Venus, an undercover agent with the United States Fish and Wildlife agency, uses her police powers to horn in on the local investigation. The further she digs, the more she learns that her brother's story about a giant jelly fish taking Pearl away is true and the players in the game are some of her old enemies in the Russian Mafia. Much blood will be shed and many lives will be lost when the authorities try to bring all the guilty parties to justice.

MEDUSA is a fascinating crime thriller with plenty of action, a touch of romance and some family humor to keep the tension levels at a certain level. The heroine risks her own life and freedom to make certain the guilty parties pay for what they did to her family. She is feisty and courageous protagonist and readers will adore. There are many sub-plots that tie back to the central theme of innocent children who trust the wrong people and pay the price.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Medusa
Review: Wow. Talk about action. Every scene crackles with energy, and impending or actual disaster, so much so that the novel threatens to implode under its own ambition, but it never does. Give Moody credit. A lesser writer wouldn't have been able to handle a tenth of the plot elements in the book. But as it stands, Medusa is three hundred-twenty-five of the fastest pages you might ever read.

Medusa is filled with excitement, pathos, and humor. More thriller than whodunnit, it's the best book yet in the series, though it's probably not the best place to start. I think the book (and the deaths of some characters) might lose some impact if you're not already familiar with the characters.

Thank you, Ms. Moody, for another fine effort.

Rating:
Summary: Medusa
Review: Wow. Talk about action. Every scene crackles with energy, and impending or actual disaster, so much so that the novel threatens to implode under its own ambition, but it never does. Give Moody credit. A lesser writer wouldn't have been able to handle a tenth of the plot elements in the book. But as it stands, Medusa is three hundred-twenty-five of the fastest pages you might ever read.

Medusa is filled with excitement, pathos, and humor. More thriller than whodunnit, it's the best book yet in the series, though it's probably not the best place to start. I think the book (and the deaths of some characters) might lose some impact if you're not already familiar with the characters.

Thank you, Ms. Moody, for another fine effort.