Mary, Mary

Rating:
Summary: Old book ... but a book is a BOOK ? & I read a good read ?
Review: Based on the hardcover 1992 edition...

This book is this reader's first exposure to author Ed McBain... even though an older writing, tucked amongst all the books owned by this "biblioholic", it begged to be read regardless of its age!
"MARY, MARY" is Mary Barton -- a teacher by occupation; a outstanding flower & plant gardener by hobby, as witnessed by neighbors of the glory of flora in Mary's yard. Mary Barton is accused of killing three young girls, whose bodies are found buried within her floral domain.
Defense Attorney Matthew Hope, and assistants - Toots and Warren - believe in Mary's innocence - most of the time... With a few credible and non-credible witnesses for defense and prosecution alike, the court game of winning the jury's favor is played to the hilt. Witness, neighbor Charlotte Carmody swears that she saw Mary Barton digging at night, burying bodies in her floral paradise garden. A denim dress and a pair of sneakers come into play and question as to the validity of ownership. Meanwhile, a former student of Ms. Barton's - Melanie Lowndes, from England, comes forward to pay the defense expenses, and to support the "gentility" of Mary, testifying that Mary loves children and would never commit murder.
Although this reader at first did not favor the flavor of the rapid-fire, gunshot writing style, I would do the author an injustice by negating the author's book "MARY, MARY" as a bad read -- IT IS A GOOD READ!
Albeit a sound-story premise, I found it awkward to "digest" the author's method of sliding in non-premise scenery and activity, personal and otherwise, as an interruption to the flow of the story.
After getting used to the "he said", "she said"; and the clipped-style format, I found myself being absorbed into the story, and imaged placement in the jury box and court observers section. Readers will find that author McBain allows for lengthier, vivid descriptions of script in court processes as informative & entertaining, inclusive of the judge's actions, the pro and con attorneys arguments, and the orders to the jury of their duties to reaching a viable verdict.
Any reader knows that an ending is not an ending--- until the story actually ends!
I recommend this author and look forward to reading additional Ed McBain writings.

Rating:
Summary: Old book ... but a book is a BOOK ¿ & I read a good read ¿
Review: Based on the hardcover 1992 edition...

This book is this reader's first exposure to author Ed McBain... even though an older writing, tucked amongst all the books owned by this "biblioholic", it begged to be read regardless of its age!
"MARY, MARY" is Mary Barton -- a teacher by occupation; a outstanding flower & plant gardener by hobby, as witnessed by neighbors of the glory of flora in Mary's yard. Mary Barton is accused of killing three young girls, whose bodies are found buried within her floral domain.
Defense Attorney Matthew Hope, and assistants - Toots and Warren - believe in Mary's innocence - most of the time... With a few credible and non-credible witnesses for defense and prosecution alike, the court game of winning the jury's favor is played to the hilt. Witness, neighbor Charlotte Carmody swears that she saw Mary Barton digging at night, burying bodies in her floral paradise garden. A denim dress and a pair of sneakers come into play and question as to the validity of ownership. Meanwhile, a former student of Ms. Barton's - Melanie Lowndes, from England, comes forward to pay the defense expenses, and to support the "gentility" of Mary, testifying that Mary loves children and would never commit murder.
Although this reader at first did not favor the flavor of the rapid-fire, gunshot writing style, I would do the author an injustice by negating the author's book "MARY, MARY" as a bad read -- IT IS A GOOD READ!
Albeit a sound-story premise, I found it awkward to "digest" the author's method of sliding in non-premise scenery and activity, personal and otherwise, as an interruption to the flow of the story.
After getting used to the "he said", "she said"; and the clipped-style format, I found myself being absorbed into the story, and imaged placement in the jury box and court observers section. Readers will find that author McBain allows for lengthier, vivid descriptions of script in court processes as informative & entertaining, inclusive of the judge's actions, the pro and con attorneys arguments, and the orders to the jury of their duties to reaching a viable verdict.
Any reader knows that an ending is not an ending--- until the story actually ends!
I recommend this author and look forward to reading additional Ed McBain writings.

Rating:
Summary: Fissure a mile-wide in this thin, confusing novel.
Review: Early on in this story reader is informed that main character has a split personality. 3 girls are murdered and buried in back yard of Mary Barton, protagonist. Mary B. is sweet and loves her garden. Her other half is wicked to the max. The novel starts with her cussing like a sailor, wholly unlike sweet Mary B. The incredibly stupid atty. doesn't infer anything about the seeming two Mary's. Mary B. charged with murder that she obviously committed. Most of book contains court scenes that are well-written but are merely banal and static, the story stops. After conviction inevitable knife attack on atty by bad Mary, who we now learn is a twin of good Mary; at least that's the way the book reads. Within the reality of the book this is impossible and nonsense. But the reader is supposed to believe that good Mary has an evil twin who did the killings...I read the ending of the novel several times to see if it was communicating to the reader that the bad Mary was just the evil side of Mary B., i.e. she has a split personality. But, no, the book is saying that there are two Maries...not one with a good and bad side. If you want to read a lot of fairly interesting courtroom questioning by prosecutor and def. atty, most of the book is irrelevantly devoted to this, so read it and enjoy an O.J. moment. Perhaps the worst mystery/suspense novel I have ever read. This is my fourth and last McBain novel. HIs stories read at supersonic speed and purposefully divert the reader from thinking about the plot, characters, conflict,etc. Recommended solely for no-depth crowd of mystery readers (90% of readers are in this category; hence, the popularity ofjames patterson, Sue Grafton, Kellerman's,and many more; can anyone actually read Elizabeth George's prose and not become constipated and nauseous). Also, irrelevant romance between Mary's defense atty and female prosecutor. Added nothing to story, except perhaps to be a lame red herring that the femme fatale might have something to do with the murders.

Rating:
Summary: Fissure a mile-wide in this thin, confusing novel.
Review: Mary, Mary is a fascinating courtroom drama....except for the ending. The ending is contrived and just plain silly. But then, if one must run out of gas, I suppose it is better to do it near the end rather than the beginning.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Courtroom drama
Review: Mary, Mary is a fascinating courtroom drama....except for the ending. The ending is contrived and just plain silly. But then, if one must run out of gas, I suppose it is better to do it near the end rather than the beginning.

Rating:
Summary: Something of a letdown.
Review: This book never really seems to get going. There is too much time spent in the courtroom while basic questions about the crime and the suspect/defendant are left unasked.

After 200 pages, I realized that this book wasn't going to pick up or reveal any crucial information to make sense out of things until the very end.

As a result, the whole story rapped up very quickly in an unbelievable way and you are left wondering why no one could figure anything out earlier. Based on the ending, the detectives and attorneys appear rather incompetent.

I did enjoy parts of the book, however, and I think the plot needs to be unfolded at a different rate (not so slow in the beginning and not so fast at the end). I am a McBain fan and think that some of his other books are better written.