True Believers : A Gregor Demarkian Mystery (A Gregor Demarkian Mystery)

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: 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: The Subject is Murder!
Review: The subject is murder. It's happening in a fading Catholic church in the heart of Gregor Demarkian's Philadelphia; it's happening across the street in the counterpart Episcopalian church that befriends a community of gay men; and Bennis's older sister, who's about to be executed by the state for killing her father and two other sisters, is finally going to reap the rewards of murder. The impending execution forms an intriguing backdrop to the murders that make up the fabric of Gregor's 16th (or 17th, who's counting) encounter with the most base human crime. What I've always loved most about Jane Haddam's novels is the array of unusual, intense, and fully-developed characters. She did not disappoint me with TRUE BELIEVERS. Each one was crisp and clear within the pages of the story as he/she drove the action forward to its amazing conclusion. Add to that the wonderfully imaginative plot that twists and turns itself from confusion to clarity, and you'd have a well-constructed, enjoyable mystery novel with apologies to none, thank you. But Jane Haddam has taken TRUE BELIEVERS a step higher by placing before the reader a plethora of contrasting philosophies as traditional and diverse Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, fundamentalist Baptist, athiest, and agnostic characters find they must share the same space and either learn to fight or to coexist there. She gives her readers much more than simple plot to digest as they seek to understand the viewpoints of others around them. Perhaps that's why Jane Haddam's book can be read and reread many times without ever losing their freshness. And for her fans (like I am), that's a blessing.