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Rating: 
Summary: Disapointing
Review: After reading this book, I had to check the photo on the jacket to make sure it was the same Anne Perry who writes such wonderful Victorian mysteries. I found the main character annoying and I didn't really care about what happened to any of them. I'm a big fan of Anne Perry, but this book was a major disapointment. If you are looking for a character like the Pitt or the Monk books, you won't find that here.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting tale of revenge with several twists
Review: This story is a departure from the usual Anne Perry novels in several ways. It is not set in Victorian England (story is set in revolutionary France, August-September 1792), the pace of the story moves much more quickly, and, given that it is only 73 pages long, there is naturally much less character development and attention to detail than I usually associate with Anne Perry's novels. None of this detracts from the novella in any way because it focuses only upon one event in Celie's life and how she reacts to it, with the beginning of the Reign of Terror in the backdrop. This makes the novella all the more intriguing because it provides a vehicle in which to carry out plans of revenge that were not available earlier. It is also all the more dangerous because once set in motion, there is no way to stop it. Anne Perry manages to convey Celie's deep hurt, sorrow, anger, gullibility, jealousy, thoughts (helped here by a less-than-well-meaning "friend"),plans, & acts for revenge, second thoughts, actions to remedy what she has done before it is too late, redemption, forgiveness, and love for her fellow human beings in what was possibly most terrifying period in French history. It is a story of revenge, but the revenge is carried out by different people for different reasons. Although there is not as much character development of Celie compared with Charlotte Pitt or Hester Latterly, I think readers still learn what kind of a person Celie is by her actions. If you are looking for the standard Anne Perry novel, then you will be disappointed (it is NOT a mystery), but if you are willing to take a chance on a different kind of story, you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Left Cold
Review: This was my first Anne Perry book. It may be my last. My impressions: 1) The story plays too many head games with it's characters for a story less than 75 pages. I can't imagine what her longer stories might be like. 2) I never felt comfortable with Celie, the main character. Then again, I don't feel comfortable being around unstable people in the 'real world'. 3) This story could have taken place during any time in history. The back drop simply made a [bad] story, [a bad] story with a morbid setting.
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