I enjoy these stories about Jacobia Tiptree and her friend Ellie White. At the beginning she falls off a ladder and goes with a slight concussion and a bunch of bruises, changing as the days go by. When she is finally dragged into her ex-husband’s clinic, of course she doesn’t tell him all of her symptoms. Then, a bunch of accidents keep happening, to her husband, to her son, a woman gets electrocuted, a missing woman is located in the walls of a house. She does from many suspects to almost none. One of the chief ones she suspects at first is the new mason she hired to fix the basement. He turns out to be someone else and it looks like he may be a new returning character added to her series. I gathered the part about the new guy. I’m not sure I ever did figure out the part about the actual villain … At least until just before the final scenes.I’ve only been to Maine once and so maybe I just enjoy the setting. I certainly didn't expect her to bring in the great explosion in Halifax in 1916. But she did. And she is right, most people don't know about it. It is a story well told in Curse of the Narrows.
This mystery was a bit more complex than previous books I have read in the series. You have the same characters, and things seem to build from one book to the next. (I have not been reading them in exact order.)I appreciate the background on Sam and Maggie and while you still think things there could progress, it is not a simple relationship.In this book you appreciate Victor more than previous ones. I did find some details difficult to digest the first time and flipped back a few pages now and then just to keep things straight.I like the idea of home repair being included and relating to the mystery of each book, but this time it seemed a stretch to make it all fit together. Overall, it did relate to putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
What do You think about Unhinged (2003)?
I'm continuing to work my way through this series. And by continuing, I mean that I've read them all since the first book. And by work, I mean pleasurable quick reads. And by series I mean, dear heavens woman! How much longer do you think you can keep this up? I want to know, so I'll continue reading.The fun of this one was that the danger to Jake was actually a little scary. Lots of stormy nights, flickering lights, being alone with the wrong person at the wrong time. Here, she actually sets up two possible new bad guys and manages to balance their threats so that I didn't figure out the killer for the first half of the book. I like the new character additions and really enjoyed being a little creeped out. Ellie seriously needs a make over and Graves needs to watch some MTV. If you're going to have a subplot about a music video and the book is set in 2003, you ought to at least have a small handle on what contemporary music looks like. Other than that a perfect one-day mindless read.
—msjones Jones
