Patrick Whitehurst

Part of the ‘A Book from every State of the Union’ Reading Challenge – California.

Reading this book was a first for me from this Author, as I had neither heard of them nor read anything they had previously penned. It was not a disappointment.

The main protagonist could be described as hard-nosed, but underneath all the strength and intelligence he exudes there lies a hint of a troubled past; one that the Author takes great pains not to reveal in this novel. As this is the first in a series of books featuring this character, I am hoping that as they progress the reader will learn more of what haunts the main character. Despite this feeling of there being something missing in this characters development and the reasoning behind my four thumbs review, the Author manages to create a personae in them that lets the reader know they can come so far into his world, and no further. This main character is a standalone novel in himself, there needs to be no more explanation than that, and the reader constantly feels that this is a man who is content in his own skin and with the select company he keeps.

If the hidden strata of humanity makes you feel uncomfortable, so it should, and this book will make you feel uneasy as it focuses on those many of us chose to pretend don’t exist; the homeless and disenfranchised that live among us. This section of society is used to great effect in this novel, which could be ranked up there with the likes of Wilkie Collins in its ability to keep the reader guessing until the final page.

I would recommend this novel to those readers who enjoy Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mysteries and to those wanting to read a detective novel with a different view on life.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/04/11/review-monterey-noir-the-barker-mysteries-...


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
… (altro)

Part of the ‘A Book from every State of the Union’ Reading Challenge – California.

Reading this book was a first for me from this Author, as I had neither heard of them nor read anything they had previously penned. It was not a disappointment.

The main protagonist could be described as hard-nosed, but underneath all the strength and intelligence he exudes there lies a hint of a troubled past; one that the Author takes great pains not to reveal in this novel. As this is the first in a series of books featuring this character, I am hoping that as they progress the reader will learn more of what haunts the main character. Despite this feeling of there being something missing in this characters development and the reasoning behind my four thumbs review, the Author manages to create a personae in them that lets the reader know they can come so far into his world, and no further. This main character is a standalone novel in himself, there needs to be no more explanation than that, and the reader constantly feels that this is a man who is content in his own skin and with the select company he keeps.

If the hidden strata of humanity makes you feel uncomfortable, so it should, and this book will make you feel uneasy as it focuses on those many of us chose to pretend don’t exist; the homeless and disenfranchised that live among us. This section of society is used to great effect in this novel, which could be ranked up there with the likes of Wilkie Collins in its ability to keep the reader guessing until the final page.

I would recommend this novel to those readers who enjoy Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mysteries and to those wanting to read a detective novel with a different view on life.


Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/04/11/review-monterey-noir-the-barker-mysteries-...


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
… (altro)