Cathy C. (cathyskye) -
I read the first two books in Barbara Fradkin's Amanda Doucette mystery series about three years ago. I loved the first book, Fire in the Stars, but rapidly fell out of love with the main character in the second book, The Trickster's Lullaby. I wish I'd remembered that before reading this fourth book in the series, The Ancient Dead.
Author Barbara Fradkin knows how to write a strong, compelling mystery, and her settings create vivid mental pictures as you read. I felt as though I were in the Alberta badlands as Amanda searched for answers. No, the plots and the settings aren't the problems for me in these Amanda Doucette mysteries. The problem is Amanda herself.
She is the type of person who can drive me up the wall without her breaking a sweat. Being with her is like being held captive in a room with thousands of ravenous mosquitoes. In "her relentless drive for answers," Amanda has no filter. She badgers the grieving. She has no shame, thinking nothing of insisting that people put themselves in danger or abuse their positions and possibly lose their jobs in order to give her the answers she requires. Amanda Doucette is the squeaky wheel who demands the grease, and she will not stop until she gets it.
Amanda is a former international aid worker who narrowly escaped with her life from a nightmarish situation in Africa. Now she has PTSD, and her canine companion Kaylee is my favorite character in the book. Amanda's behavior may have been necessary to care for people in her former line of work, but having personally had to deal with countless people like her in my line of work, I can do without being in her presence.
If characters like this don't bother you, please, go ahead and read this mystery series because it is very well crafted. You can even say that Fradkin's art of characterization is powerful as well because Amanda Doucette certainly comes to life. However, for the sake of my blood pressure, The Ancient Dead is the last time I'll be spending time with her. Goodbye, Amanda. I do wish you well.
(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)
Author Barbara Fradkin knows how to write a strong, compelling mystery, and her settings create vivid mental pictures as you read. I felt as though I were in the Alberta badlands as Amanda searched for answers. No, the plots and the settings aren't the problems for me in these Amanda Doucette mysteries. The problem is Amanda herself.
She is the type of person who can drive me up the wall without her breaking a sweat. Being with her is like being held captive in a room with thousands of ravenous mosquitoes. In "her relentless drive for answers," Amanda has no filter. She badgers the grieving. She has no shame, thinking nothing of insisting that people put themselves in danger or abuse their positions and possibly lose their jobs in order to give her the answers she requires. Amanda Doucette is the squeaky wheel who demands the grease, and she will not stop until she gets it.
Amanda is a former international aid worker who narrowly escaped with her life from a nightmarish situation in Africa. Now she has PTSD, and her canine companion Kaylee is my favorite character in the book. Amanda's behavior may have been necessary to care for people in her former line of work, but having personally had to deal with countless people like her in my line of work, I can do without being in her presence.
If characters like this don't bother you, please, go ahead and read this mystery series because it is very well crafted. You can even say that Fradkin's art of characterization is powerful as well because Amanda Doucette certainly comes to life. However, for the sake of my blood pressure, The Ancient Dead is the last time I'll be spending time with her. Goodbye, Amanda. I do wish you well.
(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)
