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3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
I had a tough time getting into this one but overall I enjoyed it. Caveat: I'm a Vermonter and it's rare to find fiction set in the state, so that probably added to my enjoyment. Looking forward to more!
For a long time I've been looking for a detective series that has the qualities I like in the Bosch novels. Namely police procedural with a good character for the main homicide detective and a plot that reads as a whodunit style mystery. I've tried several with varying degrees of success, but not really checked all those boxes. I stumbled upon these Joe Gunther books by Archer Mayor because they are all included in the Audible plus catalog so they are free with my membership. I tried one of the more recent entries, Bomber's Moon, and it was good enough so I decided to go back to the beginning of the series and try book 1.
Open Season was a really nice surprise and a much better book than Bomber's Moon. The case starts out in a very intriguing way with a string of crimes that are much more than what they first appear to be at face value. The plot gets more layered from there involving a mysterious masked man, a violent murder for which the person in prison may be innocent, and a cover-up conspiracy. It's on the main character of Lt. Joe Gunther to sort it all out. The story is told from his POV only similar to the Bosch novels, and we get to see him walk through every step of the investigation and unravel the multiple threads. The plot is resolved in a way that is satisfying if not perfect in my opinion. What was most surprising is that this book was written in 1988 yet, with some minor details of the forensics not withstanding, this story doesn't really feel that dated at all.
If you like a good detective mystery I think you would like this book, and the entire series seems to available on Audible if you have a subscription.
Open Season was a really nice surprise and a much better book than Bomber's Moon. The case starts out in a very intriguing way with a string of crimes that are much more than what they first appear to be at face value. The plot gets more layered from there involving a mysterious masked man, a violent murder for which the person in prison may be innocent, and a cover-up conspiracy. It's on the main character of Lt. Joe Gunther to sort it all out. The story is told from his POV only similar to the Bosch novels, and we get to see him walk through every step of the investigation and unravel the multiple threads. The plot is resolved in a way that is satisfying if not perfect in my opinion. What was most surprising is that this book was written in 1988 yet, with some minor details of the forensics not withstanding, this story doesn't really feel that dated at all.
If you like a good detective mystery I think you would like this book, and the entire series seems to available on Audible if you have a subscription.
mysterious
medium-paced
Good. A little drawn out, could have used some editing.
First in a lengthy series featuring Joe Gunther of the Brattleboro, VT police. Nice writing.
I'm a fan of Ian Rankin's books, specifically his John Rebus series, and because of that, Archer Mayor's Joe Gunther was recommended to me.
I liked this book, though it has some shortcomings; it's very grounded in the procedure of 1988 and it feels a little formulaic, but that could be because of the time in which it was written and published. Gunther as a main character is multi-layered and somewhat unpredictable, with an unusual family and romantic situation, and the villian of this thing was genuinely terrifying in a good way for this kind of novel. The plot of this, with a web of connections, reminded me of the early Dirty Harry movies, to which this clearly owes a debt, but the New England setting created some environmental challenges which were unique.
Clearly, I'm of two minds. I will end up reading more of this series, since I like the main character and Mayor's writing style, and feel that I should in order to be fair. These might be a good "go-to" when no other reading material is immediately obvious.
I liked this book, though it has some shortcomings; it's very grounded in the procedure of 1988 and it feels a little formulaic, but that could be because of the time in which it was written and published. Gunther as a main character is multi-layered and somewhat unpredictable, with an unusual family and romantic situation, and the villian of this thing was genuinely terrifying in a good way for this kind of novel. The plot of this, with a web of connections, reminded me of the early Dirty Harry movies, to which this clearly owes a debt, but the New England setting created some environmental challenges which were unique.
Clearly, I'm of two minds. I will end up reading more of this series, since I like the main character and Mayor's writing style, and feel that I should in order to be fair. These might be a good "go-to" when no other reading material is immediately obvious.
This was a fantastic book and keeps you guessing until the very end. Highly reccomend it and I would read this book again and more books from the same author.
Good plot, realistic characters, clean writing style. Everything you want in a mystery novel (and nothing you don't). Will be reading the rest of the series.