Author: J.A. Jance
Publication Date: July 22, 2008
Length: 374 pages
An elderly couple drive their car off a cliff, apparently in a suicide pact. But when their daughters show up, fighting over the inheritance, it seems there's more to this case than meets the eye. Meanwhile, there's a fire in a mobile home and human remains are found in a trash bag that washes up after a storm. All this in a weekend in a small town.
This book is really ridiculous.There's so much going on at once; isn't one mystery enough for a mystery novel? I didn't really see the point in having multiple unrelated cases. None of them get at all interesting until right near the end. And I only made it that far because I was reading this for the Out of Your Comfort Zone Challenge, so it seemed wrong to give up on a book that's out of my comfort zone. But this book is just really boring.
Also, the writing had me laughing frequently, and not in a good way. I can be pretty forgiving of writing that's not very eloquent as long as the storytelling is good (I always argue that if I can't put the book down, that's a good writer, even if not by technical standards), but since I was bored through most of this book, I was painfully aware of every instance of "as you know, Bob".
1 star. I'm not giving up on mysteries altogether, but this one definitely wasn't for me.
It's funny how little repeated phrases can REALLY grate on one's nerves when you know you just aren't enjoying a book. I've definitely experienced that before!
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