Dead Time – Anne Cassidy (review)

Hardcover, 344 pages
Published May 22nd 2012 by Walker & Company
Source: Library

Synopsis:
When Rose was twelve, her mother and stepfather went out for dinner and never came back. Now seventeen, she lives with her grandmother and goes to school in London. She’s always wondered about her stepbrother, Joshua, whom she only lived with briefly and who was also relocated after their parents’ disappearance. When Rose and Joshua meet again, they find they have much in common, including a desire to uncover the mystery surrounding their parents’ disappearance . . . and a mutual attraction to each other. But when Rose witnesses the murders of not one but two of her classmates, she must uncover who is behind these violent crimes. And when she and Joshua discover that a much larger conspiracy is underway, both of their lives will be in danger. From international bestseller Anne Cassidy, this first in a fastpaced and romantic new mystery series will keep readers guessing.

Review:

The main character of this novel is very difficult to like and this made the entire novel less palatable than I would have liked it to be. At the heart of it, there is a mystery but it is not solved even slightly by the denouement of the novel. There are some clues that while intriguing do not impart much, if anything, about the deeper picture. Rose’s unwillingness to find out what happened, what really happened, to her mother and her boyfriend rings false.

I don’t understand why she wouldn’t want to know something about the person who meant the world to her. The reasons she gives for her unwillingness are frankly unbelievable and weak. Her romantic tensions with the boy who is not her stepbrother but would have been one had their parents gotten married is awkward as hell – like that fledgling stage when a foal is learning to walk. Also, there is a lot of gratuitous death in the novel – it seems like the deaths are more for entertainment and get less than the gravity they deserve. Murder is serious business and is not the child’s play this book would have you believe.

Despite all of these, the book is readable and the mystery functions to keep the reader reading. The slight suggestion of paranormalcy at the end of the novel has ensured that I will check out the sequel. Read at your own risk.

Kingdom of Strangers – Zoe Ferraris (Review)

Hardcover, 368 pages
Published June 5th 2012 by Little, Brown and Company
Source: Publisher

Synopsis:

A secret grave is unearthed in the desert revealing the bodies of 19 women and the shocking truth that a serial killer has been operating undetected in Jeddah for more than a decade.

However, lead inspector Ibrahim Zahrani is distracted by a mystery closer to home. His mistress has suddenly disappeared, but he cannot report her missing since adultery is punishable by death. With nowhere to turn, Ibrahim brings the case to Katya, one of the few women in the police department. Drawn into both investigations, she must be increasingly careful to hide a secret of her own.

Portraying the lives of women in one of the most closed cultures in the world, award-winning author Zoë Ferraris weaves a tale of psychological suspense around an elusive serial killer and the sinister forces trafficking in human lives in Saudi Arabia.

Review:

I haven’t read any books set in Jeddah so my curiousity was more than piqued by the synopsis of the novel. So I requested it. It was only when I was more than fifty percent done with the book that I realized that it was the third in a series. I doubt there’s much of a carry-over from the previous books in the “series” – quotations will be explained later but I found that it stands entirely on its own as a novel. That said, let’s move on to the review proper.

For some context, Saudi Arabia, particularly Mecca and its surrounding areas, have gained some reverence (in my circles) because that is the place is where the Prophet lived and breathed. What Ferraris does is take away the mysticism of the place and recreate it as a place where the same intrigues as any other place play out except in a lush and foreign background. Ferraris’s writing bespeaks a familiarity with Jeddah and the surrounding areas and I appreciated the detail in her prose and the care she took to paint an accurate picture of the world her story is set in.  It is very obvious from the novel that Ferraris is very much concerned with the fate of the many Filipino women who find themselves in Saudi Arabia as housemaids. While I think her concerns are legitimate, I do believe that in the end, they interfered with the novel and it’s primary tale.  I really would not have minded reading a book that focused solely on this theme in particular. However, what I signed up for was a mystery involving the nineteen women who were found dead in a lone desert area. This primary mystery seemed subsumed by the secondary mystery – the disappearance of Ibrahim’s mistress who herself was Filipino – with much of the action and page count that could have been spent in developing the serial killer case in a richer manner spent on figuring out the fate of the mistress. Even the culmination of this secondary mystery seemed anti-climactic and left me feeling vaguely dissatisfied.

However, while Ferraris’s plot was less than strong, I found some of her characters fascinating. I say some because others remained shadowy, not gaining any concrete character even till the end. I liked Ibrahim and his relationship with his daughter in law. Ibrahim’s relationship with his brother was also well written.  The one character I had trouble with was Nayir, the supposed protagonist of the novel. He remains ambiguous and cloaked in mystery throughout the novel. Honestly, at many points, I was convinced he was the serial killer. I find it interesting that someone who has enough prominence that the series is named after him remains enshrouded in mystery. Is it his piety that makes him so removed from the rest of the world?

When all is said and done, I did enjoy the novel despite its less than stellar plot. It brought to light several topics that I think need to be discussed. It also portrayed the “treatment” of women in a society that remains stubbornly chauvinistic despite the teachings of its religion. I liked that the novel didn’t paint everything black and white but was liberal with gray. I also liked how it ended. In fact, I may look up Ferraris’s backlog and read more of the Nayir books if only to figure out the mystery of the man.