cjeanne99's reviews
975 reviews

New series set in the 1890's that pits Matthew Glass, an American with British aristocracy roots with India Steele, the daughter of a recently deceased watchmaker who's family business was stolen by her ex-fiance and is unable to find employment in the man's world of watchmaking. 
Glass has come to London in search of a watchmaker who was in the United States a few years ago, and helped Glass with a special watch he owns. India meets him when he comes to her father's shop to inquire about the missing watchmaker. He employs India, she meets his cousin, his coachman, his aunts and one living uncle. They search for the man who built Glass' special watch.  

What happens when the leader of a fundamentalist Christian congregation in a mid size town in Minnesota sees his empire being challenged? Pastor Rick Franklin comes to Brauer, Minnesota with his preaching style rooted in patriarchy and submissive women. He grows the Messiah Church into a cult-like entity that controls much of what happens in the town. 
The story is told by two narrators; Del (Delilah) Walker who left town six years ago after her growing up best friend married the man Del had met at college and believed would be her husband. Del’s chapters are in the present time - when she returns to town after Lars, the love of her life and husband to her friend Eve, was killed in a tragic hunting accident.  Our second narrator, Eve, mostly tells her story through her blog - “The Noble Wife”, a project she started as a teenager when Pastor Rick and his wife taught the girls of the Messiah Church to be good Christian women, modest in dress and demeanor and submissive to whatever their boyfriend/husband wants. 
Delilah thinks she will come to the funeral and leave town - but - she sees Eve in an embrace with the associate pastor after the funeral, and, Lars’ parents, who always thought she (Delilah) would be their daughter-in-law, ask her to investigate Lars’ death. They are asking questions and not getting answers. 
OK - so why Del would get answers when everyone at the church and in the town are closed mouthed and avoiding the truth - doesn’t make a lot of sense - but - I kept listening/reading. 
In the end - it comes down to challenging the patriarchy. Book was published in the summer of 2023. Barbie challenged the patriarchy also - but without murder, fake suicides, and attempted murder.

The ending was a bit of a disconnect for me. Del wondering how Finn was able to find her in Minneapolis - almost implying that she was afraid of him. And then - she tells of she and Finn going to Pastor Rick’s house - and Del videotaping the pastor while he confesses to killing Lars for finding out about the financial irregularities at the Messiah Church - and then Finn kills him.

Well done - but at the same time - once I got to the afterword I felt like there were some plot holes that I had missed. Oh - that’s the point. She gets everyone focused on figuring out who the murderer is - that even the reader doesn’t stop to think about some of the actions of the group. 
The Lombard/Claythorne scenario disappointed me. But overall - I enjoyed this. 

Revisiting a previous read. I think I read this after some of his thrillers - and enjoyed it. I remember loving Dangerous Fortune - and Pillars of the Earth. In each of these novels - we have a cast of characters that follow the same pattern. But - it's an enjoyable read. 
With A Place Called Freedom - we have the downtrodden hero, the spunky heroine who defies traditional roles, the wealthy landowner who thinks only of himself, the evil mother/mother in law, the men who side against our hero and with the landowner, and the assorted characters that our main players come in contact with. 
From the coal mines of Scotland, to a Virginia plantation, to the Appalachian mountains - Mack MacAsh and Lizzie Hallim are both searching for freedom.  

One dead actress, one dead maid - and implications that Sebastian St. Cyr - the Viscount of Hendon was the murderer. Sebastian takes to ground in order to clear his name. He rents a room in a section of London where the aristocracy do not live - is befriended by a young pickpocket who becomes his “guide” to this part of society mostly unknown to St. Cyr - and together they set out to investigate the events that lead to the murder of Rachel York. Sebastian has three or four encounters with the police where he is able to elude capture and eventual imprisonment. Sebastian and Tom uncover the pieces of the puzzle - implicating some men close to the Prince of Wales as selling Great Britain’s secrets to France. A puzzle that I did not find very intriguing - although the final scene with Kat, Lord Wilcox and the warehouse made for a great action scene. 
While I will probably read another of the St. Cyr series - this first installment did NOT thrill me. Partly because I could not help but draw parallels in my mind to Sir Thomas Lynley - and unless Tom is a continuing character - St. Cyr does not have a Barbara Havers. 

The book starts with three teen age friends stopping to make a bank deposit from a fundraiser they recently held - and - they get caught in the middle of a bank robbery. Unknown to the bank robbers, one of the trio has spent her life assisting her con-artist mother. She plays the role of the “canary” to her mother’s con - until her mother falls in love with one of her targets. The story is told with flashbacks of her life - and updates on the situation at the bank.  

I will probably return to this book - in print - in a few months. I missed a lot of nuance from the audio book - probably was the wrong book for me to listen to in AUgust when I have my annual reading slump. Annie Proulx’s afterword was very interesting. She pointed out events I had glossed over in my listening - that I think would have been better understood had I been reading. 
At this point - I recommend the book - but not the audio version. 

Absolutely loved this book. Even when I got to the point where I had figured out the "loose ends" - I still loved it. Any book that starts out with an octopus as the narrator just has to be wonderful. 

Just could not get interested in the story