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Title: Locked Rooms (Mary Russell Novels)
ISBN: 0553583417
Author:
Laurie R. King
Publicate Date: 2006-03-28
Publish: 2006-03-28
List Price: $6.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Mass Market Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $3.37
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $1.15
Amazon Merchant Price: $6.99
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Just isn't working for me
I purchased this book several weeks ago and still haven't completed it, which is unusual for a Laura King book. This book just isn't working for me and is leaving me with a big feeling of "So what?" The first quarter of the book would have been great as an essay on going home, but not as a part of a mystery/detective series. I'm sure I'll finish it, but not with the relish I've read Ms. King's other books. What I recommend it? No.
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2: Mystery that swirls around the S.F. Bay area...
This is an enjoyable light novel involving a woman who just happens to be married to Sherlock Holmes. The plot involves Mary Russell returning to her original home in San Francisco, and putting to rest some of her memories of her childhood involving the accident that killed her parents and her brother. She feels very responsible for that accident which she survived. She and Holmes are thrust into a situation in which someone does not want her to find out the truth behind that accident, that was actually a murder having nothing to do with her arguing with her brother in the car. An avid reader of Conan Doyle's work, may be a little perturbed at someone else making free with his protagonist. The quality of the writing is not up to par with Doyle's work, but then I don't suppose anyone expects it to be.
The good parts of the book are the descriptions of San Francisco after the quake, and the area surrounding it. Since I am from that area, I recognized and enjoyed reading about it. At points, Ms. King does a beautiful job rendering a picture in words concerning the beauties of the area, the coastal highways that continue to be there that wrap around rather dangerously the coastline. You don't want to drive too fast especially if unfamiliar with the twists and turns...the novel makes use of the dangers of these roads with a plotline that involved the past deaths of Mary Russell's family.
The book brings up the days after the 1906 earthquake when people had no safe homes and were required to live in tents in Golden Gate park. It was an interesting experiment in equalization between those who had had wealth and those who didn't. In many ways, the handling of the disaster was better done than Hurricane Katrina was, even if living in tents was more archaic. This novel uses that time in the park to further the mystery along, but the historical information was interesting.
Many people are using historical figures both real and figurative, to create mysteries around. This is very popular, and even though many people who love mysteries gave this book 5 stars and outstanding reviews, the writing was a bit repetitive and the reader felt that much was written merely to make the book longer. There's no doubt that this type of book is enjoyed by a large audience, but the plot could have been tighter and the writing done better.
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3: This kept me reading past my bedtime.
Mary Russell is finally heading back to San Francisco to deal with the estate left to her by her parents when they died in an automobile crash when she was much younger. Mary and Sherlock Holmes are taking the long way around, via Egypt, India, and Japan; this kind of circuitous journey will be made in more than one fashion in LOCKED ROOMS.
Mary has always felt responsible for the accident; she and her brother were arguing when it happened and she is certain that this argument was the distraction that kept her father from controlling the car. Children often believe, rightly or wrongly, that they are the cause of ills that befall their parents. It takes the passage of time to convince most of us that we are not the center of the universe.
The will that left Mary the estate had an unusual codicil: nobody is allowed on the grounds or in the house unless a family member is present. The house has been empty and untended to for at least a decade. Mary and Sherlock attempt to deduce the reason(s) for this unusual stipulation.
In the meantime, Mary is trying to track down people who were important in her life before she left for England. Mah and Micah, the cook and gardener, are both dead, murdered in their bookstore in Chinatown. The psychiatrist who helped her after the accident is also dead, struck down in her office. Are the deaths related? What about the balcony in Aden which almost killed her? Coincidence? How unlikely.
The longer Mary is in San Francisco, the more unlike herself she becomes. Her rational nature, her astute assessments, her self-awareness all come undone. She has dreams which, as she explores her past, she realizes are memories more than dreams. There are rooms in her mental castle that are locked, rooms that she is not sure she is ready to open.
LOCKED ROOMS is the eighth in the Mary Russell series. King has done her usual stellar job; fans of the series will not be disappointed. The relationship between Mary and Sherlock is a marriage most would relish: a true partnership in which the parties know when to push and when to bite their tongues, know when to pry and when to ignore, and truly care about each other's well-being. The setting is quite interesting; the focus is on San Francisco after it has been rebuilt, what is new and what has been rebuilt. The plot is certainly Sherlockian, although I think King plays much more fairly with the reader in terms of clues and red herrings than Doyle ever did.
I wouldn't recommend starting this after dinner, unless your self-control is much better than mine. LOCKED ROOMS kept me up past my bedtime - the first book in a while to do that. What a pleasure!
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4: This is the big mystery of what happened to Mary's Family?
Anyone who has read a few of these mysteries knew that eventually King would get to the mystery that has haunted Russell since childhood: "What happened to cause the car accident that killed her parents and brother?"
Any reader of a mystery series knew that this "death by auto accident" angle had to play a role later on. The problem is, after delving through Chinatown, Feng shui, and investigation by San Francisco's favorite Dashiell Hammett, you end up sighing, "Is this it??"
To say I was disappointed is putting it mildly. The book is still competently written and has the interesting leads of Mary Russell and a human Sherlock Holmes to make this a decent time waster; however considering the quality of some of the other entries this really seems to be a series that is starting to run out of steam.
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5: It's a Pleasure
What a pleasure! I read these novels over and over, and continue enjoying them. The characters become friends, and I care what happens to them. The stories are interesting, and the backgrounds well-evoked. What more could a reader ask for?
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