≡ [PDF] Through the Evil Days Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries Julia SpencerFleming 9780312606848 Books

Through the Evil Days Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries Julia SpencerFleming 9780312606848 Books

Download As PDF : Through the Evil Days Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries Julia SpencerFleming 9780312606848 Books

Through the Evil Days Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries Julia SpencerFleming 9780312606848 Books

I first began reading this series shortly after the birth of a child, when I was spending hours each day with a baby in arms and nothing to do but read. I raced through the first six books in a matter of weeks. I loved it: the characters, the plots, the themes, the theology. I think I recommended the series to a couple of people, even. I was a little busier when the seventh one came around, but still, I found it quite interesting. But this book . . . how to describe it? Let's just say that I read it on the plane to and from a conference, and when I got home I put it aside and rarely touched it until today. Somehow, it just wasn't gripping me. I'm glad I finished, and I enjoyed some parts of the ride, but it did feel like the weakest of the books so far.

So what went wrong? I have to agree with all the many reviews that say that the middle drags. Far too much time is spent with characters running from one place to another in the snow, getting into arguments, injured, and of course getting colder and colder. After a while I gave up on trying to figure out where each character was and why he or she was running around in the snow. And I quit trying to keep track of the relationship between the bad guys and the kidnap victims' relatives . . . up until the end, when things got more interesting.

To be fair, the above comments about running around in the snow just refers to one of the intertwining plotlines. The Hadley/Flynn plot in this book did a much better job of holding my interest. I do very much want to know what happens next in that story. Despite that, I think I am starting to get tired of this series. How many books can there be in which ice storms, rainstorms, or other bad weather plays a pivotal role? Maybe it's time for me to find a series set in the Caribbean-- I think I'm getting tired of Miller's Kill. The weather there is TERRIBLE.


Tags : Through the Evil Days (Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries) [Julia Spencer-Fleming] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. In Through the Evil Days</i>, New York Times</i> bestselling author Julia Spencer-Fleming raises the stakes for Russ and Clare,Julia Spencer-Fleming,Through the Evil Days (Clare FergussonRuss Van Alstyne Mysteries),Minotaur Books,0312606842,Mystery & Detective - Women Sleuths,Adirondack Mountains (N.Y.);Fiction.,Fergusson, Clare (Fictitious character);Fiction.,Van Alstyne, Russ (Fictitious character);Fiction.,AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,FICTION Mystery & Detective Women Sleuths,Fergusson, Clare (Fictitious character),Fiction,Fiction Mystery & Detective Police Procedural,Fiction-Mystery & Detective,GENERAL,General Adult,Investigation,Monograph Series, any,Murder,Mystery & Detective Women Sleuths,MysterySuspense,United States,Van Alstyne, Russ (Fictitious character)

Through the Evil Days Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries Julia SpencerFleming 9780312606848 Books Reviews

Like some others said I waited a long time for this book, couldn't wait for it, and now I have to say I was disappointed. The characters Clare and Russ seemed "flat" I guess for lack of a better word. The deep emotions weren't there, and instead Russ in particular acted like a spoiled child, rejecting his own child. Having read all the other books several times this just isn't in character. Clare also seemed completely unlike herself, consistantly putting her unborn child in danger and not confronting Russ on his poor behavior. Unlike the previous books I just didn't like these characters. Interesting story and all that, technically well written and all, but not what I was expecting and waiting for. I will read the next one, and look forward to it, but can't help feeling let down with this one.
Ms. Spencer-Fleming is now writing gothic clerical mysteries. This latest mystery (#8) is unremittingly dark, reminiscent of #5 ("All Mortal Flesh"). The stellar nearly-novel approach of "One Was a Soldier" (#7) has been abandoned.

There are numerous big decisions for the characters in the present work.

1. A pregnant Clare, Episcopal priest, has been given one week to resign or face ecclesiastical trial for a little fun with her husband before marriage. This was jarring. I didn't think one would be tried for that in this very inclusive church. A Google search didn't adduce any real life examples. The obstreperous vestry, though, is achingly accurate. (I once sat, dissenting, on a vestry that denied a departing rector his last paycheck .)

2. Russ faces the possible elimination of his police department. The town council is considering contracting law enforcement to the state.

In an earlier book, Russ sees a religious calendar on Clare's wall. He thinks Mary, in a calendar picture, looks unhappy about being an unwed mother. This foreshadows Russ's feelings about the pregnancy even post-marriage.

His attitude doesn't ring true for the character. Russ has been unceasingly generous throughout the series. (Admittedly he provided much of the tension for the first 2/3 of the books, being unable to decide between his wife and Clare.) In this book, he comes across as cranky. The bickering of the two on their honeymoon drags the book.

3. Hadley, one of Russ's officers, must either let a sordid side of her past be revealed or give up her kids.

As to the obligatory murder, there are two. Plus a kidnapping of a child who will die within a week without medicine.

The saddest part about this effort is if it had been the first Spencer-Fleming I read, I'd never have opened another. I would never have known the really good work she is capable of.

This reads more like cardboard Agatha Christie than Julia Spencer-Fleming.
I just finished the latest Julia Spencer Fleming novel, Through the Evil Days. It is a thriller, but ultimately unsatisfying and just not very believable. Who would take a 5 month pregnant woman ice fishing in January, to a remote cabin with no electricity in the Adirondacks? Contrived? I won't give away the plot and it was a thrilling read, but the author is awfully hard on her characters and the book just came to an abrupt ending. And boy is it dark! I don't know if I care about Russ and Clare watching their child grow up in the rectory, if that is the stuff of the next one. The plot involves meth heads, a dying child, fetal alcohol syndrome, corrupt government officials, a dying town with a faltering economy, arson, murder, rape, porn, a priggish archdeacon, snow, sleet, rain and car crashes to boot. The blurb I read called it gritty. I would agree.
I first began reading this series shortly after the birth of a child, when I was spending hours each day with a baby in arms and nothing to do but read. I raced through the first six books in a matter of weeks. I loved it the characters, the plots, the themes, the theology. I think I recommended the series to a couple of people, even. I was a little busier when the seventh one came around, but still, I found it quite interesting. But this book . . . how to describe it? Let's just say that I read it on the plane to and from a conference, and when I got home I put it aside and rarely touched it until today. Somehow, it just wasn't gripping me. I'm glad I finished, and I enjoyed some parts of the ride, but it did feel like the weakest of the books so far.

So what went wrong? I have to agree with all the many reviews that say that the middle drags. Far too much time is spent with characters running from one place to another in the snow, getting into arguments, injured, and of course getting colder and colder. After a while I gave up on trying to figure out where each character was and why he or she was running around in the snow. And I quit trying to keep track of the relationship between the bad guys and the kidnap victims' relatives . . . up until the end, when things got more interesting.

To be fair, the above comments about running around in the snow just refers to one of the intertwining plotlines. The Hadley/Flynn plot in this book did a much better job of holding my interest. I do very much want to know what happens next in that story. Despite that, I think I am starting to get tired of this series. How many books can there be in which ice storms, rainstorms, or other bad weather plays a pivotal role? Maybe it's time for me to find a series set in the Caribbean-- I think I'm getting tired of Miller's Kill. The weather there is TERRIBLE.