[MMR]⇒ PDF Touchstone Laurie R King 9780553803556 Books

Touchstone Laurie R King 9780553803556 Books

Download As PDF : Touchstone Laurie R King 9780553803556 Books

Touchstone Laurie R King 9780553803556 Books

I must begin by saying I am a huge fan of Laurie King's Mary Russell novels. She effortlessly weaves such a fascinating story with so many very clever twists and turns that it is impossible to put down. NOW I am going to add that Touchstone shows all the more what an incredibly smart, talented and crafty author she is, as this book is engrossing to the point where everything else fades away to insignificance. Some have said the pace and set up of the story are too slow; to me, Ms King unrolls the storyline, plot and character development like a wave cresting inexorably on its way to the beach. Laurie King: I am in awe of your writing skills all over again, reading this incredible novel! I still want more Mary Russell, but I am blissfully happy that I waited to read Touchstone long enough that the second book in the series is waiting on my nightstand. And if you happen to actually see this review, I bought an autographed copy of Touchstone that has the added benefit of the sentiment "Vote Obama!" written by you on the signature page. I have, several times in fact, voted for Obama in my hometown of Chicago. Thank you Laurie King!


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Touchstone Laurie R King 9780553803556 Books Reviews

This is an absorbing and interesting novel set in 1926. A Bureau of Investigation Agent from America, Harris Styvesant, goes to England to pursue a suspect in multiple bombings in the US. The setting is meticulously set Union and Labor tensions predicting major strikes, post traumatic stress in veterans of WWI, good works for the poor loosely linked to socialist and anarchist goals, it has everything. Some sections are a bit slow, too much inside several of the main characters heads, but the characters are also well drawn and this gives further insight, even if it could have been done in smaller bites. Harris has to infiltrate England's titled families and high society to pursue his main target. It has a bit of everything, romance, intrigue, bad guys and good guys. Laurie King is a meticulous writer who draws a picture worthy of film, and is very adept at bringing the reader into her causes. A really good historical novel.
As a long time fan of the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mysteries (I have read them all), I looked forward to experiencing a new detective. Laurie King did not disappoint, and I am hooked by the Harris Stuyvesant character and the depth of detail King achieves in this mystery set in the post WWI '20s of a labor strife riven England. This is a very long book, but I was sad to see it end nonetheless. I have moved on to the second one, The Bones of Paris, and am enjoying it just as much. I find it remarkable that King is able to write convincingly and seemingly effortlessly in significantly different voices in these novels. The Stuyvesant novels are considerably richer and more complex in writing style, and I mean that as a compliment.
Brings two characters from an earlier novel together in a very engaging, well-plotted manner. Exciting story, well worth the time to read. Starts where her book "Folly" leaves off.
Loved this book - I am going to pick up the 2nd book in the series (of two) at the library today!
A great yarn about Harris Stuyvesant, an American in England in 1926, years after his WW I service there, who has temporarily left his job as an agent for the US Bureau of Investigation (now the FBI) to find a "mad bomber" who has set several bombs in the US. During his frustrating search for someone to help him in the English governmental bureaucracy, he is put in touch with Bennet Grey, an Englishman who, after being severely injured during his WWI service, is "sensitive" to who is lying and who is not. Stuyvesant and Grey, along with Grey's sister and members of the esteemed Hurleigh family, are caught up in the convergence of several plots the chase for the political extremist(s) who may be working to foil attempts to settle a Labor strike that threatens to shut down the country, the efforts of another seemingly nefarious governmental official to harness Grey's abilities, with or without his consent, and Stuyvesant's own plot to arrest, or kill, the person(s) responsible for the bomb that severely injured his beloved brother.
Love the Holmes/Russell series. Most of them seem thoughtfully written with the imagination of the reader in mind. I forced myself to continue reading this (to me) slow and dull book. I finally stopped on page 100, wondering why I was reading it and still having no clue as to where it was going to lead. Not only that, I really didn't care what would happen to the characters. Pulled out "A Letter of Mary" for a re-read instead. I give this book a three in all honesty because I never finished it, so this is a neutral rating. It could get more interesting, but I'll never know.
4.8 stars

Mystery/thrillers are definitely outside my main reading diet, but
this novel by the author of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series was so much fun to read that I slowed way down and took two weeks to read it, and was very sad when it ended. It has terrific characters, and not just the main ones. I was fascinated by Bennett Grey, whose horrific WWI injuries left him so sensitive to the noises, smells and sights around him that it's as if he can read minds, and people who are lying, or evil, cause him severe physical pain. What an interesting change on the Sherlock Holmes syndrome that is -- like an extreme version, only relatively helpless.
If there's any downside to this book it's the English "house party" at a grand estate, that goes on for days and days, recounted in what feels like real time detail over 200 plus pages. Lots of it was wonderful, but it all got to be a bit too much.

I'd love to see a movie, or better, a miniseries, of this. It's got a couple of strong, interesting women characters, along with a great bad guy. And as a mystery/thriller it kept me going almost to the end, guessing at the central puzzle.

I was very happy to realize that there's a second book in what's now a series, and have ordered it and can't wait.
I must begin by saying I am a huge fan of Laurie King's Mary Russell novels. She effortlessly weaves such a fascinating story with so many very clever twists and turns that it is impossible to put down. NOW I am going to add that Touchstone shows all the more what an incredibly smart, talented and crafty author she is, as this book is engrossing to the point where everything else fades away to insignificance. Some have said the pace and set up of the story are too slow; to me, Ms King unrolls the storyline, plot and character development like a wave cresting inexorably on its way to the beach. Laurie King I am in awe of your writing skills all over again, reading this incredible novel! I still want more Mary Russell, but I am blissfully happy that I waited to read Touchstone long enough that the second book in the series is waiting on my nightstand. And if you happen to actually see this review, I bought an autographed copy of Touchstone that has the added benefit of the sentiment "Vote Obama!" written by you on the signature page. I have, several times in fact, voted for Obama in my hometown of Chicago. Thank you Laurie King!