I Shall Not Want

Title: I Shall Not Want

Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming

Date Finished: March 25, 2009

Personal Book Count: 23 out of 100

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Genre/ Subject: mystery

First Line: When she saw the glint of revolver barrel through the broken glass in the window, Hadley Knox thought, I’m going to die for sixteen bucks and hour.

Summery: Taken from the jacket-

“People die. Marriages fail. In the small Adirondack town of Millers Kill, New York, however, life doesn’t stop for heartbreak. A brand-new officer in the police department, a breaking-and-entering, and trouble within his own family keep Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne busy enough to ignore the pain of losing his wife---and the woman he loves.

At St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, the Reverend Clare Fergusson is trying to keep her vestry, her bishop, and her National Guard superiors happy---all the while denying her own wounded soul.

When a Mexican farmhand stumbles over a Latino man killed with a single shot to the back of his head, Clare is sucked into the investigation through her involvement in the migrant community. The discovery of two more bodies executed in the same way ignites fears that a serial killer is loose in the close-knit community. While the sorrowful spring turns into a scorching summer, Russ is plagued by media hysteria, conflict within his department, and a series of baffling assaults.

As the violence strikes closer and closer to home, an untried officer is tested, a wary migrant worker is tempted, and two would-be lovers who thought they had lost everything must find a way to trust each other again---before it becomes forever, fatally, too late.

Julia Spencer-Fleming shows you can escape danger---but not desire---in her most suspenseful, passionate novel yet.”

Why did I pick this book? : I read All Mortal Flesh and loved it. When I saw recently this was up for an Agatha Award I thought I would try this one.

Review: I had severe let down. I don’t know if it’s because my expectations were so high, after the other one was so good, or if I was just in a different mind space, or if I could predict where it was going as I had read the author before, but this one fell short for me. Or maybe it’s because I have read Harlan Coben, who tends to do a lot a similar things in his books, but more so.

Now with that said, I do like Russ and Clare, but am getting a bit tired of the push/pull between them. I liked that a lot of my old favorite characters were there, and well and short visits from past ones. I like Hadley and hope she sticks around. We finally got some edge of my seat moments near the end, and I like that it was a humorous ending, although I’m not sure it fit with the rest of the book. There was pay off in the end, but it felt like me to be a lot of work to get there. I’m glad I did though, otherwise I would have been very discouraged. It made it worth my time investment.

I like the dialog, internal as well as between the characters. I like that we got to see EVERYONES point of view, from the main characters, to minor characters. I think that it could have been done very well (and easier for the author) from just the two points of view of the main characters, but the fact that there was more really added layers to the story.

Will I read anymore of this series? I don’t know. I didn’t think I would read this one, and I did, so who knows?

Agree? Disagree? Recommendations? Any insights, suggestions, or comments on the book or format, or blog at all are most welcome. If you have read this and/ or review it yourself, please let me know. Can you think of any books like this? Give me a recommendation! =D