Published: March 27, 2012 Not Finished: May 1, 2012 Robin’s Rating: Boring
Book Cover Description: Gregor Demarkian returns in a mindbending case of death and disappearance amongst the wealthy suburban elite.
In Waldorf Pines, a very rich, gated suburb of Philadelphia, ostentation and pretension are the order of the day. But even by the local standards, Martha Heydrich is a stone cold pain. She’s the stay-at-home wife of a very rich husband, drives a pink sports car everywhere and is on all the prominent local committees. She’s fake, into everybody’s business and is rumored to be having an affair with a local teenager, Michael Platte. One morning she seemingly vanishes from her house and later that night her husband Arthur returns home to find the pool house ablaze. Once the fire is extinguished, the police discover two bodies—one is Michael Platte and the other, too damaged to be recognizable, is presumed to be Martha Heydrich. The police think they know what happened—that Arthur killed his wife and her lover over the affair. But then the DNA results come back and the second body isn’t Martha’s at all, it is an unknown man. With their theory in tatters, and Martha nowhere to be found, the police to turn to ex-FBI agent Gregor Demarkian to help them unravel this most puzzling of cases.
What I Think: I tried with this one, I really did. I just could not get into it. I found the character development to be fragmented, and the story to be slow as molasses in February. In fact after reading 103 pages I was just as far into the story as I was after reading the cover description! I didn’t know much about the main players and at the rate the story was moving, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t be able to figure out who did it! While writing this, I learned that this is the 27th novel with this character. Just my opinion, but I think it's time for something new!
I used to force myself to finish a book once I started. I don’t do that anymore. There are so many books to choose from at the library (and for free on my Kindle) that I no longer wasted my time on something I don’t like! And that’s what happened here. I gave it a good try, but in the end I tossed it into the book bag and grabbed something new! Life’s too short to waste it on boring books!