I don't write fiction, but I read it religiously. Minerva Day, by Christie Keele, is fiction at its best. Once grounded, acquainted with the characters and their world, I was, in a very satisfying way, hooked: Whatever I was doing, I couldn't wait to get back to Minerva Day, for all the right reasons that add up to superb storytelling.
This novel is balanced, well structured. Each chapter consists of scenes, and in each scene what is held back, unsaid, is as important and compelling as what is said. Skillful with her descriptions, with what the characters say and do, Christie Keele is equally skilled with what they don't say and don't do. Precision and economy are two qualities of her novel. She makes the most out of silence, and, with her plot, the most out of suspense.
Minerva Day is a murder mystery, and much more. There's nothing formulaic about it: no stock characters, no car chase scenes, no people dying in one fell swoop, nothing at all sensational, or ghoulish. This novel has the ring of verisimilitude; everything, everyone, and everyplace seems so real, and so vividly realized both on the page and in the attentive reader's imagination. The rule is, if we don't know we can't care. Christie Keele indeed gets us to know and care. A reader puts down the book saying, I know these people, and I care about their relations to one another, to their tribulations and tragedies, and to their joys and triumphs. So to say Minerva is a murder mystery and leave it at that, is to miss the mark. Ultimately, it's about being human.
A central part of the plot involves the abduction and murder of Fellow, a young boy, the adopted child of Piper, Minerva's daughter, and Piper's husband George. An event that underscores this tragedy is the death of Minerva's husband Henry. Who is guilty, who is innocent? What readers discover is revealed, chapter by chapter, scene by scene--in a way that only a writer skilled at her craft can do. But more than skill is involved; there is passion, a vision, a feeling that Minerva Day is a story that had to be told. Ms. Keele's considerable talents and unwavering conviction are involved in the telling.
Minerva Day, Christie Keele's first novel, is contemporary fiction at its best.
OPPURE
Scarica l'app Kindle gratuita e inizia a leggere immediatamente i libri Kindle sul tuo smartphone, tablet o computer, senza bisogno di un dispositivo Kindle.
Leggi immediatamente sul browser con Kindle per il Web.
Con la fotocamera del cellulare scansiona il codice di seguito e scarica l'app Kindle.
Segui l'autore
Si è verificato un errore. Riprova a effettuare la richiesta più tardi.
Bestseller in Sport
I nostri prodotti di Sport più popolari. Acquista ora
Informazioni sull'autore
Segui gli autori per ottenere aggiornamenti sulle nuove uscite, oltre a consigli avanzati.
Le recensioni migliori da altri paesi
Peter Mladinic
Minerva Day Leaves You Wanting to Know What Will Happen Next
Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 17 novembre 2013Rhonda Tyler
When is the next one coming out??
Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 7 maggio 2014
Jackson Theofore Keys
Mean people being mean
Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 3 marzo 2014muffiemae
Just couldn't force myself to finish it
Recensito negli Stati Uniti il 22 maggio 2015