Title: Misery Bay
Series? Yes and ongoing (#8)
Year Published: 2011
Length: 245 pages*
Format: print and digital
Premise: On a frozen January night, a young man loops one end of a long rope over the branch of a tree. The other end he ties around his neck. A snowmobiler will find him thirty-six hours later, his lifeless eyes staring out at the endless cold water of Lake Superior. It happens in a lonely corner of the Upper Peninsula, in a place they call Misery Bay.
Alex McKnight does not know this young man, and he won’t even hear about the suicide until another cold night, two months later and 250 miles away, when the door to the Glasgow Inn opens and the last person Alex would ever expect to see comes walking in to ask for his help.
What seems like a simple quest to find a few answers will turn into a nightmare of sudden violence and bloody revenge, and a race against time to catch a ruthless killer. McKnight knows all about evil, of course, having faced down a madman who killed his partner and left a bullet next to his heart. Mobsters, drug dealers, hit men—he’s seen them all, and they’ve taken away almost everything he’s ever loved. But none of them could have ever prepared him for the darkness he’s about to face. from Amazon.com
Thoughts: I must have jinxed myself or something because I am struggling with this novel. I was so looking forward to this book but so far the storyline that follows the suicide of a college student seems to be going nowhere fast. Alex McKnight is a semi-retired private investigator and an ex-cop from Detroit now living in Paradise, Michigan. He’s hired by the boy’s father and Chief Maven to investigate and unearth a motive as to why the boy killed himself.
You guys (have always wanted to say that), I am stuck on page 73 and dreading to read another page. I’d never expected this to happen and had fully intended to finish this book in a few days because the beginning started off so great.
Despite the weak premise, the book isn’t bad but it isn’t great either and I’m stuck on page 73. I am not a big fan of introspection (anymore?) and I despise boring interrogation/interviewing scenes (not necessarily true for this book but that’s all Alex is doing is going around asking questions of the locals). Plus, I’m still on page 73.
My feelings while reading this book has been neutral and the story is slowly becoming a chore to read and when that happens, it’s time to ditch it. I entertained giving myself pep talks about how good the story is gonna be but I abandoned that idea. To keep this balanced: the author nails down the climate, giving us descriptions of the freezing cold temperatures in the Upper Peninsula and giving us a tour of Paradise, Michigan.
I have enjoyed this author’s earlier works (Blood Is the Sky and A Stolen Season) and maybe these same elements are in there as well. I’d have to conclude that my tastes have drastically changed or it’s my mood (and it’s a costly experience because this is agency priced). I must abandon this novel for my sanity, however, because I can’t get past page 73. DNF.
Meanwhile, on Amazon, there are 24 glowing, positive reviews that you can go read (at the time of this writing). I hope the author hasn’t set up any google alerts for himself. I am a fan, I really am but I can’t finish this book now.
*refers to page count on my digital reader
Wow, that’s interesting! Although mystery books sometimes take quite a long time to get everything set up. I really liked his The Lock Artist, but it started at the end and worked back in time, so you were sort of hooked right away to see how the protagonist ended up in that situation. But also I think it is so so true that mood of the reader can be a huge factor!
I have The Lock Artist and hope it starts off from the ground running. I am bored. I can’t explain it any better than that. I will give it another shot later.
I’ve never read any of his books though THE LOCK ARTIST was just chosen for my crime fiction book club so I’ll need to get my hands on it. As for this one – shame to be so disappointed but I find if you’re only reading because you think you should and you’re not enjoying it then there’s not much point. I do think your tastes change over time – and I also think that with some authors you reach a saturation point where you can’t read any more by that person – doesn’t happen with them all but sometimes it does happen.