This mystery opened in a traditional way...we are at a funeral left wondering how things had gotten to this point. A double murder! Normally I am not a fan of the flashback and yet the first two novels I read were both in this format.
The first thing I found interesting was how there was not an adult present while the police are questioning Gabriel (which I thought was a big NO-NO) but since CSI and all of these other cops shows I guess we all feel like we are experts on the criminal justice system. I liked being able to hear the internal dialog of Gabriel during the questioning. He thinks the detectives are trying to trap him or when he winces because he thinks he has said too much.
At times I felt like this book had a little too much going on. Gabriel gets caught in a lie about going away with his girlfriend and she breaks up with him, there are people selling drugs in the town, pets are going missing, a mysterious fire is set, Gabriel is stalking a girl from school, a Native American student joins Gabriel's school and faces discrimination. At times I felt my head was reeling trying to keep straight all of these connections. As Gabriel talks with the police we see some of these connections being made either through what he tells us or these weird conversations the police have in front of him in which they reveal way too much information.
As a character I was on the fence about Gabriel. He was noisy to a fault but then he would do something redeeming like help Durm (which gets him hurt). He was a typical teenager in the sense that he could not think through his actions and determine the consequences. He did want to help some of the other characters in the book but I think much of his actions were to just satisfy his own curiosity.
The whole Raelene situation was beyond creepy. He thinks she likes him but cannot deal with the rejection of her ignoring him. Gabriel watches she and her brother walk around naked in their house. And perhaps the most disturbing part was finding out that his Mom was a swinger who lived on a commune and isn't sure who Gabriel's father is. Gabriel may be the child of the town crazy who used to run the commune and he could have been stalking his half-sister. Then you were left wondering if there was something going on between Gabriel's mom and the detective. I can appreciate the element of surprise but I felt at the end the author was just trying to link things (whether it was believable or not). I had to reread the end to make sure I did not miss anything.
Overall the book kept me reading because I had to know how all this craziness was related (perhaps I am a little like Gabriel) but in the end I thought it was confusing and grasping at straws to make it all work. As we have been reading books and articles I feel that the author made things so far fetched that it made it difficult for the reader to buy into the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment