Concerto
Author: Sandra Miller
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4 Stars
Summary:
At the same time an unknown stalker begins threatening violinist Chrispen Marnett, she finds herself drawn to the brilliant concertmaster Alexis Brooks, a man whose wife was brutally murdered under suspicious circumstances five years earlier. With passion and suspicion colliding, Chrispen must investigate the past to protect her own future.
Review:
Rationality and emotion are often opposing forces. The protagonist, Chrispen Marnett, finds the struggle between her trusting emotional side and rational side a continuing challenge throughout Concerto. At the beginning of the book, she's self-admitted fan of her concertmaster, the talented Alexis Brooks, a man many think murdered his own wife. Despite the warnings of various friends, local authorities, and even Alexis's own father she involves herself with the man while also trying to deal with harassing phone calls, faxes, and e-mails that may be also be coming from him.
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4 Stars
Summary:
At the same time an unknown stalker begins threatening violinist Chrispen Marnett, she finds herself drawn to the brilliant concertmaster Alexis Brooks, a man whose wife was brutally murdered under suspicious circumstances five years earlier. With passion and suspicion colliding, Chrispen must investigate the past to protect her own future.
Review:
Rationality and emotion are often opposing forces. The protagonist, Chrispen Marnett, finds the struggle between her trusting emotional side and rational side a continuing challenge throughout Concerto. At the beginning of the book, she's self-admitted fan of her concertmaster, the talented Alexis Brooks, a man many think murdered his own wife. Despite the warnings of various friends, local authorities, and even Alexis's own father she involves herself with the man while also trying to deal with harassing phone calls, faxes, and e-mails that may be also be coming from him.
While the orchestra isn't integral to the plot, it does provide a somewhat unusual background that provides an extra bit of setting flavor. The author's own background as a violinist brings complete verisimilitude to the musical and orchestral elements. She does a good job of communicating many subtle aspects of orchestral culture.
Indeed, though I enjoyed Concerto overall, at times I found some of Chrispen's choices rather odd. It should be noted, however, that she is a violinist, not a private detective or police officer, so a few missteps in investigating the bad guys are expected.
Given that certain fundamental mysteries are resolved surprisingly early, it's less uncertainty over the identity of the criminal than than dealing directly with the antagonist that drives the plot, particularly in the second half of the story. Though there are some efforts to obfuscate the identity of the antagonist, I didn't find them particularly convincing. That being said, the cloud of risk that hangs over Chrispen is more than enough to sustain the dramatic tension until the end of the story.
There's good pacing throughout. The author does a good job of alternating between the character development and mystery portions smoothly.
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