*** 1/2 - I enjoyed my second foray into Abby Cooper's psychic world. It was nice to see Abby working with the police again to solve a nasty crime (though it was a bit ironic to see her involved in pretty much the exact same way as last time). The only thing I really missed was seeing more of Dutch.After the excitement in Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye, things have slowed down a bit for Abby. Her house renovation is almost finished, her relationship with Dutch has been put largely on hold while he attends FBI training camp at Quantico, and she has a line on some new clients. Unfortunately, her job once again gets her into trouble - one of her readings sparks the interest of the local mob boss (who won't take 'no' for an answer), and Milo hopes that she can help him solve a series of brutal rapes in the area. And just like that Abby is plunged right into the thick of things again.
Better Read than Dead had a lot of good points - I really enjoy tarot readings, and I relish those parts of these novels where Laurie describes Abby's psychic intuitions and messages. It just clicks in a (for me) utterly believable way, which I feel is the strong suit of the premise. Abby's psychic abilities do help her out in a lot of ways, but they don't just hand her the answers. She still has to figure out how to interpret them. And she makes mistakes - sometimes grievous ones.
I really enjoyed seeing Abby work with the police again; despite her former distrust of cops (and her continued problems with their skepticism), I like the way it makes the books seem more realistic. After all, outside the realm of cozy mysteries, people who always seem to be in the thick of murders tend to get themselves arrested. Plus the fact that Abby doesn't refuse to call in the cops keeps her from being TSTL on occasion (though the parking garage fiasco is a pretty close call). I prefer the actual investigation portions to the more adventure/thriller plotline involving the mob boss, though I enjoyed how the disparate plotlines ended up intertwining.
What keeps Better Read than Dead from being as strong as Psychic Eye, in my opinion, is that the characters I really loved from the first book make only small cameo appearances. Dave the handyman barely skirts around the edges, and Dutch is either away or undercover for most of the novel. While he and Abby still have some lovely scenes, and their relationship is a believable mixture of exasperation and affection, I just... missed seeing them together more.
Which means, of course, that I'll certainly be reaching for the next book in the series just as soon as I can figure out which box it's in.
Interested in other opinions?
1 comments:
Hi Lana, great review. Thanks for linking mine! :-)
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