This segment begins an escalation of the chase. The hero and heroine are discovered in his
father’s castle by someone who is more than happy to turn them in, and off they
go, on a desperate run to avoid capture.
If the sequence of events from this moment until the “bad guys” finally
catch them seems to be unnecessarily drawn out, at least we see story and
character development along the way. We
pick up clues with the main characters along the way which further develop the
plot as well as the suspense.
The love interest between Susan and James threatens to get
out of control at one point, but the author deftly reins it in with a slip of
the tongue by … Susan! Gee, it’s not the
guy for a change; what a nice touch!
Although, as excited as James seemed to have been getting, it’s hard to
imagine most men being put off much by being accidentally referred to as a
famous royal personage. And the fact
that he uses his resemblance to that person to strategic advantage on a couple
of occasions, to get them out of a sticky situation or two, would seem to be
enough to mitigate his attitude somewhat.
Maybe we’ll learn more later in the story why the resemblance bothers
him so much.
The introduction of the three elderly women doctors with
their motorcycle which they gladly part with, thinking that they’re helping a
famous national hero that James resembles seems a little unnecessary to the
story. But again, maybe this is more
than just “filler.” Giving the author
the benefit of the doubt, maybe these ladies will somehow work their way back
into the story later on to become a factor contributing to its satisfactory
conclusion.
Toward the end of this segment, we finally get to know our
antagonists a little better as the heroes locate them and attempt to spy on
them. The fact that they’re caught
almost instantly is a nice touch of hardcore realism, and a good demonstration
that their number one nemesis really is as effectively dangerous as he seems to
be. That this section ends with them
being led to a torture chamber of sorts is another nice, unexpected touch
James’ rocky relationship with his father and the older man’s
involvement with some vaguely questionable people seem to hint at complications
that we will see some resolution of later in the plot. It’s tempting to conjecture that perhaps the
father and his associates will, in some direct or indirect way, come to the
rescue. But that seems to be assuming
far too much. Ms. Peters appears to be
leading the reader to something altogether unexpected, not something that an
experienced reader of Mysteries would necessarily be able to predict with any
confidence. Whether the resolution of
the mystery will be as satisfying as the tale seems to warrant remains to be
seen. I am, however, rather optimistic
that this will indeed be the case!
Our book for October will be Witches on the Road Tonight, by Sheri Holman! Start looking for a copy right away, as this one is a little newer (copyright 2011), so it might be a little harder to find in used book stores or libraries.
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