Thursday, June 21, 2012

The I Can't Believe I Didn't Give It Five Stars post

Just last week, I was going to mention that I was worried blogger (or whatever they call themselves), would take away our so perfectly named blog for inactivity. Not wanting that to happen, I thought I'd toss in a couple old goodreads reviews now and then. The ever elusive five stars? I couldn't decide. I've never had more than 7 in one year (so far!). So, I thought I'd start with this Louise Penny, because Julianne echoed my appreciation of her as such a great author. This one, The Brutal Telling, is the first one I read, which is actually the fifth in the series.
Reviewed Oct. 2009. Three Pines, a small village near Quebec, seems to be your basic rustic, perfect, getaway place. However, when bistro owners Olivier and Gabriel discover a dead body inside their dining area, that peacefulness is shattered. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is called to investigate the murder. I would call this a sort of procedural cozy, as Gamache’s team can be high tech when they need to be, but Gamache certainly believes in following the clues and old fashioned footwork. I didn’t realize there are other Gamache stories, and this was not his first visit to the supposedly tranquil Three Pines. The story and mystery stood alone quite well. From the townspeople’s distrust of the nearby spa opening to the gradually more terrifying area legends, I found this to be a very gripping mystery.
Gave it four stars. Hereby upped to five in my mind!

5 comments:

julienj said...

Great idea, Julia! I'll have to look over my past book reviews and see what I should highlight...

Kaye said...

Louise Penny is excellent! It's hard to find those elusive 5 star books. I don't give that rating out lightly, either. Have a fun week!

fredamans said...

Happy belated birthday to you too!

Booklogged said...

I am a big fan of Louise Penny. Like you, I didn't read them in order but still loved them. I have since gone back and reread the first 3 - something I never do because there are too many books to reread. The Brutal Telling is one of my favorites.

Booklogged said...

I am a big fan of Louise Penny. Like you, I didn't read them in order but still loved them. I have since gone back and reread the first 3 - something I never do because there are too many books to reread. The Brutal Telling is one of my favorites.