No Rest for the Dead [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Friday, April 6, 2012

No Rest for the Dead [Bargain Price] [Hardcover]

Product Details

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Touchstone (July 5, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1451607377
ASIN: B005M4808S
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

By : Sandra Brown
Price : $10.00
You Save : $14.99 (60%)

Customer Reviews

Twenty six authors writing in collaboration to tell the story of an innocent woman wrongly executed for her husband's murder. Huh? Twenty six authors? One book? When I read the synopsis of No Rest for the Dead and then looked at the list of contributing authors I knew that I just had to read this book. Could this work? WOULD this work? Yes it works just fine, thank you! Each author writes one chapter, or story, labeled with their name so you do know who wrote what. But the "who wrote what" dynamic quickly gets back burnered. Some of the writers aren't normally favorites but in No Rest for the Dead, it didn't matter to me. Every chapter and every story was seamless, every word was brilliant. What matters is that No Rest for the Dead is a great read and a great who-done-it.
As requested by the deceased, innocent Rosemary Thomas in her will, ten years after her execution, all who were present on the night of her her husband's murder are to be brought together again in a sort of memorial. A letter is to be read by Rosemary's best friend. I immediately expected a "Nick Charles" type of scene when I read that all of the suspects would be together in one room. Nope...didn't happen. And that's OK. There's another, more interesting way that the facts are exposed and the mystery is solved.
No Rest for the Dead is a well told, well laid out and plotted mystery, I couldn't stop reading it. It's rather like a well designed quilt, all of the separate pieces are finally stitched together to make a solid piece. It's the fine stitching and the weaving of the threads that bind the pieces that make the finished quilt strong and sturdy. That's what you have in No Rest for the Dead. A strong and well crafted story.
Hands down, this is one of the best books I've read this year! The solution took me by surprise and no, I didn't see it coming. And I can usually figure these things out.
Buy it, read it, share it.
4 1/2 out of 5 stars
This e-galley was provided to me by the publisher and in no way affected my review.

I'm a voracious reader of mysteries and thrillers, so I like to think I know what I'm talking about and having said all that, NO REST FOR THE DEAD is a great read. I am astonished how 26 egos managed to turn this book into a consistent, quick, and cohesive read. I read an article that the book was four years in the making and frankly it shows; writers today are pressured to write a book a year...sometimes even two books a year and when that happens quality drops off.
The story starts with the execution of Rosemary Thomas for the murder of her nasty husband Christopher, but starting the novel off with an execution doesn't start the novel with an end point...in fact that's only the beginning for Jon Nunn the detective who starts to have second thoughts about the case and is convinced that the wrong person was put to death.
Jon Nunn is a great protagonist, he's flawed, his life becomes a mess after the Thomas Case, leaving him drunk, depressed, and without a career. With the help of Tony Olsen a wealthy friend with a lot of connections a memorial is staged on the tenth anniversary of Rosemary's death. I won't add any spoilers but will say that you're in for a rollercoaster of a mystery. On a side note, Nunn is not stereotype of a conflicted and flawed cop, he realizes that the only chance he has at redemption is to find the real culprit--thus his destruction is born more his conviction that he helped execute an innocent woman than of the usual literary device of showing cops to be depressed drinkers!
I read that the editors are giving all the proceeds for cancer research, so that's another incentive to buy the book.
The pacing was excellent and at times I realized that an hour had gone by and I was still reading the book. Fine chapters by John Lescroart, Jeffery Deaver, Thomas Cook, Alexander McCall Smith, Michael Palmer, R.L. Stine--anyway I will stop. I love this book.