LEE GOODEN, For The Saratogian
10/21/2003
'Take The Bait.'
By S.W. Hubbard.
Susan Werlinich Pocket Books (division of Simon & Schuster).
325 pages.
It is always an exciting experience to read the first book of a new novelist -- especially if it is as well written as 'Take The Bait,' S. W. Hubbard's mystery novel.
'Take The Bait' is about the disappearance of Janelle Harvey, a teenage girl from the fictitious Adirondack mountain town Trout Run.
Janelle disappears while running an errand for her father on a half-mile stretch of road between her home and a Sunoco station. Immediately, the people are in an uproar about kidnappers, child predators and serial killers invading their innocent little town.
Enter new chief of police Frank Bennett, a widower cop from Kansas City. Bennett is wrestling with ghosts of past mistakes and trying to atone for them during this current case.
His investigation procedures are methodical, thorough and cold. No one is immune to his scrutiny, regardless of how intrusive or unpopular his techniques may be with the citizenry of Trout Run.
Bennett's digging exposes a harsh, dark reflection of Trout Run; in contrast with the cheery tourist-trap down-home atmosphere that the inhabitants wish to project.
'Take The Bait' feels as if Jessica Fletcher from 'Murder She Wrote' relocated from Maine to David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks.'
The book is a well-plotted mystery, and Hubbard drops false clues here and there as if the reader were Bennett struggling against time to find answers.
Bennett is an intelligent, complex hero living in a secretive township full of meaty characters, from the aristocratic Stevenson family to Pablo, the megalomaniac corrupt leader of a utopian cult.
Hubbard's narrative is easily accessible. She pulls no punches, though, and lets the reader have it from the very first paragraph with her realism:
'Make no mistake -- spring is not a season of unrestrained joy in the Adirondack Mountains. Too late for skiers and too early for hikers, spring brings financial grief to everyone who relies on the tourist trade. At best, it's muddy; at worst, the melting snow and rain push rivers and streams above their banks, uprooting trees and flooding low roads. The same warm weather that coaxes the leaves onto the trees also draws the blackflies out of their larval state.'
Hubbard delivers the knockout blow with the final sentence on the first page, that sets the pace for the rest of book:
'And Janelle Harvey, walking the half-mile between Al's Sunoco and her home, disappeared.'
Hubbard, an avid hiker and canoeist, has spent many happy hours exploring the High Peaks area of the Adirondacks, where her family built a vacation home on the banks of the West Branch of the Ausable river.
She has worked for more than 20 years as a marketing-promotions writer and lives in Morristown, N.J., with her husband, two children and a cat.
'Take The Bait' is S. W. Hubbard's first novel, and the start of a series of Adirondack mystery novels featuring police detective Frank Bennett.
10/21/2003
'Take The Bait.'
By S.W. Hubbard.
Susan Werlinich Pocket Books (division of Simon & Schuster).
325 pages.
It is always an exciting experience to read the first book of a new novelist -- especially if it is as well written as 'Take The Bait,' S. W. Hubbard's mystery novel.
'Take The Bait' is about the disappearance of Janelle Harvey, a teenage girl from the fictitious Adirondack mountain town Trout Run.
Janelle disappears while running an errand for her father on a half-mile stretch of road between her home and a Sunoco station. Immediately, the people are in an uproar about kidnappers, child predators and serial killers invading their innocent little town.
Enter new chief of police Frank Bennett, a widower cop from Kansas City. Bennett is wrestling with ghosts of past mistakes and trying to atone for them during this current case.
His investigation procedures are methodical, thorough and cold. No one is immune to his scrutiny, regardless of how intrusive or unpopular his techniques may be with the citizenry of Trout Run.
Bennett's digging exposes a harsh, dark reflection of Trout Run; in contrast with the cheery tourist-trap down-home atmosphere that the inhabitants wish to project.
'Take The Bait' feels as if Jessica Fletcher from 'Murder She Wrote' relocated from Maine to David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks.'
The book is a well-plotted mystery, and Hubbard drops false clues here and there as if the reader were Bennett struggling against time to find answers.
Bennett is an intelligent, complex hero living in a secretive township full of meaty characters, from the aristocratic Stevenson family to Pablo, the megalomaniac corrupt leader of a utopian cult.
Hubbard's narrative is easily accessible. She pulls no punches, though, and lets the reader have it from the very first paragraph with her realism:
'Make no mistake -- spring is not a season of unrestrained joy in the Adirondack Mountains. Too late for skiers and too early for hikers, spring brings financial grief to everyone who relies on the tourist trade. At best, it's muddy; at worst, the melting snow and rain push rivers and streams above their banks, uprooting trees and flooding low roads. The same warm weather that coaxes the leaves onto the trees also draws the blackflies out of their larval state.'
Hubbard delivers the knockout blow with the final sentence on the first page, that sets the pace for the rest of book:
'And Janelle Harvey, walking the half-mile between Al's Sunoco and her home, disappeared.'
Hubbard, an avid hiker and canoeist, has spent many happy hours exploring the High Peaks area of the Adirondacks, where her family built a vacation home on the banks of the West Branch of the Ausable river.
She has worked for more than 20 years as a marketing-promotions writer and lives in Morristown, N.J., with her husband, two children and a cat.
'Take The Bait' is S. W. Hubbard's first novel, and the start of a series of Adirondack mystery novels featuring police detective Frank Bennett.
posted by Lee Gooden | 9:41 PM
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