CIRCLE OF STONES - Suzanne Alyssa Andrew



This is a story of Nik, an art student, and his girlfriend Jennifer, a dancer. Like many eccentric artists, Nik is obsessive - especially when it comes to painting his dancer girlfriend. On the day Jennifer goes missing, Nik's world falls apart. 

With few clues to Jennifer's past, Nik begins a cross-country trip to find her and encounters a Dickensian cast of characters and a little Truth about Jennifer, himself, and love along the way.

My first reaction was - this was a fast read! I'm not sure if that's a good reaction or not, but at least it wasn't a slow, dragging read.

My second reaction was - I enjoyed this. Author Suzanne Alyssa Andrew's writing is crisp and gentle and her language just pulls a reader in.

Although Nik and Jennifer are the focus of the story, the book is told from the point of view of the people Nik meets on his journey. Thus, the 'circle of stones' are the people we meet.

This is a 'concept' book and I generally don't like concept novels where the unique form is more important to the story, but Andrew keeps the story in focus. Still, there is something almost uncomfortable about this concept.  We're getting the story from minor characters who come in for a moment, seem important because of what they have to share, but then they're gone. There becomes too many characters for such a tight story.

While I enjoyed the book and found it a quick read, ultimately it was a bit unsatisfying. I might normally suggest that this is a good beach read, but because of the rotating character/narrators it needs more attention than what a beach read usually gets.  Perhaps this makes a good fireplace read.

Looking for a good book? Circle of Stones by Suzanne Alyssa Andrew is a well-written book but the unusual narrative format makes it just a little harder to recommend.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

* * * * * *

Circle of Stones

author: Suzanne Alyssa Andrew

publisher: Dundurn

ISBN: 145972934X

paperback, 272 pages

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MURDLE VOLUME 1 - G. T. Karber

Image
 I enjoy puzzles of many different varieties. I had not heard of 'Murdle' before this but essentially this is a combination of the game of Clue and a Sherlock Holmes micro story. With suspects, possible murder weapons, potential locations, and/or motives plus some very brief hints, readers are meant to combine the logic of what's know with deductive reasoning to identify the killer (or killers?) in 100 different mystery word puzzles. I will admit right off the bat that I did not do all 100.  I didn't even do half of these, but I did so some random sampling through all the categories (Elementary, Occult Medium, Hard Boiled, and Impossible). I did not get any correct in the Impossible category (of course not ... they were impossible!) and only one correct in the Hard Boiled (of five). The Elementary puzzles were, as expected, pretty easy and the Hard Boiled only a little bit more difficult. Each mini mystery comes with a grid printed in the book to help the reader-detecti
Read more

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - wherein he acq
Read more