248 pages

5 stars

For the want of a pogo stick.

This is a delightful novel. Not only do we have a murder investigation. We are treated to snippets of fascinating mini histories of coincidences, people and nature. I found these little asides both interesting and delightful. It reminded me very much of my undergraduate studies in philosophy, anthropology and psychology. Just wonderful!

UCLA Professor Marcus Melter and his very good friend Detective Jack Bratton are called to the scene of a brutal homicide. Their investigation leads them on a twisty road to near disaster. The murders almost take second chair to the wonderful - and sometimes surprising - connections between the Melter and Bratton families throughout the years. I loved the oh, so incidental connections between the families and people in general.

Mr. Ritter is a very talented writer. While I have not yet read his first book, I plan to. I was impressed by the natural facts inserted in the story in an oh so casual way. It made me smile. The subjects were not at all intrusive, they seemed natural somehow. I don’t know how he did it, but I am very impressed with his style.

I want to thank NetGalley and Pacific Street Publishing/IBPA Members’ Titles for forwarding to me a copy of this most wonderful book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

Though the genre is different and there are absolutely no similarities to A Series of Unfortunate events, still the books convoluted plot lines which intersect with sickening regularity and single mindedness reminds me of the series for sheer grit in the storyline while the grip on occasions tends to let loose.
This book is the great grandfather of a series of trivial circumstances and happenings brought together into a story. Some of the detailing will make a normal guy's head spin and he would need an accountant and ERP software to keep track of all the oddities or just skip pages and understand the gist. I do not like to skip and cannot afford a qualified help so did the grunt work all by myself, sometimes going back pages to re-read and collate.
Books are supposed to be fun, this one made me work. But the wonder is in the detailing. so much of the information overload makes the book much more interesting than the actual storyline. So this is one cake where the icing is everything.
In the end the story turns out fine and I finished the book at a fair pace so it was intriguing but I still feel that it is not an absolute belter. The book needed some more editing and maybe some lesser number of chapters would make reading better.
But in toto this is a cerebral book on murders and family histories spread over several timelines.
I commend the author for this piece of work.

I thank NetGalley for the opportunity to get an early taste of this book in exchange for a frank review.
4 stars for this effort.

When detective Jack Ritter and his friend Professor Marcus Melter are called to the site of a gruesome murder, they both don’t know that this case will have a profound influence on their lives. The story is not just about the victim; the story is a mixture of a family history, natural history and other components, with tales about lost loves and hardship.
I’m actually a bit surprised to see I’m the first reviewer on NG for this book, because it was very well written and very interesting. The story is told in short chapters that take place over a period of several hundred years, but with the emphasis on the period from 1962 till the present day. It’s full of interesting facts and the characters are, despite there are many, absolutely not shallow and the reader gets to know them very well.
It took me a little time to see where this was going but about 10% in I couldn’t stop reading. In the end, all stories come to an end and there are no loose threads. Very cleverly done!
Thanks to Netgalley and Pacific Street for this review copy.

This book hits on so many genre it was hard to decide which to categorize it into! With a little dystopian fiction added in, It felt a bit too ambitious for the length of the book. Characters are relatable though, which kept me reading. I did have to skip back to make sure I knew what time period I was reading - but the descriptions of the American West were excellent. All in all, an average rating from me.