The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Mystery Writer is the latest release from Sulari Gentill, author of The Woman in the Library.
I have heard so many great things about The Woman in the Library, so when I was offered the chance to read The Mystery Writer a little early, I jumped on it.
This story follows Theodosia Benton, an aspiring author, who has just left her native Australia and moved to the United States, to Lawrence, Kansas, to live with her older brother, Gus, a successful attorney.
The two had an unconventional upbringing and you can tell that there is a lot of history there, yet they have a loving and supportive relationship. Gus is happy that his sister is pursuing her dreams, instead of going along with the path her parents and grandparents had in mind for her.
As part of her writing process, Theo begins to visit the same local cafe everyday. It’s there she meets and befriends, Dan Murdoch, who turns out to be a best-selling author.
Their relationship develops at a hasty clip and then one day, Theo finds Dan has been murdered. The stuff hits the proverbial fan from there.
Gus has a friend, Mac, who happens to be a private investigator, and he sort of takes on a role as Theo’s protector, as they work together to try to figure out what happened to Dan.
This was a difficult book for me to rate. It started out strong for me. I was deeply intrigued for like the first 40%, or so, then it just went absolutely off the rails.
I got to the point where I wanted it away from me. I was over it. It was such a sharp turn, I looked up like, what the actual heck am I reading?!
There was a mixed media element to this that I did not enjoy. Usually I am totally down for mixed media use, but in this case, I found it to be more distracting than anything.
I understand what it was supposed to represent in context to the overall plot, but yeah, just because I understand it, doesn’t mean I enjoyed it.
Then there’s Theo herself, who was way too naive for my tastes. Her naivety kept being explained away by the fact that she had moved from Australia, but that doesn’t track. It’s Australia, not the moon. She felt more like a time traveler straight out of the 1920s, or something; absurd.
This is the type of story, where I really have to be able to get behind the MC and I found her to be truly annoying. I did like Gus, Mac and the dog, Horse. Theo though, not so much.
Also, I didn’t enjoy where the plot went. The baddies seemed mere caricatures of baddies, versus something that would make sense to this story. I just couldn’t get behind it all.
With this being said, I understand that this is 100% due to personal taste and that a lot of Readers may end up really enjoying this one. After all, just because it wasn’t for me, doesn’t mean it won’t be for you.
If this synopsis sounds intriguing to you, or if you enjoyed this author’s previous work, you should absolutely give it a go. Perhaps I’m just in a mood. It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened.
Thank you to the publisher, Dreamscape Media, for providing me with a copy to read and review.
I do appreciate it and should say that the audiobook was very well narrated. I may not have gotten through this one, if it wasn’t for the audio format!