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A Garden Of Vipers (2007)

A Garden Of Vipers (2007)

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Rating
3.94 of 5 Votes: 4
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ISBN
0451412338 (ISBN13: 9780451412331)
Language
English
Publisher
onyx

About book A Garden Of Vipers (2007)

Kerley, Jack. A GARDEN OF VIPERS. (2006). ****. This is the third in the author’s fast-paced series featuring detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus of Mobile, Alabama’s homicide squad. Once again, they catch a weird murder and activate their PSIT squad priveleges. Murders, preceded by tortures of the victim, keep cropping up, and they have to somehow find the connection among them. The first victim was a young woman reporter. The case widens to include a poisoned convict, a psychiatrist, and an older woman teacher who had been murdered four years earlier. They all appear to be the work of one madman, who changes his appearance as they are tracking him, amasses thousands of dollars in his spree, and even rents office space and starts an investment firm. All lines eventually point back to a wealthy family in Mobile, a close-knit family that is shunned by the rest of the social elite in Mobile because of their crass ways of supporting charitable efforts. The family is great on giving, but they always expect something back in return. To say that the family was dysfunctional would be an understatement. The mother rules the roost with an iron hand, but is barely able to keep the three sons from killing each other from jealosy of each others’ talents. Each of the brothers has only one basic tenet: “I, me, mine.” Ryder and Nautilus find that they aren’t alone in their pursuit of the killer, and that being cops doesn’t make them safe. It makes them targets. Ryder continues with his disappointing love life. Ava, from his last novel, has vanished into the bowels of Fort Wayne. His latest trinket is DeeDee, a newswoman from Mobile’s TV station, but that’s kind of hinky, too. By the end of the book, he finally hooks up with Dr. Claire, the chief pathologist for the city morgue. I think we saw this coming from the first novel onwards. There’s a good intertwining of plot devices here that doesn’t slow the novel down at all. Recommended.

A GARDEN OF VIPERS (Police Proc-Mobile, Al, Cont) – GKerley, Jack – 3rd in seriesDutton, 2006- US Hardcover – ISBN: 0525949526*** Detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus pick up a call from dispatch and beat another pair of detectives to the scene of a reporter found murdered in her car. The reporter is a friend of Carson’s girlfriend, Dani Danbury. The trail soon leads to other murders, a police cover-up and to the very wealthy, influential Kincannon family, including Buck who is counting Carson’s girlfriend.*** This book lacked the spark of the previous two novels by Kerley. I found the plot implausible and imminently forgettable. Even to write this review, one week after reading the book, I had to go back and leaf through it to remember the plot. The best part of the book was the relationship between the two detectives, although even that didn’t have quite the impact of previous books, and the growing relationship between Carson and Claire Peltier, a forensic pathologist 11 years his senior. There is a suspenseful scene toward the end that does make the book exciting. It’s still a good series, but this wasn’t Kerley’s best effort.

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This is the third in a series starring two detectives, Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus, and probably the best so far. Investigating a murder that shows evidence of torture, Harry and Carson get involved with multiple threads of evidence from different cases, that all seem to have some relationship with the Kincannon family, a wealthy, powerful, and dysfunctional family in Mobile. How they pull these together into a single case makes for a good tale. There are subtle little clues that the detectives pick up on that are significant in their later understanding of events.The other facet of this series has been the development and changes in the relationships of the characters from previous books. I look forward to the next in this series.
—Ishmael Seaward

I'm not sure why I chose this book. I was in the library walking up and down the isles, looking for something that would jump out at me. This book captured my attention from page one and had a hard time putting it down. It's been a very long time since I last read a murder mystery, and this book definitely caught my attention. It takes place on the coast in Alabama, reminding me of the hot, humid, miserable weather in that area. It also made me miss the serenity of the ocean and the feeling of white sugar sand between my toes. I found it difficult to put the book down, especially when it climaxed at the end. Dinner had to wait while I finished the last two chapters!
—Sharon

A nice discoveryThe super-wealthy Kincannon family has earned its enormous fortune, like many other rich families, thanks to practices that cannot always tolerate the light of day. But that is not the only secret they want to keep hidden. At first the murder of a young reporter seems to be unrelated to the Kincannon’s, but when detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus start to piece things together some harmful links start to pop-up. A serial-killer is on the loose with only one objective: to ruin the Kincannon’s reputation for good.Having never read a novel by Jack Kerley before, I was truly taken by this book. It’s very strange that I never heard of this author before. Thanks to a sales bin and some divine intervention I became the proud owner of this audiobook for less than 5 euro. The rough voice of Kerry Shale quickly engulfed me in this mysterious world of dark intrigue. The build-up is supported by strong characterization of its main players. This a quite unique accomplishment because with most returning characters (Broken Souls is the third episode) this quickly tends to become a bland rehash of some need-to-know facts. Not with Broken Souls. It digests perfectly as a stand-alone novel.I must admit that once the setting for the final confrontation is ready, the story becomes a bit too action-adventure like for my taste. Luckily this doesn’t hurt the narrative too much because it still stays true to its nature. No miracle solution or deus-ex-machina denouement, but a fair conclusion that does not hurt the personality of its characters (not like a Clive Cussler fantasy to just name an unfair comparison…). I can only conclude that I am putting Jack Kerly high on my to-read list… a list that is getting longer and longer… I need more time! ;-)
—Geert Daelemans

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