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AN OLD CHAOS
by Sheila Simonson
Perseverance Press, October 2009
280 pages
$14.95
ISBN: 1880284995


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

There's this thing called "sophomore slump" where folks suppose that someone's second work can't stand up to their first one. It can happen. Sometimes an author is rushed to turn in that second manuscript. Some believe that it's easier the second time (you want to hear maniacal laughter? Ask any established author about the whole "it gets easier" thing. They'll tell you. It never gets easier).

But there is nothing sophomoric, in any way, about this second book in Sheila Simonson's new series set in a small town in Washington state. Librarian Meg McLean is back as is Rob Neill, an investigator with the sheriff's office.

Simonson is a keen talent. She's underappreciated and underrated. Her characterization is clean and effective. Like most of the best authors out there, she uses "show, don't tell" to give you an image of a person. The arrogant cold woman who offers to buy priceless tribal items because she wants them without understanding or appreciating what is coming out of her mouth. The woman who relies on her looks to get by, and knows it. The laid-back doctoral student who knows what to say and what not to say.

In AN OLD CHAOS, there are a couple characters I really cottoned to - when Beth's husband, the sheriff, dies, she takes over his job and takes it on well. She does not allow herself to be bullied or condescended to. Another character, who we met in book one comes back restored, surviving her abusive husband and retaking her place in the community.

Do read AN OLD CHAOS. Simonson is what I think of as a "quiet" author. No international conspiracies, no menacing serial murders, no psychological creeps around dark corners. Instead she writes about real people doing real things in real places. But don't worry, it's never boring. You'll be hard pressed to find a better way to spend a few hours. You'll learn about the environment of the Pacific Northwest, you'll learn about native American causes, about architecture and design, but the heck with all that. You will, simply, read a well-written mystery with several characters you want to spend time with. What could be bad?

Reviewed by Andi Shechter, November 2009

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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