The Wheat Field (Mysteries & Horror) by Steve Thayer Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.68 You Save: $5.82 (78%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Wheat Field (Mysteries & Horror)
Book Review: I figured out the ending early on
Summary: 3 Stars
I normally enjoy Thayer's rather moody prose and unusual style of telling a story but this book was not an absorbing read for me. There were some interesting characters and situations but from the discovery of the two bodies I thought that Thayer telegraphed the denouement. When someone's face is blown away there is always the possiblity that the reader is being set up for a case of mistaken identity as happens in this book. That said, Thayer does a creditable job of "peeling the onion's layers" back from each of his main characters and their interesting, skewed lives and motivations. I agree with an earlier reviewer that Pickard's "Virgin of Small Plains" was a more effective mystery of a somewhat similar type but I still think Thayer excels at characterization and a superb sense of location.Book Review: I thought this book was very overrated.
Summary: 2 Stars
The copy I have lists excerpts from apparently rave reviews. I was not that impressed. The book isn't terrible-the main character is rather interesting and the pacing isn't too bad but there were several flaws that kept me from really enjoying the book.
The subplot featuring the presidential campaign was not convincing at all.
Aside from Pennington, the characters were not very well-developed in my opinion.
I think writers like Thomas H. Cook handle this type of material (sex and violence lurking in small towns, the downfall of high school heroes and protagonists with a troubled past) much better.
I recently read Nancy Pickard's book about a beautiful dark-haired young woman with a complicated sexual history who is loved unrequitedly by a local law enforcement officer and is found naked and dead in a field (The Virgin of Small Plains) and I liked it a lot better.
Book Review: A REAL MYSTERY
Summary: 5 Stars
I enjoyed reading this book. It's about a murder of a woman in 1960 during the Kennedy Campaign. It tells of the sheriff investigating the murder. It is such a great read, twists and turns, well written, and a great story set in the farmlands of Wisconsin. This book actually takes you back to the 1960s. A really engrossing book.Book Review: Set in Wisconsin, a inatriguing, fast read with plot twists that stretch the imagination
Summary: 4 Stars
The previous reviews, good or bad, just about sum up this book.
I am using the criteria for judging this by considering its genre: a detective thriller. This is not a deep book, but action-packed with interesting plot twists.
His descriptions of the Dells and Madison, Wisconsin are quite beautiful and especially of interest if you have been to the area. They made me want to see the Dells. The book describes sexual behavior a bit over the top unusual in a mystery novel.
He also describes a type of community and characters I'm not familiar with but are plausible in this strange world.
I was driven to read this book to the end as fast as possible because I really wanted to know what happened. And a lot happens in the many plot twists.
Book Review: A throwback to what "pulp fiction" is all about
Summary: 4 Stars
"She was a witch. She was a whore." These lines in the opening prologue of this novel gave me the sense "The Wheat Field" could be what we might call "pulp fiction" or "hard-boiled." On that level, this novel really delivers the same way a big budget disaster movie delivers - a lot of fun but forgettable once it ends.
Things start off simply enough - a man and a woman are found brutally murdered in a wheat field of a small Wisconsin town where everyone knows each other. Several characters are then introduced and the novel turns a bit more complex as each of them could have played a role in the murder, including the narrator of the book who is the cop assigned to solve the case.
We have it all - a leading character with a dark and haunting past, lots of sex, greedy and powerful men who use their money to get what they want, wild women who use their bodies to get what they want, even more sex, political intrigue, and several twists and turns that make you question if the good guys are really the bad guys and vice versa. Oh, and did I mention there is a lot of sex in the novel?
I read this book over a span of only a few days as I took my 30 minute train ride to work each day. It had me hooked and definitely passed the time. I found it enjoyable and "breezy" reading despite the author asking you to go far over the edge of plausibility during the last 80 pages or so.
One suggestion in regards to the age of those considering reading this. A freind of mine considers some books to be "Vietnam War novels." Meaning, only read it if you are old enough to remember the Vietnam War. With the action taking place during the 1960 presidential election, I am not sure I would have enjoyed this if I hadn't just qualified for AARP membership.
All in all, I believe that if you like simple, fast paced novels with "quick" dialog(Ed McBain's 87th precinct and Robert Parker's Spencer styles come to mind), then take a look into "The Wheat Field."