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Cold Tears Review
By Lived One Thousand Lives
 
Overall: I absolutely love this author's world building. The setting of both this book and the first one Bonne Femme. I also love the plot building. The author did an awesome job making every single person suspicious without giving any solid information away until the very end. The characters are all well written, with realistic dialogue, along with realistic flaws. There's nothing I hate more than characters lacking flaws. I also loved the internal turmoil of both Richard and Jill. The small town was written beautifully, making me feel like I was there personally. Molly, the next door neighbor who's baby disappeared, was equally untrustworthy and lovable. Each clue uncovered came together wonderfully at the end, making everything make sense. The whole time I was trying to figure out the clues, but the author keeps enough until the end. All in all, I loved the storyline, characters, and the setting. The only thing I had problems with is how wishy-washy Richard was about actually helping Molly find her baby. One second he would be dying to help and the next he'd say he wanted out.

Characters: I loved each character. The police officer was hilarious. Molly, like I said, was a little sketchy, but also lovable. I felt so bad for Jill, she was so understanding even when Richard was rude or whatever. Richard was so kind-hearted and loyal, regardless of what people's reputations. Each characters' flaws were so touching and realistic.

Quotes:


"You always said that despair was a sin"

"He'd always supposed that people killed themselves to escape something they thought worse than death."

Recommend?: Yes, 4/5 stars. Loved the adrenaline, setting, characters, etc.

Call Her Sabine
Review by
Fiona Gregory, Editor

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Excerpted from Editorial Review

Full Review at 

Web Fiction Guide



I can honestly say I read this online novel non-stop for hours and I was not forcing myself to do so. So the story did succeed in grabbing and fascinating me, and the interesting question is why?



This is the story of a detective's efforts to find a missing college student. It wasn't so hard to guess who the kidnapper probably was, although some red herrings were thrown out. The mystery I kept reading to find out, was how the detective would figure it out. There really were no clues whatsoever. That he even kept on the case, is a manifestation of Calvin Coolidge's quote "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence".



I enjoyed the descriptions of the various eccentric characters Carter interviews in the course of his investigation. I went along with the flow of a deputy's life in small town Missouri. Many of the incidents that are related do not in fact turn out to be relevant to the case that is at the centre of the plot, although you do not know this at the time. The story is sprawling, yes. In part this makes it more realistic, as you don't know what is a Chekhov's gun and what is just a slice of life or a unrelated mini-mystery off to the side. On the other hand, some of the details will be of more interest to readers who have read one or more of Simmon's other novels about Richard Carter and his family. Even though I have, I'd forgotten details, and, for example, references to Shane and the canoe rental business came out of the blue for me. But the gist of it is that Deputy Richard Carter has a lot of past that he's still dealing with.



The sections from the point of view of Charlie, the kidnapped college student, are eerie and put me in mind of recent news events such as Ariel Castro's crimes. Imprisoned without direct knowledge of her kidnapper and his intentions for her, she alternates between terror and determination. Since this is a mystery, I don't want to give away spoilers, so I will try to be very oblique in what I say next, but if you are worried stop reading now . . .  . . .  . . . . . Still with me? There is a way she could have turned out to be more of an agent in solving her own mystery, and partly I wish it had turned out that way, but the randomness of the manner in which the turning point is reached may actually reflect reality more . . . . in any case like Amanda Berry she turns out to be far from a passive victim.



Does "Call Her Sabine" add anything new to the detective-mystery-suspense genre? Not especially, except perhaps in the setting and characters. Long story short, I liked it, [short passage omitted] you will have to decide for yourselves.

  

 

The King Snake

By G.S. Williams (Web Fiction Guide)

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 By G.S. Williams, author of The Surprising Life and Death of Diggory Franklin

Oct 9, 2012: This story was recently reviewed (I’m writing this on October 9th, 2012 if you need a definition of "recent") and given 2 stars despite the reviewer pointing out that it was "fairly strongly written" and "brilliantly clear" in its description of setting. To my own understanding of the five star system in place at WFG, "brilliantly clear" "strong writing" gets you three star and better, so a two star "tough slog" immediately got my attention as cognitive dissonance.

In other words, it didn’t make sense.

I decided to investigate the discrepancy and read the story for myself.

"Kingsnake" is very well written. Other than a few typographical errors here and there, it has grammar and structure. The descriptions are indeed brilliantly clear, giving you a strong sense of surroundings, buildings, atmosphere and people. It’s a very slow, detailed work—most web-fiction is fast-paced and action-oriented, whereas "Kingsnake" is more like an actual print novel that you have to sit with and absorb. However, that means it becomes a very immersive experience if you invest the time.

The plot mainly follows Richard Carter, a small-town deputy in the Missouri Ozarks. Once upon a time he was working towards being in the FBI but events previous to "Kingsnake" indicate he shot his dream in the foot by ending the life of a serial killer and ending his chance at the bigtime. Backwoods deputy is the best he can do. (There are hints of previous stories, and the author’s site indicates that there’s a series—luckily, you don’t need to read the others to enjoy "Kingsnake" as it stands on its own two feet.)

Yeah, Richard might start out as a stock character—hard-working family man, spends too much time thinking about his cop job—but with so many immersive details and scenes between him and his family, his friends, his day-to-day life and thoughts, you get to know Richard as a well-rounded person. He struggles with balancing work and home, the ethics of his job, the way it blurs the edges of relationships and the life and death struggle that cops wrestle with but try not to think about to function.

The other characters are similar—the longer you’re around them, the more they seem like living, breathing people, as fully realized as the setting they’re living in. This is a story rooted in Bible Belt Missouri, and the kinds of people who live in its rougher environs. There are sloppy, idiotic jerks who are involved in the areas Meth labs and drug deals, there are redneck cops who don’t know much, and there are intelligent investigators who try to work alongside them. It’s a mixed bag, just like real life, and the author tries to depict all of them honestly.

So, the more I read the more I wanted to read, which made the other review that much harder to understand. This was no "tough slog," it was an easy, absorbing experience. Looking at that review, it talks about the depiction of women in the story as the reviewer’s main issue. They saw oppressive sexism at work, with men as active and women as passive in traditional roles.

Their review indicates further that they only read a third of the story. I would suggest that they go on to read the entire thing with an eye on Richard’s wife, Jill, who comes across as the most intelligent character in the story, and certainly one of the best-educated. She herself is a teacher, which yeah might be considered feminine and nurturing in comparison to a cop dealing with serial killers, but it’s also one of the noblest professions on earth and one I once aspired to, in my younger days. I have plenty of male and female friends in the educational field, and I don’t think anyone I know would be insulted seeing a woman in that role in fiction. Especially when Jill and Richard’s relationship is shown as a clear balance, both of them presenting their needs in rational ways in fair discussions.

Jill worries that Richard spends too much time at work and is missing out on their baby daughter, Mirabelle—but she doesn’t hesitate to voice that concern and tell him to try harder. She also compromises when he’s involved in high-profile cases, realizing that it’s hard to walk away when there’s a killer around. In the middle of the novel she becomes an active help to Richard’s case, discussing details with him and acting as a sounding board. They are life-partners, and there’s nothing oppressive in that depiction. Richard, the protagonist, holds up his wife and daughter (and women in general) as superior creatures to men.

Now that depiction might sound sexist in an old-fashioned, chivalrous way—but I would argue it’s important to the story. The author has created a very realistic "fictional community" but it’s based on their experience of the Ozarks. To use a writer’s alchemy to depict that reality in fiction means being true to its character and values. Richard is in a way an old-fashioned character in a modern setting, but that’s quite likely in rural Bible Belt Missouri, where population and traditions aren’t as fluid as modern cities. My own experience of rural Canada is similar, like it or not things get more conservative away from urban centres—but there are always exceptions in a bell curve, and those are shown in life and in this story by more liberal characters.

So, because there are multiple types of characters depicted, with a varying range of agency, importance and independence, I would say the author is trying to be realistic about how there are different types of relationships—but there is a major difference between the characters who are valued and the ones who are depicted negatively. The stable, intelligent, educated partnerships are balanced and show mutual valuation—it’s clear who you’re supposed to cheer for.

Would it sit better if the story was set in the 1960s? Probably—but it’s still true for its setting, and the author realizes it with an honest eye. The character of Jill and her young teacher friend Janice show outspoken, intelligent and brave characters. However, they also face some situations where they need help from others—because a Xena, Nikita, or Buffy wouldn’t exist in the setting. People live in this community because they have to—for Richard, it’s his only chance at police work. For the meth-heads, it’s the bottom rung in their ladder of life. An exceptional, hard working person would move on to greener pastures, not toil in obscurity.

The depiction also is a key structural part of the symbolism of the story. One of the other police investigators compares their job to taking care of a garden. Adam and Eve references pop up at one point and so it becomes a main symbol of the story’s plot—the police in the person of Richard are there to prevent weeds and dangerous animals from damaging the garden of their community. The Kingsnake is the name given to the serial killer, as a criminal killing criminals, because the kingsnake eats other snakes. Snakes in the Garden directly reference Genesis in the Bible—Richard is protecting his innocents (his family and friends) from those who would harm them. He has an earthly duty to enforce the law, but while that’s his job in his life, in the story’s symbolism he is acting to protect his Eve and their child and community from corruption, crime and violence.

That’s his job as a cop—and his role as the protagonist. With a different writer in a different setting it could have been woman—but given the depiction of Jill in particular, and the structure of this novel, I don’t see a problem with this particular story having a male protagonist fulfilling a traditional role. We can’t have babies, but we can protect our families. Claiming that role and depicting it well doesn’t denigrate anyone – especially when it’s in celebration of those who do have children and raise them. Motherhood might be traditional, but that doesn’t make it oppressive when the person who is a mother is a balanced partner with the husband, even if they’re not the main focus of the story. Jill, and other characters, have the choice of career or family, or both—no one is putting them in a corner.

In other reviews I identify my bias when something about the story doesn’t appeal to me—for instance, derivative characters like vampires which are culturally super-saturated. I subtract one star based on my bias while letting everyone know by doing so that they can add that star back if they love vampires. Then I judge the story on its merits—technique, symbolism, theme, style, etc. This story is a police procedural, and tons of those exist. However, it’s very capably written and the characters become more individualized the longer you read. I think I’ve solved the mystery and it’s not a big deal—so maybe this isn’t a 5 star story.

But it’s not a two star story and it’s not sexist. It might depict some sexist characters, but it also depicts characters that value the opposite sex and are trying to make a safer world for them to live in. In this setting, characters help each other because the good ones are community that is interdependent—Richard visits a neighbour who is bullying Janice because he didn’t get the message when she stood up for herself. When Richard can’t handle it alone his friend Ron comes along—needing help isn’t weakness or oppression, it’s recognizing no one is an island to themselves and everyone has different skills to offer.

In Richard’s case, some of his relationship is traditional between himself and his wife, Jill. She knows more about child-rearing and asserts her skills in raising their daughter—but Richard acknowledges her skills and values them the same way he acknowledges her greater knowledge of English Literature. The balance and affection between them is very modern—even if the plot itself could very well be a knight facing dragons to protect his castle. The devil is in the details, and in this case the details show a lot of respect, symbolism, talent and sophistication.

I think a two star rating is an over-reaction when the entire novel hasn’t been read, and I think the charge of sexism is a bit controversial when someone isn’t familiar with a writer’s entire bibliography of work, nor their personal life. There are enough horrible stories out there which can be judged as tough slogs that it seems unfair to have a knee-jerk reaction and saddle a well-written piece with a two star rating that doesn’t come close to reality.

It takes examining the entire picture, which is one of the themes of the novel in Richard’s job as a deputy, and it applies to the story and life as a whole.