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Il codice delle fate
From award-winning author Lisa Tuttle comes a riveting novel that combines the contemporary story of one man’s search for a missing young woman with history’s most enduring legends of the disappeared. Gripping and unforgettable, here is a spellbinding mix of the mysteries that inhabit our everyday lives–and a mind-bending exploration of what happens when someone vanishes without a trace.
Ever since his father disappeared when he was nine years old, Ian Kennedy has had a penchant for stories about missing people–and a knack for finding them. Now he’s a private investigator with an impressive track record. But when a woman enters his London office and asks him to find her lost daughter, Ian faces a case he fears he cannot solve–and one he knows he must.
Laura Lensky’s stunning twenty-one-year-old daughter, Peri, has been missing for over two years–a lifetime, under the circumstances. But when Ian learns the details of her disappearance, he discovers eerie parallels to an obscure Celtic myth–and to the haunting case that launched his career, an early success he’s never fully been able to explain. Though Ian suspects Peri may have chosen to vanish, his curiosity leads him to take on the search. Soon he finds himself drawing not only from the mysteries that have preoccupied his adulthood, but from the fables and folklore that pervaded his youth. What follows is a journey that takes Ian and those who care for Peri into the Highlands of Scotland, as the unknowns of the past and present merge in the case–and in their lives.
Rich in pathos and steeped in secrets, The Mysteries opens a thought-provoking door from one world into the heart of another, where some of our most perplexing enigmas–and their answers–are startlingly alive.
From the Hardcover edition.
Ever since his father disappeared when he was nine years old, Ian Kennedy has had a penchant for stories about missing people–and a knack for finding them. Now he’s a private investigator with an impressive track record. But when a woman enters his London office and asks him to find her lost daughter, Ian faces a case he fears he cannot solve–and one he knows he must.
Laura Lensky’s stunning twenty-one-year-old daughter, Peri, has been missing for over two years–a lifetime, under the circumstances. But when Ian learns the details of her disappearance, he discovers eerie parallels to an obscure Celtic myth–and to the haunting case that launched his career, an early success he’s never fully been able to explain. Though Ian suspects Peri may have chosen to vanish, his curiosity leads him to take on the search. Soon he finds himself drawing not only from the mysteries that have preoccupied his adulthood, but from the fables and folklore that pervaded his youth. What follows is a journey that takes Ian and those who care for Peri into the Highlands of Scotland, as the unknowns of the past and present merge in the case–and in their lives.
Rich in pathos and steeped in secrets, The Mysteries opens a thought-provoking door from one world into the heart of another, where some of our most perplexing enigmas–and their answers–are startlingly alive.
From the Hardcover edition.
351 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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948 people want to read
About the author
Lisa Tuttle
272 books408 followers(Wife of Colin Murray) aka Maria Palmer (house pseudonym).
Lisa Tuttle taught a science fiction course at the City Lit College, part of London University, and has tutored on the Arvon courses. She was residential tutor at the Clarion West SF writing workshop in Seattle, USA. She has published six novels and two short story collections. Many of her books have been translated into French and German editions.
Lisa Tuttle taught a science fiction course at the City Lit College, part of London University, and has tutored on the Arvon courses. She was residential tutor at the Clarion West SF writing workshop in Seattle, USA. She has published six novels and two short story collections. Many of her books have been translated into French and German editions.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 136 reviews
November 4, 2025
(This is only spoilery if you want no info whatsoever on the nature of the “evil” here. Otherwise it’s pretty evident early on what we’re dealing with.)
Some of my favorite horror/horror adjacent reads in recent years have involved malevolent fairies of some sort (this, Brian McNaughton’s Satan's Surrogate aka The House Across the Way, and James Buxton’s The Wishing Tree). There’s just something about fairy folklore that I find especially creepy, what with the abductions, baby swapping, etc. Too bad these days people are abducted by aliens instead of the fey folk.*
This isn’t as overtly horrific as those others, and in fact it was downright cozy at times, but it had its share of unnerving moments as well. It’s narrated by an American expatriate living in London, Ian, who works as a private investigator specializing in missing persons. His most recent case, a 21 year-old woman who seemingly just vanished one day, appears to be more than a simple runaway, and the details share undeniable similarities to faerie lore of old. It reminds him of a long ago case he had, his very first, which also had supernatural overtones that he brushed off in the ensuing years. The story jumps back and forth between the two before settling on the present case, which will eventually lead him to the Scottish Highlands.
It’s wonderfully written as is always the case with Tuttle, with several well-drawn characters that I was invested in, and I found myself gradually sucked in by the intriguing mystery, much like our narrator, though it was an extremely slow burn to start. After about 100 pages there was no turning back.
About the only negative I can think of is that the constant hopping backwards and forwards in time (and occasional chapters detailing fairy legends and suspicious disappearances from history) was disorienting, and it can feel a bit convoluted if you let too much time pass between reading sessions. Other than that, this is probably my favorite Lisa Tuttle novel that I’ve read to date, even if it doesn’t quite match her collections, at least in the scares department.
*I’m sure there’s an interesting psychological or sociological study to be had there, if there hasn’t been already.
Some of my favorite horror/horror adjacent reads in recent years have involved malevolent fairies of some sort (this, Brian McNaughton’s Satan's Surrogate aka The House Across the Way, and James Buxton’s The Wishing Tree). There’s just something about fairy folklore that I find especially creepy, what with the abductions, baby swapping, etc. Too bad these days people are abducted by aliens instead of the fey folk.*
This isn’t as overtly horrific as those others, and in fact it was downright cozy at times, but it had its share of unnerving moments as well. It’s narrated by an American expatriate living in London, Ian, who works as a private investigator specializing in missing persons. His most recent case, a 21 year-old woman who seemingly just vanished one day, appears to be more than a simple runaway, and the details share undeniable similarities to faerie lore of old. It reminds him of a long ago case he had, his very first, which also had supernatural overtones that he brushed off in the ensuing years. The story jumps back and forth between the two before settling on the present case, which will eventually lead him to the Scottish Highlands.
It’s wonderfully written as is always the case with Tuttle, with several well-drawn characters that I was invested in, and I found myself gradually sucked in by the intriguing mystery, much like our narrator, though it was an extremely slow burn to start. After about 100 pages there was no turning back.
About the only negative I can think of is that the constant hopping backwards and forwards in time (and occasional chapters detailing fairy legends and suspicious disappearances from history) was disorienting, and it can feel a bit convoluted if you let too much time pass between reading sessions. Other than that, this is probably my favorite Lisa Tuttle novel that I’ve read to date, even if it doesn’t quite match her collections, at least in the scares department.
*I’m sure there’s an interesting psychological or sociological study to be had there, if there hasn’t been already.
Read
June 17, 2013Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this one -- my eyes kept kind of sliding off the page, although I think that was due partly to the narrator, whom I didn't find convincing either as a man or as a detective. I did like the folktales, myths and fairy stories that were woven through the text, but the stories of Fred, Jenny and Peri never quite matched up, and Ian was just sort of self-pitying and dull -- everyone was more interesting than he was, which is a real problem with a first-person viewpoint. It wasn't great, definitely not bad, not mediocre really -- just sort of "not bad." I might recommend it, but without much enthusiasm.
October 28, 2014
**Actual Rating 3.5 stars**
A strange yet wonderfully readable hybrid of detective story and fairytale, Lisa Tuttle’s “The Mysteries” takes you on a fantastical journey through our very mundane world.
When Ian takes on the case of missing Peri, he is haunted by similarities to his first case – a case that set him determinedly on the path of reuniting missing people with their loved ones. But Peri’s case will challenge him in unexpected ways.
There is a great elegance to the prose here which definitely drew me in immediately – yet it flowed along at a fairly gentle pace, no rush to judgement, using past and present to paint a magical picture that is also strangely grounded in reality.
I particularly enjoyed the “break” chapters where various fairy stories and legends were told, all of which added to the story set in modern times and kept a lovely continuity to proceedings. It is often haunting and odd, with various threads all woven together into a clever tale which definitely captured my imagination.
Overall a terrific little read – my one bugbear is that I didnt like the ending, but that is purely subjective, it certainly fit in perfectly with the rest. Most definitely recommended for fans of fantasy steeped in reality.
Happy Reading Folks!
A strange yet wonderfully readable hybrid of detective story and fairytale, Lisa Tuttle’s “The Mysteries” takes you on a fantastical journey through our very mundane world.
When Ian takes on the case of missing Peri, he is haunted by similarities to his first case – a case that set him determinedly on the path of reuniting missing people with their loved ones. But Peri’s case will challenge him in unexpected ways.
There is a great elegance to the prose here which definitely drew me in immediately – yet it flowed along at a fairly gentle pace, no rush to judgement, using past and present to paint a magical picture that is also strangely grounded in reality.
I particularly enjoyed the “break” chapters where various fairy stories and legends were told, all of which added to the story set in modern times and kept a lovely continuity to proceedings. It is often haunting and odd, with various threads all woven together into a clever tale which definitely captured my imagination.
Overall a terrific little read – my one bugbear is that I didnt like the ending, but that is purely subjective, it certainly fit in perfectly with the rest. Most definitely recommended for fans of fantasy steeped in reality.
Happy Reading Folks!
August 27, 2021
4.5 stars. I really liked it--it would have been 5 stars except for the ending.
I adored this Tam Lin-esque tale of faery kidnappings. I liked the main plot and loved the interspersed shorter stories about other disappearances. One of my favorite books from my youth is Tam Lin by Pamela Dean, and I recall seeking out other similar stories, so I'm surprised I didn't find this sooner!
I love Tuttle's writing and her characterization (and how my opinion of the narrator slowly changed). I'll definitely read more of her books.
Regarding the book's ending, I liked .
I adored this Tam Lin-esque tale of faery kidnappings. I liked the main plot and loved the interspersed shorter stories about other disappearances. One of my favorite books from my youth is Tam Lin by Pamela Dean, and I recall seeking out other similar stories, so I'm surprised I didn't find this sooner!
I love Tuttle's writing and her characterization (and how my opinion of the narrator slowly changed). I'll definitely read more of her books.
Regarding the book's ending, I liked .
January 14, 2016
Ian Kennedy is an expatriate American working in London as a PI, his specialty being the finding of missing persons -- a specialty he settled upon years ago after his first case, when he managed to rescue a young woman from Faerie. Now he's hired by an anxious mother called Laura Lensky to track down her 21-year-old daughter Peri, who disappeared in the south of Scotland two years ago and has since been heard of only in the form of a single brief phonecall. Really Ian should tell Laura that the case is hopeless -- people who've been missing for two years are either dead or have chosen to make themselves scarce -- but there's so much about this case that reminds him of his first . . .
His suspicions are confirmed when he interviews the missing woman's fiance, Hugh, who tells him about a strange nightclub to which he took Peri the night she vanished, and of which there was no trace the next day. The lead act at the club was a handsome singer called Mider (pronounced "Mither"), whose effect upon Peri was immediate and who tried to persuade Hugh to gamble with Peri as stake. Ian knows the story, because it's a modern version of the legend of Etain, a beautiful woman transported to Fairyland to be the bride of Mider, the Fairy King. But persuading Laura that this is the case is a different matter . . .
This combination of PI mystery and fairytale works surprisingly well, despite Ian's being a slightly rebarbative narrator. What really makes it work, I think, the story itself aside, is the grace and facility of Tuttle's writing: even during those inevitable periods when the events portrayed are fairly prosaic, the current of the prose keeps pulling one inexorably along. And the book's opening chapter should be required reading for everyone who plans to become a writer: it's a quite superbly executed piece of writing (it made me grin with admiration), and pulls one straight into the novel.
My solitary complaint might be that, even though Ian briefly steps over the threshold, we're never actually in Fairyland -- by which I mean that we're never thrown into the middle of it so that we can experience it as a world. This isn't actually a fault of the book -- it's a necessary consequence of Ian's somewhat pusillanimous nature (vide the novel's tremendous ending) -- but it did leave me with a sort of unsatiated yearning.
Tuttle has long been one of speculative fiction's finest practitioners -- and also, alas, I think one of its best-kept secrets -- and here she's in splendid form. What more could one ask?
His suspicions are confirmed when he interviews the missing woman's fiance, Hugh, who tells him about a strange nightclub to which he took Peri the night she vanished, and of which there was no trace the next day. The lead act at the club was a handsome singer called Mider (pronounced "Mither"), whose effect upon Peri was immediate and who tried to persuade Hugh to gamble with Peri as stake. Ian knows the story, because it's a modern version of the legend of Etain, a beautiful woman transported to Fairyland to be the bride of Mider, the Fairy King. But persuading Laura that this is the case is a different matter . . .
This combination of PI mystery and fairytale works surprisingly well, despite Ian's being a slightly rebarbative narrator. What really makes it work, I think, the story itself aside, is the grace and facility of Tuttle's writing: even during those inevitable periods when the events portrayed are fairly prosaic, the current of the prose keeps pulling one inexorably along. And the book's opening chapter should be required reading for everyone who plans to become a writer: it's a quite superbly executed piece of writing (it made me grin with admiration), and pulls one straight into the novel.
My solitary complaint might be that, even though Ian briefly steps over the threshold, we're never actually in Fairyland -- by which I mean that we're never thrown into the middle of it so that we can experience it as a world. This isn't actually a fault of the book -- it's a necessary consequence of Ian's somewhat pusillanimous nature (vide the novel's tremendous ending) -- but it did leave me with a sort of unsatiated yearning.
Tuttle has long been one of speculative fiction's finest practitioners -- and also, alas, I think one of its best-kept secrets -- and here she's in splendid form. What more could one ask?
February 12, 2008
I can't express how much fun this book was to read, and how it sucked me into its pages from the first sentence. I would definitely recommend it to either readers of fantasy or to mystery readers; for the latter, I would suggest you prepare to stray off the path a little bit and let yourself relax and have fun with the plot. I absolutely LOVED this book -- and I am a picky reader!
a very brief synopsis:
The main character of The Mysteries is Ian Kennedy, who is an investigator in London specializing in vanishings and disappearances. From the time he was small he had been interested in the topic, starting with the disappearance of his father. As the novel opens he has just found out that the authorities had found the body of the daughter of a client who he was hired to find. As he muses on about feeling like a failure and his worries about his bank account, he gets a visit from Laura Lensky, a woman whose daughter has also gone missing. But Laura will not tell her story until Ian agrees to meet with one Hugh Bell-Rivers, who tells him a story fresh out of Celtic mythology. Ian becomes more than a little interested and sets off in search of finding Peri.
In between the story of finding Peri Lensky, the author has interwoven flashbacks of Ian's life along with strange stories of people who have disappeared throughout history, pretty much with all the same elements in each story. This provides a way in which the reader not only gets to know Ian and what motivates him to do what he does, but it also helps to visualize what may be in Ian's head as the search continues. I thought this strategy was excellent...at first I had a little trouble getting used to it, but as time went on, I found myself looking forward to these little stories. Without giving away the show, Ian's search takes him to the moors of Scotland and a glimpse at the Otherworld, where he is convinced he will find Peri.
The book is simply wonderful, fun and incredibly interesting, taking you away from the beaten path of the PI format and literally into another world. I highly recommend it!
a very brief synopsis:
The main character of The Mysteries is Ian Kennedy, who is an investigator in London specializing in vanishings and disappearances. From the time he was small he had been interested in the topic, starting with the disappearance of his father. As the novel opens he has just found out that the authorities had found the body of the daughter of a client who he was hired to find. As he muses on about feeling like a failure and his worries about his bank account, he gets a visit from Laura Lensky, a woman whose daughter has also gone missing. But Laura will not tell her story until Ian agrees to meet with one Hugh Bell-Rivers, who tells him a story fresh out of Celtic mythology. Ian becomes more than a little interested and sets off in search of finding Peri.
In between the story of finding Peri Lensky, the author has interwoven flashbacks of Ian's life along with strange stories of people who have disappeared throughout history, pretty much with all the same elements in each story. This provides a way in which the reader not only gets to know Ian and what motivates him to do what he does, but it also helps to visualize what may be in Ian's head as the search continues. I thought this strategy was excellent...at first I had a little trouble getting used to it, but as time went on, I found myself looking forward to these little stories. Without giving away the show, Ian's search takes him to the moors of Scotland and a glimpse at the Otherworld, where he is convinced he will find Peri.
The book is simply wonderful, fun and incredibly interesting, taking you away from the beaten path of the PI format and literally into another world. I highly recommend it!
November 30, 2012
This works better as a fantasy novel than a detective novel and, even as a fantasy novel, there is faaar more emo self-absorbption on the part of the protagonist than I find enjoyable. He's a forty-year-old man who comes across more as a whiny teenager, and most of the female characters in the novel are there as sexual mirrors for him. This book would have been better with more myth and less of the protagonist's extensive and repetitive passages of self-pity.
January 30, 2015
The Review: http://thefictionalhangout.blogspot.c....
"A blend of mystery, thriller and fantasy that will leave you looking over your shoulder.
Laura Lensky’s daughter, Peri, has been missing for two years. For the police it’s a closed case – she wanted to run away – but for her mother and boyfriend, Henry, it’s a different story. When Laura hires private investigator Ian Kennedy, it is a last-ditch attempt to find her daughter before she leaves for America. Drawn in by strange parallels to an obscure Celtic myth and his first, almost unexplainable case, Ian takes the job. But his beliefs are about to be stretched to their limit – there are darker and more devious forces at work here than any of them imagined."
What do you get when you give a detective story a fairy-tale esque feeling? The result is something like The Mysteries, the latest addition to the already strong line-up of titles that have been put out by one of the most reliable publishers for good fiction as of late - Jo Fletcher Books. Whilst it doesn’t quite hit all the high notes, with a few problems here and there, you will generally find that there is a lot more to like than dislike from Lisa Tuttle's novel.
The book focuses on Laura Lensky, whose daughter Peri has been missing for two years. She’s giving the attempt at solving what is otherwise a closed-case one last chance before she leaves for America, hiring a private investigator Ian Kennedy to do so. Ian takes the job when this case seems to match up with his first one and some odd Celtic mythology, but little does he realise that he’s about to stumble into something that will question his beliefs for good. It’s not exactly your typical urban fantasy, wise-cracking badass private detective or vampire slayer/lover story as The Mysteries manages to be a bit more subtle than that, with some fascinating prose that touches upon an area of mythology that isn��t commonly explored in these novels, and that is Celtic Mythology, something which I can imagine not many people will be overly familiar with, making the book feel fresh and different than what you might expect.
The book itself breaks up the narrative by having chapters that tell stories of various fairy tales and legends from various viewpoints, all of which provided some more depth to the story as we got a feel for the world that it is set in. As a result, There’s plenty of development throughout the whole novel, not just when it comes to not just the Celtic Mythology element, but also the question characters, with Laura and Ian being the main focus of The Mysteries and making very interesting protagonists for us to follow over the course of the book.
The element of fairytale and fantasy that the writer brings into the title does not overshadow the characters and the pacing. So often you see urban fantasy authors, particularly newer ones, trying to cram in as many things as they can in one book so that the characters often get pushed to the side, but there’s none of that here. The novel feels very grounded, managing to keep the focus mainly on its characters, as well as keeping the pacing pretty much spot on as well. It reads pretty smoothly and even though it might not be a fast-paced thriller, it doesn’t have to be.
The Mysteries is far more than just your average urban fantasy book. It’s one of the more original additions to the genre that I’ve had the pleasure of reading and although I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the ending, it still managed to be a pretty impressive read that urban fantasy fans, especially those looking for a break from the norm, will enjoy. The main focus on character development and the good use of Celtic Mythology also helps make this novel a compelling read, and as a result this is something that I can definitely recommend.
VERDICT: 7.9/10
"A blend of mystery, thriller and fantasy that will leave you looking over your shoulder.
Laura Lensky’s daughter, Peri, has been missing for two years. For the police it’s a closed case – she wanted to run away – but for her mother and boyfriend, Henry, it’s a different story. When Laura hires private investigator Ian Kennedy, it is a last-ditch attempt to find her daughter before she leaves for America. Drawn in by strange parallels to an obscure Celtic myth and his first, almost unexplainable case, Ian takes the job. But his beliefs are about to be stretched to their limit – there are darker and more devious forces at work here than any of them imagined."
What do you get when you give a detective story a fairy-tale esque feeling? The result is something like The Mysteries, the latest addition to the already strong line-up of titles that have been put out by one of the most reliable publishers for good fiction as of late - Jo Fletcher Books. Whilst it doesn’t quite hit all the high notes, with a few problems here and there, you will generally find that there is a lot more to like than dislike from Lisa Tuttle's novel.
The book focuses on Laura Lensky, whose daughter Peri has been missing for two years. She’s giving the attempt at solving what is otherwise a closed-case one last chance before she leaves for America, hiring a private investigator Ian Kennedy to do so. Ian takes the job when this case seems to match up with his first one and some odd Celtic mythology, but little does he realise that he’s about to stumble into something that will question his beliefs for good. It’s not exactly your typical urban fantasy, wise-cracking badass private detective or vampire slayer/lover story as The Mysteries manages to be a bit more subtle than that, with some fascinating prose that touches upon an area of mythology that isn��t commonly explored in these novels, and that is Celtic Mythology, something which I can imagine not many people will be overly familiar with, making the book feel fresh and different than what you might expect.
The book itself breaks up the narrative by having chapters that tell stories of various fairy tales and legends from various viewpoints, all of which provided some more depth to the story as we got a feel for the world that it is set in. As a result, There’s plenty of development throughout the whole novel, not just when it comes to not just the Celtic Mythology element, but also the question characters, with Laura and Ian being the main focus of The Mysteries and making very interesting protagonists for us to follow over the course of the book.
The element of fairytale and fantasy that the writer brings into the title does not overshadow the characters and the pacing. So often you see urban fantasy authors, particularly newer ones, trying to cram in as many things as they can in one book so that the characters often get pushed to the side, but there’s none of that here. The novel feels very grounded, managing to keep the focus mainly on its characters, as well as keeping the pacing pretty much spot on as well. It reads pretty smoothly and even though it might not be a fast-paced thriller, it doesn’t have to be.
The Mysteries is far more than just your average urban fantasy book. It’s one of the more original additions to the genre that I’ve had the pleasure of reading and although I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the ending, it still managed to be a pretty impressive read that urban fantasy fans, especially those looking for a break from the norm, will enjoy. The main focus on character development and the good use of Celtic Mythology also helps make this novel a compelling read, and as a result this is something that I can definitely recommend.
VERDICT: 7.9/10
July 8, 2008
I picked up the book originally because. George R. R. Martin mentioned on his website that he was reading this book, and he seemed supportive of the author. Being a fan of the Song of Fire & Ice, I decided to check out the book.
I found the story to be very grounded in the real world, though it does end up being a faerie story. She works in the faerie aspect rather well, not having it overwhelm the development of the characters. The development is also very grounded in myths and that both site and even told at times. Through this method, she helps support the plausibility of the story.
Overall, the pacing of the story is excellent. The interspersing of flashbacks, folklore and the current narrative was excellently done, introducing information at the appropriate time as well as developing Ian and the setting.
My one complaint is that I am not sure I like the ending in the fact that there is no final resolution for Ian. He is left hanging with decisions unmade. While it does spark the imagination of the reader and I definitely wondered what would happen in a number of possible scenarios, I found the end unfulfilling.
In the end, I would definitely recommend this book. It is an excellent read.
I found the story to be very grounded in the real world, though it does end up being a faerie story. She works in the faerie aspect rather well, not having it overwhelm the development of the characters. The development is also very grounded in myths and that both site and even told at times. Through this method, she helps support the plausibility of the story.
Overall, the pacing of the story is excellent. The interspersing of flashbacks, folklore and the current narrative was excellently done, introducing information at the appropriate time as well as developing Ian and the setting.
My one complaint is that I am not sure I like the ending in the fact that there is no final resolution for Ian. He is left hanging with decisions unmade. While it does spark the imagination of the reader and I definitely wondered what would happen in a number of possible scenarios, I found the end unfulfilling.
In the end, I would definitely recommend this book. It is an excellent read.
November 28, 2014
The Mysteries is The Cuckoo's Calling with fae. It follows private investigator Ian, from his earliest encounter with a missing person in his childhood, to his latest disappearance case. There are several timelines in the book, criss-crossing, interspersed with short memoirs of historical people gone missing.
It took me a while to figure out what The Mysteries was about. It was rather, forgive me, mysterious. The fae aspect of the book doesn't come to the foreground until relatively late, leaving the reader guessing and trying to form an image of the extent of supernatural-ness in the book. Often a lack of certainty is frustrating in a book, but the plot kept moving through the mystery/thriller conventions it relies on. A huge part of the book is a simple girl-gone-missing plot - until we find out that things aren't adding up.
The Mysteries held me enthralled for its slightly hefty 450 pages. There just is a certain something so fascinating about the fey, a quality that has intrigued people for centuries. The Mysteries does an amazing job in balancing the unworldly aspect of the fae versus the view of a modern sceptic.
I had only one issue with The Mysteries - and that was that the resolution of the main storyline didn't feel climactic enough. It was satisfying, but not epic or emotional enough for my liking. A mind-blowing ending would have carried The Mysteries into 5-star territory. As it is now, The Mysteries is the best fae-thriller mash-up I've ever seen.
It's also the only fae-thriller mash-up I've ever seen. But shhhhh.
It took me a while to figure out what The Mysteries was about. It was rather, forgive me, mysterious. The fae aspect of the book doesn't come to the foreground until relatively late, leaving the reader guessing and trying to form an image of the extent of supernatural-ness in the book. Often a lack of certainty is frustrating in a book, but the plot kept moving through the mystery/thriller conventions it relies on. A huge part of the book is a simple girl-gone-missing plot - until we find out that things aren't adding up.
The Mysteries held me enthralled for its slightly hefty 450 pages. There just is a certain something so fascinating about the fey, a quality that has intrigued people for centuries. The Mysteries does an amazing job in balancing the unworldly aspect of the fae versus the view of a modern sceptic.
I had only one issue with The Mysteries - and that was that the resolution of the main storyline didn't feel climactic enough. It was satisfying, but not epic or emotional enough for my liking. A mind-blowing ending would have carried The Mysteries into 5-star territory. As it is now, The Mysteries is the best fae-thriller mash-up I've ever seen.
It's also the only fae-thriller mash-up I've ever seen. But shhhhh.
September 13, 2014
Is it a detective novel? No. A thriller? No. Mystery? No. Fairytale? No. Fantasy? No. The truth is it's all of those things. Its seductive charm pulling me in, and not letting me go. Making me wonder, believe and disbelief.
It's the story of Ian Kennedy, an American working in London as a PI. His new case is about a girl gone missing 2 years ago. Why did Peri go missing? She was happy? Was it foul play? But then why did she call 6 months later? The more he investigates, the stranger it gets. And he is not new to strange. He had another case years ago that made him interested in things most people believe to be fairytales.
Scattered though out the book are small stories about people, I guess real stories? About people have gone missing. People taken by the Fae. Yes you so, hello, I call myself Blodeuedd online, of course I love Celtic mythology. So stories about the Tuatha de Dannan brings out my attention. Makes me wonder about every hill and what kind of fairies might be sleeping there.
But this is a mystery after all. He gets closer and closer to the answer. Will he find Peri, or can she not be found? Is she dead? Murdered long ago? I kept reading and hoping. And then the end, aww yes I want to read more of her books. She has a lovely style.
Now who to recommend it to? Honestly everyone. If you like fantasy, yes. Fairytales, yes. Mysteries and detective novels, yes. Just normal fiction, yes. So, go read it.
It's the story of Ian Kennedy, an American working in London as a PI. His new case is about a girl gone missing 2 years ago. Why did Peri go missing? She was happy? Was it foul play? But then why did she call 6 months later? The more he investigates, the stranger it gets. And he is not new to strange. He had another case years ago that made him interested in things most people believe to be fairytales.
Scattered though out the book are small stories about people, I guess real stories? About people have gone missing. People taken by the Fae. Yes you so, hello, I call myself Blodeuedd online, of course I love Celtic mythology. So stories about the Tuatha de Dannan brings out my attention. Makes me wonder about every hill and what kind of fairies might be sleeping there.
But this is a mystery after all. He gets closer and closer to the answer. Will he find Peri, or can she not be found? Is she dead? Murdered long ago? I kept reading and hoping. And then the end, aww yes I want to read more of her books. She has a lovely style.
Now who to recommend it to? Honestly everyone. If you like fantasy, yes. Fairytales, yes. Mysteries and detective novels, yes. Just normal fiction, yes. So, go read it.
February 22, 2016
The Mysteries, as the title suggests goes into a mystery. It is a detective wrapped in paranormal world. Don’t let the Goodreads rating fool you. This can be a very entertaining read if you let it sweep you away.
Detective type of books are not books I tend to read very often. Though I love to watch detective type of shows on the screen, detective books can’t often captivate me. But when they are drizzled in a paranormal world I am more interested. At the start I did wonder in what way the paranormal bits would come in to this missing person case, but fairly quickly hints were dropped towards the type of paranormal this story would drag us into. Don’t worry, while it is easy to guess, I won’t spoil it for you.
This was also one of the things that could have been done better. It was also a tad bit too obvious where it was going to end up going. The pacing was also a little of in places. This was due to incorporated scenes from the past from unknown people to add to the mystery. Unfortunately that didn’t really work. It just drew me out of the story. And none of it was wrapped up along with it in the end. It was just there and because of that it didn’t really mean anything to me. I also felt that the ending missed the climax feel. While this does appear to be a standalone I feel that the ending is open to a point where I wouldn’t mind a second book, and learn more about this world and the decisions the main character decided to make.
The main character in itself felt very bland at the start. I couldn’t imagine myself liking him. And while he won’t become a favorite character of mine it was more than fine to follow him around in this story. Perhaps a portion of his blandness made the rest of the book stand out, and perhaps that was the whole point. Sometimes we find our own world mundane, bland, and seek out the extraordinary. There was also his back story that made me wonder how it would play out with the rest of the story, but that link became clear. And especially the second portion of his back story interested me.
Next to the main character the other characters did stand out. Especially some people from his past I found interesting characters and I would have liked have to have known more about them.
Detective type of books are not books I tend to read very often. Though I love to watch detective type of shows on the screen, detective books can’t often captivate me. But when they are drizzled in a paranormal world I am more interested. At the start I did wonder in what way the paranormal bits would come in to this missing person case, but fairly quickly hints were dropped towards the type of paranormal this story would drag us into. Don’t worry, while it is easy to guess, I won’t spoil it for you.
This was also one of the things that could have been done better. It was also a tad bit too obvious where it was going to end up going. The pacing was also a little of in places. This was due to incorporated scenes from the past from unknown people to add to the mystery. Unfortunately that didn’t really work. It just drew me out of the story. And none of it was wrapped up along with it in the end. It was just there and because of that it didn’t really mean anything to me. I also felt that the ending missed the climax feel. While this does appear to be a standalone I feel that the ending is open to a point where I wouldn’t mind a second book, and learn more about this world and the decisions the main character decided to make.
The main character in itself felt very bland at the start. I couldn’t imagine myself liking him. And while he won’t become a favorite character of mine it was more than fine to follow him around in this story. Perhaps a portion of his blandness made the rest of the book stand out, and perhaps that was the whole point. Sometimes we find our own world mundane, bland, and seek out the extraordinary. There was also his back story that made me wonder how it would play out with the rest of the story, but that link became clear. And especially the second portion of his back story interested me.
Next to the main character the other characters did stand out. Especially some people from his past I found interesting characters and I would have liked have to have known more about them.
June 18, 2008
Again, Celtic myths and modern life coincide and coexist.
I'd recently read another book by this author - The Silver Bough. That book blew me away, this one didn't.
There are probably too many stories here. Not only do we deal with this private eye's current case - finding a lost daughter - but there is the fact his father disappeared, his long term girlfriend disappeared, he'd had a case similar to the current one many years ago.
And, in alternating chapters, there are myths and tales of folk who have disappeared in the British Isles - taken by Faerie or following Faerie.
Lots of myths, lots of folktales. Some similarities among them, but it's up to the reader to sort it all out. Many, many details.
And back and forth in time... I can handle it, but it was probably more work than I was in the mood for.
It's an enjoyable read - I finished it in one day.
I'd recently read another book by this author - The Silver Bough. That book blew me away, this one didn't.
There are probably too many stories here. Not only do we deal with this private eye's current case - finding a lost daughter - but there is the fact his father disappeared, his long term girlfriend disappeared, he'd had a case similar to the current one many years ago.
And, in alternating chapters, there are myths and tales of folk who have disappeared in the British Isles - taken by Faerie or following Faerie.
Lots of myths, lots of folktales. Some similarities among them, but it's up to the reader to sort it all out. Many, many details.
And back and forth in time... I can handle it, but it was probably more work than I was in the mood for.
It's an enjoyable read - I finished it in one day.
April 7, 2011
Ever since his dad disappeared from his life, Ian Kennedy has made it his job to find lost people. Now, for the second time in his career, he has been asked to locate a young woman who might have been taken by fairies.
This was a fairly interesting story that included some Celtic lore about the fae. Interspersed between the story chapters were episodes of other missing people most likely taken to the Otherworld.
Not great, but not completely awful either.
This was a fairly interesting story that included some Celtic lore about the fae. Interspersed between the story chapters were episodes of other missing people most likely taken to the Otherworld.
Not great, but not completely awful either.
September 24, 2024
Meh. I'm usually a big fan of fae-touched fiction, but this one was a miss for me. The main character, Ian, is a wee bit self-absorbed and doesn't grasp that women don't see the world like he does. His history is reflected in his choices and, yes, the reader can feel sorry for him up to a point, but the whining got old. How quickly he developed feelings for Laura felt unrealistic. The fae sections were pretty good, but repetitious. And the ending is a cop-out.
October 27, 2010
I just finished reading a book that contained the Irish folk tale of Tam Lin, and now here's another one. Serendipity. This book is about the dark side of Faerie; the attractions of the Otherworld and its perils. It's mostly a fantasy, but has elements of the detective story about it as well. Not strong in its characters, it's more a book that explores the meaning of life.
March 9, 2015
This was an easy to read, interesting book though I felt a little confused, especially by the way it ended. If it was just a mystery would be a little bit disappointed, with the magical-mythical twist it gave me something more.
June 29, 2018
I really dig this book. A private eye is hired to find a young girl who's gone missing in a replica of an old Celtic myth. Interspersed in the narrative are short vignettes about people missing and presumed taken by fairies. It's a good one. I will read more Tuttle.
May 20, 2016
Ever since Ian Kennedy's father went missing when he was a kid, and he subsequently found him a few years later, he's been obsessed with mysterious disappearances, and fell in to becoming a PI looking for missing persons. It all started when he was sent to Scotland to track down a family friends missing daughter, in what was not only his first, but also his strangest case. A case he has told no-one about.
So when Laura Lensky knocks on his door one day, and says her friend recommended him to her as he's dealt with a similar case, he's immediately intrigued and wary. Laura's missing daughter Peri has been gone for two years, and police don't want to know. You see, Peri called her mother 5 months after she originally disappeared saying she was fine, while that solved things for the Police, it just made her mother need to know what was going on, all the more.
But Peri isn't a runaway, while the Police may think it, Peri's mother Laura, and boyfriend Hugh, know it's a different case. Ian realizes why, when he agrees to be Laura's last ditch attempt to locate her daughter. Why? Because when he questions Hugh about the last night he saw Peri he tells an incredibly strange and unbelievable story, one that not only has parallels to his first case....but also sounds eerily similar to an old Celtic myth. But there's something strange going on....something....unexplainable.
Being that it's called The Mysteries, it will come as no surprise that this book is FULL of mysteries. It starts with a mystery, solves a mystery, showcases some other mysteries and ends with a mystery. Well it's a mystery if you don't have your own little idea of what Ian did. For the third review this week I find myself saying, "if you don't like not having a definitive answer....you will have a problem with this book".
I originally started reading this, unsure what to expect, I figured it was going to be a mystery book, girl goes missing, and the whole Celtic myth thing was just something the kidnapper was doing because he or she was weird. I was so very wrong. There are Sidth involved. As soon as I saw that word, I knew exactly what I had gotten myself in to. I don't want to boast, but I was quite the obsessed Merlin fan, and so ya know...they had an episode or two about said Sidth. It's this element that ensures The Mysteries stands out from other books in it's genre.
There's so much that's unique about this book, and so much that I loved. There's the way it starts off as a series mystery book, then adds these...magical elements, initially only mentioned in small chunks, as little tidbits, until the story of Amy's case unfurls and then there's more magical/mythical elements as they search for Peri.
The thing I loved most was that you'd have a chapter on the present day narrative, involving Peri's case and such, that is the main story that is going on in this book. After a point in the book, you then have Amy's case/story woven in and being told alongside Peri's, to explain why Peri's case seems so familiar. But that's not all, along with these, you have chapters with different people's names at the top, I've not done a google search yet to see if any of these stories are true or not, I'm under the impression they are, but I loved the inclusion of them. I loved how they changed. We get little chapters, a couple of pages long, about different people and how they disappeared, if they where found and so on, each is different to the other, but I loved how they changed in intent? Content? I'm not sure which word to use.
You see they start as stories about people who disappeared, one a British Ambassador, who just vanished in to thin air and was thought to have been assassinated by the French, for example, one's like that, that seemed strange and improbable, but had plenty of rational explanations. As the book continues, and as the stranger elements of Peri's case come out, as the story of Amy's case comes out, and as the Sidth and the magical element is introduced, these little chapters on different missing people changed to stories about people who'd been taken by the fairies and came back, or in some very old cases, some old lore was used, and they where rescued by people before the fairies could take them to the Otherworld.
I loved that, because the entire tone of the book changes, it's intent changes, and I just really loved it. The individual cases also added a break from the narrative, so you could process what had happened in the previous chapter, and refreshed you. I just really enjoyed the obvious slow changing of the book.
On much the same note, I loved the lore/mythology of the book, and it's something I'd quite like to check out more, pay a trip to the library and so on, to find out more. There's only so much you can glean from a 40 or so minute episode of Merlin, and I was eager throughout the book to learn more of the mythology, not just the Celtic Myth linked to Peri, but I was fascinated by the older missing persons cases in the book, about how to deal with fairies almost. The whole they have to trade with you thing, and so on. It was fascinating and so fantastically woven in to the main story, a story that you're under the impression is just a regular mystery book. The fairies and the mythology are subtle at first, then it gradually becomes more and more until the book changes.
I feel like I'm not describing it adequately but it's so hard to explain!
To be honest, I'll probably never look at missing persons case in the same way again, I mean I was reading this until about 4am, and I freely admit I was so involved in what was going on that I jumped a foot in the air when it started to loudly piss it down with rain. I seriously couldn't put this book down, putting it down even for to make a cup of tea, and I found myself thinking about it, running theories through my head and trying to work out what was going on, and I'm SO pleased to say this is one of the few books where it's near impossible to workout, so you're constantly surprised, shocked and amazed.
I really loved The Mysteries, it's fast paced, intriguing, impossible to put down, full of surprises, full of mythology and lore that's totally fascinating, and just totally unique to anything else. I can't sing its praises enough to be honest, it's a total mash-up of mystery, thriller, fantasy and even fairy tale!
So when Laura Lensky knocks on his door one day, and says her friend recommended him to her as he's dealt with a similar case, he's immediately intrigued and wary. Laura's missing daughter Peri has been gone for two years, and police don't want to know. You see, Peri called her mother 5 months after she originally disappeared saying she was fine, while that solved things for the Police, it just made her mother need to know what was going on, all the more.
But Peri isn't a runaway, while the Police may think it, Peri's mother Laura, and boyfriend Hugh, know it's a different case. Ian realizes why, when he agrees to be Laura's last ditch attempt to locate her daughter. Why? Because when he questions Hugh about the last night he saw Peri he tells an incredibly strange and unbelievable story, one that not only has parallels to his first case....but also sounds eerily similar to an old Celtic myth. But there's something strange going on....something....unexplainable.
Being that it's called The Mysteries, it will come as no surprise that this book is FULL of mysteries. It starts with a mystery, solves a mystery, showcases some other mysteries and ends with a mystery. Well it's a mystery if you don't have your own little idea of what Ian did. For the third review this week I find myself saying, "if you don't like not having a definitive answer....you will have a problem with this book".
I originally started reading this, unsure what to expect, I figured it was going to be a mystery book, girl goes missing, and the whole Celtic myth thing was just something the kidnapper was doing because he or she was weird. I was so very wrong. There are Sidth involved. As soon as I saw that word, I knew exactly what I had gotten myself in to. I don't want to boast, but I was quite the obsessed Merlin fan, and so ya know...they had an episode or two about said Sidth. It's this element that ensures The Mysteries stands out from other books in it's genre.
There's so much that's unique about this book, and so much that I loved. There's the way it starts off as a series mystery book, then adds these...magical elements, initially only mentioned in small chunks, as little tidbits, until the story of Amy's case unfurls and then there's more magical/mythical elements as they search for Peri.
The thing I loved most was that you'd have a chapter on the present day narrative, involving Peri's case and such, that is the main story that is going on in this book. After a point in the book, you then have Amy's case/story woven in and being told alongside Peri's, to explain why Peri's case seems so familiar. But that's not all, along with these, you have chapters with different people's names at the top, I've not done a google search yet to see if any of these stories are true or not, I'm under the impression they are, but I loved the inclusion of them. I loved how they changed. We get little chapters, a couple of pages long, about different people and how they disappeared, if they where found and so on, each is different to the other, but I loved how they changed in intent? Content? I'm not sure which word to use.
You see they start as stories about people who disappeared, one a British Ambassador, who just vanished in to thin air and was thought to have been assassinated by the French, for example, one's like that, that seemed strange and improbable, but had plenty of rational explanations. As the book continues, and as the stranger elements of Peri's case come out, as the story of Amy's case comes out, and as the Sidth and the magical element is introduced, these little chapters on different missing people changed to stories about people who'd been taken by the fairies and came back, or in some very old cases, some old lore was used, and they where rescued by people before the fairies could take them to the Otherworld.
I loved that, because the entire tone of the book changes, it's intent changes, and I just really loved it. The individual cases also added a break from the narrative, so you could process what had happened in the previous chapter, and refreshed you. I just really enjoyed the obvious slow changing of the book.
On much the same note, I loved the lore/mythology of the book, and it's something I'd quite like to check out more, pay a trip to the library and so on, to find out more. There's only so much you can glean from a 40 or so minute episode of Merlin, and I was eager throughout the book to learn more of the mythology, not just the Celtic Myth linked to Peri, but I was fascinated by the older missing persons cases in the book, about how to deal with fairies almost. The whole they have to trade with you thing, and so on. It was fascinating and so fantastically woven in to the main story, a story that you're under the impression is just a regular mystery book. The fairies and the mythology are subtle at first, then it gradually becomes more and more until the book changes.
I feel like I'm not describing it adequately but it's so hard to explain!
To be honest, I'll probably never look at missing persons case in the same way again, I mean I was reading this until about 4am, and I freely admit I was so involved in what was going on that I jumped a foot in the air when it started to loudly piss it down with rain. I seriously couldn't put this book down, putting it down even for to make a cup of tea, and I found myself thinking about it, running theories through my head and trying to work out what was going on, and I'm SO pleased to say this is one of the few books where it's near impossible to workout, so you're constantly surprised, shocked and amazed.
I really loved The Mysteries, it's fast paced, intriguing, impossible to put down, full of surprises, full of mythology and lore that's totally fascinating, and just totally unique to anything else. I can't sing its praises enough to be honest, it's a total mash-up of mystery, thriller, fantasy and even fairy tale!
September 4, 2014
I’ve always liked stories where people were stolen away - and rescued, by one means or another - by the fairies. The time slippage, temporary escapes, alliances, means of confrontation, they’re all fabulous, and of course one of the best things about this kind of story is that it’s not always the girl who’s taken. Man or woman, anyone can stumble into a fairy ring (or fall off their horse - Tam Lin’s story is one of impressive haplessness on his end). And that’s one thing that The Mysteries takes care to remind us of, despite the fact that both kidnap victims in the narrative arc are pretty young blonde women. It tucks stories of abduction from history and folklore into the tale of a private investigator’s attempts to find a missing girl, Penny, while revisiting old disappearances from his own past, which is certainly interesting if not always welcome.
Ian Kennedy has turned his childhood obsession with finding his missing father into a career as a private investigator. Sometimes it pays; more often it doesn’t. The latest failure has him just about ready to pack his bags and leave London for his Texas home, but a desperate woman in search of her missing daughter persuades him to take on one more case - and the details of that case bear a terrifying resemblance to those of his first case, which had more in common with myth than modern malefaction.
I’ve read more than a couple of books involving a fusion of noir detective fiction and legend - there’s the Dresden Files, of course, but also the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch, The New York Magician by Jacob Zimmerman, and White Rabbit by KA Laity, among others - and one thing that seems to be absolutely essential for any fantasy noir is a plethora of beautiful women. The Mysteries is no exception to that, but readers may enjoy its general lack of focus on their more anatomical charms. I also particularly appreciated Ian’s unwillingness to jeopardize a promising new relationship by entering into it without handling resurfaced issues from a previous relationship. Healthy relationship choices! Yay!
Not that he’d always made such good decisions - which was an excellent characterization note on the part of Tuttle, who on the whole handles characterization very well. Over the course of the novel, we see Ian at a rather large number of times in his life, and his previous failures and flaws make his current maturity more nuanced and realistic. In fact, all of the characters display similar growths or, in some cases, degenerations, and the majority of the scenes in the novel contribute meaningfully to both plot and character, which is not something one can always say about a book. On the other hand, The Mysteries is also a very cluttered book, and while the characterization was nuanced and interesting, it could’ve been achieved without quite so many jumps in time and perspective. We have Ian as a child searching for his father, as a young man searching for an acquaintance’s daughter, as a slightly older man watching his relationship fall apart, and as a middle-aged man involved in a mystery, as well as segments from several other characters at various points in their lives, and all in all it was as ungainly as carrying an armload of socks.
Unfortunately, the inserted stories of abductions and disappearances mostly intensified the ungainliness of the narrative. Essentially, they served the same function as a quote or epigram at the beginning of a chapter or a section, but the choices were not always relevant, and the length of the selections was problematic. Ideally, the quote or epigram takes up no more than half a page; some of the stories in The Mysteries took up several pages. Adding to the clutter, several of the subplots seemed like they were in the novel solely to set up a follow-up novel. This is of course a perfectly understandable and necessary narrative choice, but the weight given to the subplots was out of proportion to the relevance they had to the main plot of this novel.
All of this made it very difficult to follow the theme of the novel - not the plot, which is nice and straightforward, but the thread that underlies the plot. There definitely was one; it was something about love and its contradictions. Selflessness and selfishness, perception and blindness. And in some stories, it might not matter so much that the theme was obscure. But this is a story involving abduction by fairies, and if there’s one thing a fairy story needs it’s clarity of symbolism. The denouement was a terrible mishmash of people, perceptions, dreams and symbols, and I have absolutely no idea what the point of it was in the end.
All in all, it was a pretty good read with nice characterization and a solid, if not terribly inspired, plot. The mythological and historical aspects were interesting, as well, and there was nothing amiss stylistically with Tuttle’s writing. However, the pacing was sloppy and the structure was kind of a mess, and I was a little surprised to find that she’d published over a dozen novels.
tl;dr - pretty good read with some memorable imagery and some good mythological research, but not the most tightly woven of stories. If you like stories involving fairies (or the Sidhe) and their proclivity for abduction, this might be a good book for you! Warnings for mentions of rape, mentions of date-rape drugs, dubious consent on the part of the abducted women - they chose to wander off, but the methods by which they were convinced are hazy at best - and mentions of child abuse.
Ian Kennedy has turned his childhood obsession with finding his missing father into a career as a private investigator. Sometimes it pays; more often it doesn’t. The latest failure has him just about ready to pack his bags and leave London for his Texas home, but a desperate woman in search of her missing daughter persuades him to take on one more case - and the details of that case bear a terrifying resemblance to those of his first case, which had more in common with myth than modern malefaction.
I’ve read more than a couple of books involving a fusion of noir detective fiction and legend - there’s the Dresden Files, of course, but also the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch, The New York Magician by Jacob Zimmerman, and White Rabbit by KA Laity, among others - and one thing that seems to be absolutely essential for any fantasy noir is a plethora of beautiful women. The Mysteries is no exception to that, but readers may enjoy its general lack of focus on their more anatomical charms. I also particularly appreciated Ian’s unwillingness to jeopardize a promising new relationship by entering into it without handling resurfaced issues from a previous relationship. Healthy relationship choices! Yay!
Not that he’d always made such good decisions - which was an excellent characterization note on the part of Tuttle, who on the whole handles characterization very well. Over the course of the novel, we see Ian at a rather large number of times in his life, and his previous failures and flaws make his current maturity more nuanced and realistic. In fact, all of the characters display similar growths or, in some cases, degenerations, and the majority of the scenes in the novel contribute meaningfully to both plot and character, which is not something one can always say about a book. On the other hand, The Mysteries is also a very cluttered book, and while the characterization was nuanced and interesting, it could’ve been achieved without quite so many jumps in time and perspective. We have Ian as a child searching for his father, as a young man searching for an acquaintance’s daughter, as a slightly older man watching his relationship fall apart, and as a middle-aged man involved in a mystery, as well as segments from several other characters at various points in their lives, and all in all it was as ungainly as carrying an armload of socks.
Unfortunately, the inserted stories of abductions and disappearances mostly intensified the ungainliness of the narrative. Essentially, they served the same function as a quote or epigram at the beginning of a chapter or a section, but the choices were not always relevant, and the length of the selections was problematic. Ideally, the quote or epigram takes up no more than half a page; some of the stories in The Mysteries took up several pages. Adding to the clutter, several of the subplots seemed like they were in the novel solely to set up a follow-up novel. This is of course a perfectly understandable and necessary narrative choice, but the weight given to the subplots was out of proportion to the relevance they had to the main plot of this novel.
All of this made it very difficult to follow the theme of the novel - not the plot, which is nice and straightforward, but the thread that underlies the plot. There definitely was one; it was something about love and its contradictions. Selflessness and selfishness, perception and blindness. And in some stories, it might not matter so much that the theme was obscure. But this is a story involving abduction by fairies, and if there’s one thing a fairy story needs it’s clarity of symbolism. The denouement was a terrible mishmash of people, perceptions, dreams and symbols, and I have absolutely no idea what the point of it was in the end.
All in all, it was a pretty good read with nice characterization and a solid, if not terribly inspired, plot. The mythological and historical aspects were interesting, as well, and there was nothing amiss stylistically with Tuttle’s writing. However, the pacing was sloppy and the structure was kind of a mess, and I was a little surprised to find that she’d published over a dozen novels.
tl;dr - pretty good read with some memorable imagery and some good mythological research, but not the most tightly woven of stories. If you like stories involving fairies (or the Sidhe) and their proclivity for abduction, this might be a good book for you! Warnings for mentions of rape, mentions of date-rape drugs, dubious consent on the part of the abducted women - they chose to wander off, but the methods by which they were convinced are hazy at best - and mentions of child abuse.
February 24, 2024
Had a great time with this one. The stories of people vanishing or being transported by fairies (etc.) mixed in between the chapters of the main story are enjoyable, and I like how other stories of people Ian has known or looked for are included too. A kind of non-linearity I guess, but easy to follow. Mostly I just enjoyed the atmosphere and mystery and sense of richness and danger of the magic. Would have loved a sequel with that ending.
November 23, 2015
3,5 stars
What to expect from a book that is called ‘The Mysteries’? Something mysterious most likely. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed on that part. This book is woven together with questions and riddles. That and the interesting storyline kept me glued to the pages of this book ‘till the very end.
Ian Kennedy is a private detective specialised in missing persons. He has always had a particular interest in this field because of the disappearance of his own father when he was nine years old. Throughout the book we learn more about his choice for this profession. He normally deals with runaway teens or crimes of passion, but his last case may prove to be something else entirely. Peri has been missing for 2 years, vanished without a trace. The more Ian learns about the details of the case, the more they remind him of his very first case. How will he tell Peri’s mother that he can find strong resemblances between her daughter’s disappearance and a Celtic myth?
Throughout the book Tuttle lets us get a glimpse of other cases of disappearances as little intermezzos. These were a perfect addition to the book, spicing the already intriguing storyline with that little bit extra. Now, this might sound a bit weird, but disappearances have always fascinated me. With a mind that has been conditioned by reading Fantasy from a very young age, it’s easy to make the leap to search something more behind these cases. I think it’s fascinating how some things can never be explained and I always wonder why that is. That’s why I particularly loved the anecdotes about people mysteriously disappearing in the past. These little intermezzos start as unresolved, mysterious disappearances, but later on we get to read some supernatural explanations and actually some happy endings.
Ian’s investigation doesn’t exactly lead where you’d think it would. It quickly takes a turn for the weird the deeper he digs. Along the way he also meets some interesting individuals who challenge his beliefs and make him rethink the world he lives in.
Ian as a character had a rather dull personality. I didn’t really connect with him or any of the other characters as profoundly as I’d liked. Normally the characters and my connection with them is one of the most important things for me to enjoy a book. Here, however, the story itself fascinated me enough to keep reading and to ultimately really like the book. This is for a big part due to the thematic, which is exactly my cup of tea.
The ending is, quite fittingly, mysterious. It is a very open ending that leaves the reader the freedom to fill in what they would want to happen to the protagonist. I’m not usually a fan of open endings, but it seemed to fit perfectly here, so it didn’t bother me at all this time. ‘The Mysteries’ is a perfect mix between the better detective novel and subtle Fantasy/Folklore. Though different from what I expected at first, the book still managed to captivate me.
What to expect from a book that is called ‘The Mysteries’? Something mysterious most likely. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed on that part. This book is woven together with questions and riddles. That and the interesting storyline kept me glued to the pages of this book ‘till the very end.
Ian Kennedy is a private detective specialised in missing persons. He has always had a particular interest in this field because of the disappearance of his own father when he was nine years old. Throughout the book we learn more about his choice for this profession. He normally deals with runaway teens or crimes of passion, but his last case may prove to be something else entirely. Peri has been missing for 2 years, vanished without a trace. The more Ian learns about the details of the case, the more they remind him of his very first case. How will he tell Peri’s mother that he can find strong resemblances between her daughter’s disappearance and a Celtic myth?
Throughout the book Tuttle lets us get a glimpse of other cases of disappearances as little intermezzos. These were a perfect addition to the book, spicing the already intriguing storyline with that little bit extra. Now, this might sound a bit weird, but disappearances have always fascinated me. With a mind that has been conditioned by reading Fantasy from a very young age, it’s easy to make the leap to search something more behind these cases. I think it’s fascinating how some things can never be explained and I always wonder why that is. That’s why I particularly loved the anecdotes about people mysteriously disappearing in the past. These little intermezzos start as unresolved, mysterious disappearances, but later on we get to read some supernatural explanations and actually some happy endings.
Ian’s investigation doesn’t exactly lead where you’d think it would. It quickly takes a turn for the weird the deeper he digs. Along the way he also meets some interesting individuals who challenge his beliefs and make him rethink the world he lives in.
Ian as a character had a rather dull personality. I didn’t really connect with him or any of the other characters as profoundly as I’d liked. Normally the characters and my connection with them is one of the most important things for me to enjoy a book. Here, however, the story itself fascinated me enough to keep reading and to ultimately really like the book. This is for a big part due to the thematic, which is exactly my cup of tea.
The ending is, quite fittingly, mysterious. It is a very open ending that leaves the reader the freedom to fill in what they would want to happen to the protagonist. I’m not usually a fan of open endings, but it seemed to fit perfectly here, so it didn’t bother me at all this time. ‘The Mysteries’ is a perfect mix between the better detective novel and subtle Fantasy/Folklore. Though different from what I expected at first, the book still managed to captivate me.
December 24, 2015
~I was given this book for free in exchange for an honest and fair review via fantasybookreview.co.uk~
The Mysteries by Lisa Tuttle is a novel that weaves together modern mystery and the fairy-tales of the United Kingdom in a unique way. In the midst of telling the tale of Private Investigator Ian Kennedy’s search for the missing Peri, Tuttle weaves in the stories of other mysterious disappearances. These breaks from the main plot serve to inform the reader about the nature of Peri’s disappearance, as well as explain Kennedy’s past - and his obsession with finding the missing.
Tuttle weaves in Scottish lore into these vignettes, especially in the case of Fred’s story as well as Amy’s, providing the reader with enough explanation to make sense of the story as well as add to the mystery of Peri’s disappearance. However, the alternating chapters were more than a bit unsettling for me at first, but once I started to expect them I began to see how they added to the story as opposed to subtracted from it.
While there are elements of romance, I found it incredibly refreshing to find that the main character was not involved in a real relationship. It was a nice change from other novels in the same sort of genre. Laura and Ian’s relationship is so much harder to categorise that, if like me, the reader has been reading non-stop romance, it will refresh and leave the reader satisfied as well as curious as to what will happen in the future.
Personally, I was very much entertained by the realistic method of writing, particularly when Ian lamented on the struggle of meeting a fellow American outside of the country. To me, it showed that these weren’t perfect characters but that they were human and experienced the familiar dread of explaining that no, you haven’t ever been to ‘X’ in Wisconsin.
However, the secondary “main-character” Peri does not make an appearance until the last few chapters, which really bothered me. Peri became more of an ideal as opposed to a character, and it disappointed me, as it presented Peri as a frivolous teenager.
I feel as though this was more of an easy read, as opposed to a novel with so many different terms and people that you basically have to take notes to understand the story. While this wasn’t my favorite novel I’ve read, it certainly is one of the more unique fairy-centric novels I’ve read.
The Mysteries by Lisa Tuttle is a novel that weaves together modern mystery and the fairy-tales of the United Kingdom in a unique way. In the midst of telling the tale of Private Investigator Ian Kennedy’s search for the missing Peri, Tuttle weaves in the stories of other mysterious disappearances. These breaks from the main plot serve to inform the reader about the nature of Peri’s disappearance, as well as explain Kennedy’s past - and his obsession with finding the missing.
Tuttle weaves in Scottish lore into these vignettes, especially in the case of Fred’s story as well as Amy’s, providing the reader with enough explanation to make sense of the story as well as add to the mystery of Peri’s disappearance. However, the alternating chapters were more than a bit unsettling for me at first, but once I started to expect them I began to see how they added to the story as opposed to subtracted from it.
While there are elements of romance, I found it incredibly refreshing to find that the main character was not involved in a real relationship. It was a nice change from other novels in the same sort of genre. Laura and Ian’s relationship is so much harder to categorise that, if like me, the reader has been reading non-stop romance, it will refresh and leave the reader satisfied as well as curious as to what will happen in the future.
Personally, I was very much entertained by the realistic method of writing, particularly when Ian lamented on the struggle of meeting a fellow American outside of the country. To me, it showed that these weren’t perfect characters but that they were human and experienced the familiar dread of explaining that no, you haven’t ever been to ‘X’ in Wisconsin.
However, the secondary “main-character” Peri does not make an appearance until the last few chapters, which really bothered me. Peri became more of an ideal as opposed to a character, and it disappointed me, as it presented Peri as a frivolous teenager.
I feel as though this was more of an easy read, as opposed to a novel with so many different terms and people that you basically have to take notes to understand the story. While this wasn’t my favorite novel I’ve read, it certainly is one of the more unique fairy-centric novels I’ve read.
December 2, 2014
SPOILER ALERT
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I read this straight off the back of the Cormoran Strike books by Robert Galbraith, which is an excellent detective novel. This book had a pretty tough act to follow, granted.
The plot itself is pretty good. Would have made a much more haunting read, but unfortunately the clumsy writing of the characters kind of ruined it for me. Here's some of my gripes:
1. Ian feels like a bit of a creep. That whole 'sexual attraction' thing towards Laura, as a client, is off-putting. Plus, it seems that being a bona fide private eye should logically require some form of excellent training, which Ian did not seem to receive. That whole line about 'not wanting to resort to female stereotype here, but..' makes him come across a touch sexist, which is surprising, since this is written by a woman.
2. Halfway through the book suddenly the reader is presented with the fact that Ian had been looking into paranormal sites all around UK all along since solving Amy's case, and the supernatural phenomenon really bugged him. This is a completely drastic turn from the way he seemed to approach the investigation at the start, with a strong emphasis to the logical. There's no paragraph or chapter to reconcile his more realistic approach to the case, with the eventual dive into the supernatural aspects.
----------------
I read this straight off the back of the Cormoran Strike books by Robert Galbraith, which is an excellent detective novel. This book had a pretty tough act to follow, granted.
The plot itself is pretty good. Would have made a much more haunting read, but unfortunately the clumsy writing of the characters kind of ruined it for me. Here's some of my gripes:
1. Ian feels like a bit of a creep. That whole 'sexual attraction' thing towards Laura, as a client, is off-putting. Plus, it seems that being a bona fide private eye should logically require some form of excellent training, which Ian did not seem to receive. That whole line about 'not wanting to resort to female stereotype here, but..' makes him come across a touch sexist, which is surprising, since this is written by a woman.
2. Halfway through the book suddenly the reader is presented with the fact that Ian had been looking into paranormal sites all around UK all along since solving Amy's case, and the supernatural phenomenon really bugged him. This is a completely drastic turn from the way he seemed to approach the investigation at the start, with a strong emphasis to the logical. There's no paragraph or chapter to reconcile his more realistic approach to the case, with the eventual dive into the supernatural aspects.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 8, 2010
#21 - 2010.
An American detective living in London is approached to find a young woman who disappeared. Although this is a mystery, it is largely an intersection of "what if" the Celtic myth of people being kidnapped into faerie lands were true. Told from the weary detective's point of view, the story takes on also the flavor of his knowing such things are possible but feeling a sense of personal failure over the people who much more legitimately disappeared in his own life (his father, his girlfriend). A quick read, not elaborately detailed, yet still an attention grabber and one that left me thinking about the story when I had to stop and do other things. I have requested Tuttle's most current book, Silver Bough, from the library based on this fairly good first try of her work.
An American detective living in London is approached to find a young woman who disappeared. Although this is a mystery, it is largely an intersection of "what if" the Celtic myth of people being kidnapped into faerie lands were true. Told from the weary detective's point of view, the story takes on also the flavor of his knowing such things are possible but feeling a sense of personal failure over the people who much more legitimately disappeared in his own life (his father, his girlfriend). A quick read, not elaborately detailed, yet still an attention grabber and one that left me thinking about the story when I had to stop and do other things. I have requested Tuttle's most current book, Silver Bough, from the library based on this fairly good first try of her work.
July 9, 2015
All in all this was a pretty good book. I liked the way it combined mystery with fantasy and folklore and enjoyed the mini folklore stories interspresed in the story. However, I wasn't really invested in the central mystery and felt it dragged a bit at times. The best parts were the dreamlike fantasy elements. The main thing that bugged me, however, was that the protaganist was not believeable as a man, in fact it took me until about halfway through the first chapter (probably the first time someone referred to his gender) to realise that he was male. I wonder why the author decided to write a first person protaganist who was so different from herself.
June 2, 2015
I enjoyed this book and couldn't put it down right until the end -- but I hated the ending. The Celtic myths woven throughout, the stories of mysterious disappearances sandwiched between chapters, and the elements of the protagonist's story kept me spellbound throughout the first two-thirds of the novel. Even through most of the latter third, I could not wait to find what happened next -- but the last few lines left me frustrated, although, in truth, the author's ending was probably much more in keeping with her story than would have been the one I would have preferred.
September 15, 2014
Good setup, interesting characters and mystery. The non-linear aspect made it tough to keep a few of the timeframes straight, but the first half is still good. I was really looking forward to the fantasy aspect coming to light in the second half, but found it very underdeveloped and uninteresting, with odd tangents, and connections and twists too loose to do much for me. Not a bad book, but ultimately underwhelming and anti-climactic.
January 12, 2016
Another wonderful adventure by Lisa Tuttle, touched with the bittersweet. Full of mystery and magic, this is a story where sometimes you find out that happy endings don't always look happy, and finding the path means you have to get lost.
June 2, 2018
2018/15: The Mysteries -- Lisa Tuttle
Ian Kennedy is a private detective who specialises in finding missing people -- specifically, those who have vanished without trace. His profession is rooted in his past: his father disappeared when he was a child, and his girlfriend Jenny left him. Since then, he's tried to track down those who have vanished. He is engaged by Laura Lensky to find her missing daughter Peri, who seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. Laura's friend Polly -- why can't he place the name? -- recommended Ian, and Laura, along with Peri's boyfriend Hugh, is desperate to find a sensible and rational explanation for Peri's disappearance.
Ian's first-person narrative jumps from present to past (his investigation into the disappearance of Amy Schneider, which seems to have been the case that made his name) as well as from personal to historical: the chapters of his narrative are interspersed with accounts of historical disappearances, some of them well-documented (the Flannan Isles lighthousekeepers, the British Ambassador to the Austrian Empire) and some more like folklore.
And Ian, unlike Laura, is perfectly willing to consider the possibility of some supernatural agency. He's familiar with Celtic myths -- primarily the story of Midir and Etain -- and has, during the Amy case, met at least one young woman whose need to escape the mundane world seems to Ian a kind of suicidal impulse.
Hugh, Laura and Ian all have their own motivations for finding Peri -- and their own reasons for being reluctant to face the facts. Ian, for me, was not a likeable character: he's prone to sexist generalisations, he's arrogant, and by his own account of Jenny's disappearance he refused to accept that she wanted to leave. On the other hand, his memories and perceptions are not always reliable ...
This is a gradual novel: it starts slow, and picks up the pace -- and the strangeness -- to the denouement. Midir and Etain are't the only mythological resonances here: there are also echoes of Demeter and Persephone, and perhaps of Orpheus and Eurydice. I'm still not sure if Ian gets what he wants: I'm not sure if he knows what he wants. But he knows enough to realise that he's missing something, excluded from something, mysterious.
Nobody wanted to be merely human these days. Kids imagined being Harry Potter or Buffy or Sabrina the teenage witch, with magical powers their birthright. But Etain wasn't a person at all, certainly not a role model. Unlike a modern girl, she was merely a possession. She could be bought or sold, won back or stolen. [p. 105]
Ian Kennedy is a private detective who specialises in finding missing people -- specifically, those who have vanished without trace. His profession is rooted in his past: his father disappeared when he was a child, and his girlfriend Jenny left him. Since then, he's tried to track down those who have vanished. He is engaged by Laura Lensky to find her missing daughter Peri, who seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. Laura's friend Polly -- why can't he place the name? -- recommended Ian, and Laura, along with Peri's boyfriend Hugh, is desperate to find a sensible and rational explanation for Peri's disappearance.
Ian's first-person narrative jumps from present to past (his investigation into the disappearance of Amy Schneider, which seems to have been the case that made his name) as well as from personal to historical: the chapters of his narrative are interspersed with accounts of historical disappearances, some of them well-documented (the Flannan Isles lighthousekeepers, the British Ambassador to the Austrian Empire) and some more like folklore.
And Ian, unlike Laura, is perfectly willing to consider the possibility of some supernatural agency. He's familiar with Celtic myths -- primarily the story of Midir and Etain -- and has, during the Amy case, met at least one young woman whose need to escape the mundane world seems to Ian a kind of suicidal impulse.
Hugh, Laura and Ian all have their own motivations for finding Peri -- and their own reasons for being reluctant to face the facts. Ian, for me, was not a likeable character: he's prone to sexist generalisations, he's arrogant, and by his own account of Jenny's disappearance he refused to accept that she wanted to leave. On the other hand, his memories and perceptions are not always reliable ...
This is a gradual novel: it starts slow, and picks up the pace -- and the strangeness -- to the denouement. Midir and Etain are't the only mythological resonances here: there are also echoes of Demeter and Persephone, and perhaps of Orpheus and Eurydice. I'm still not sure if Ian gets what he wants: I'm not sure if he knows what he wants. But he knows enough to realise that he's missing something, excluded from something, mysterious.
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