Au lieu-dit Noir-Etang...

by Thomas H. Cook

Août 1926.
Chatham, Nouvelle-Angleterre, à quelques encablures du cap Cod : son église, son port de pêche et son école de garçons, fondée par Arthur Griswald, qui la dirige avec droiture et vertu. L'arrivée de la belle Mlle Channing, venue d'Afrique pour enseigner les arts plastiques à Chatham School, paraît anodine en soi, mais un an plus tard, dans cette petite ville paisible, il y aura eu plusieurs morts. Henry, le fils adolescent de M Griswald, est vite fasciné par celle qui va lui enseigner le dessin et lui faire découvrir qu'il faut " vivre ses passions jusqu'au bout ".
Du coup, l'idéal de vie digne et conventionnelle que prône son père lui semble être un carcan. Henry assiste, complice muet et narrateur peu fiable, à la naissance d'un amour tragique entre Mlle Channing et M Reed, le professeur de lettres qui vit au bord du Noir-Etang avec sa femme et sa fille. Il voit en eux " deux figures romantiques, des versions modernes de Catherine et de Heathcliff ". Mais l'adultère est mal vu à l'époque, et après le drame qui entraine la chute de Chatham School, le lecteur ne peut que se demander, tout comme le procureur : " Que s'est-il réellement passé au Noir-Etang ce jour-là ? "

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Suspense, Crime

354 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

There is more than one author with this name on Goodreads.

Thomas H. Cook has been praised by critics for his attention to psychology and the lyrical nature of his prose. He is the author of more than 30 critically-acclaimed fiction books, including works of true crime. Cook published his first novel, Blood Innocents, in 1980. Cook published steadily through the 1980s, penning such works as the Frank Clemons trilogy, a series of mysteries starring a jaded cop.

He found breakout success with The Chatham School Affair (1996), which won an Edgar Award for best novel. Besides mysteries, Cook has written two true-crime books including the Edgar-nominated Blood Echoes (1993). He lives and works in New York City.

Awards
Edgar Allan Poe – Best Novel – The Chatham School Affair
Barry Award – Best Novel – Red Leaves
Martin Beck Award of the Swedish Academy of Detection – The Chatham School Affair
Martin Beck Award of the Swedish Academy of Detection – Red Leaves
Herodotus Prize – Fatherhood

Reviews

[Snotchocheez · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

My (late-blooming) love affair with Thomas H. Cook's sumptuous writing continues with 1996's Edgar award-winner, The Chatham School Affair. This is my third encounter with Cook's 30+ novels (The Orchids and The Last Talk With Lola Faye were the others, both great) but the first title that would solidly fit into the genre Cook is best known for: mystery-writing. I'm thrilled to say it does not disappoint. (Well, it certainly didn't disappoint me, anyway. Cook's verbose, sometimes fussily precise delivery probably isn't for everyone {especially not for those readers that demand fast pacing and lurid details from their mystery authors} but I can't get enough of his writing.)

Henry Griswald, in 'present-day' recollections from his assisted living center, provides the narration for this affair, which occured in 1927 at and around a Cape Cod boys' preparatory school that he attended (and his father was headmaster of). From the moment stunningly beautiful new art teacher Miss Elizabeth Channing alights from the bus, the village of Chatham and its residents (particularly students and fellow teachers at the prep school) seem to be immediately taken by this bohemian young lady, brimming with stories of her recent travels in Africa and her knowledge of bizarre arcana. Like a modern day Circe, though, her arrival provides a harbinger of terrible things to befall the seaside village and its prep school denizens.

With a heady mix of poetry (which I ordinarily don't find at all appealing, but it works perfectly here) and a smattering of Greek mythology, Cook weaves a fascinating, spellbinding tale of heartbreak and deception. It's one that requires some patience, but the payoff is so worth it.

[Kavita · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Chatham School Affair is an award winning novel, and my first book by Cook. When Elizabeth Channing gets a job in Chatham, she has no idea how her life is about to change. She has come to teach at at the Chatham High School. She befriend the headmaster's son, Henry, who is also the narrator, looking back at events from a distance of some seventy years.

The book is touted as a mystery, but it really doesn't fit the genre. It's more of a tragic romance drama with some mystery thrown in. The author also chose to tell the story in a long-winded narrative that never comes to the point till the very end. Of course, that's the only way this novel would have worked. Otherwise, without all the plodding, it would just be a short story, and probably much better for that!

Though the story was interesting in itself, I found it very unconvincing. Henry got so deeply involved in his teachers' love life that he faced the consequences of their actions in some ways. This seems very unlikely to me. I remember my 16-year old self. I couldn't have cared less about my teachers'personal lives, and the same could be said of my friends.

It was quite lovely to read the book due to its slow pace and descriptiveness at the beginning. But 3/4ths down the story, I began to get tired of the repetitiveness. By the time the 'surprise twist' came at the end, I had already figured it out long back.

I don't think I really enjoyed this book, but there's no denying it's well-written. However, Thomas Cook hasn't been added to my list of great mystery authors.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Henry Griswald narrates the events that make up The Chatham School Affair, beginning with the arrival of Miss Elizabeth Channing, hired as a favor to a family friend to be the new art teacher at the all boys' school. The way Henry's tale unfolds reminds me of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca or perhaps My Cousin Rachel.

Something horrible happened that intimately involved young Henry, Miss Channing and lead to her death and the closure of the school. Over the course of the book through flashbacks, court transcripts and conversations with townsfolk who remember the events but wish they didn't, Cook builds a suspenseful story in a wonderfully gothic setting.

The first couple chapters are so densely packed with important information that I had to reread them a couple of times before I felt comfortable moving on to the rest of the novel. Starting with chapter three, the novel picks up pace and I found myself making time to read the book to finish it as quickly as I could.

[Christie (The Ludic Reader) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read my first Thomas H. Cook novel last year when I discovered, by accident, Breakheart Hill. I really liked that book; I liked The Chatham School Affair even more.

I am not a mystery connoisseur by any stretch, although I admit that I’ve read a fair amount of suspense thrillers in my day. Cook belongs in another category altogether - sort of in the same way that King belongs in his own special category (and I mean that as a compliment because at the top of his game, there’s no one better than King.)

The Chatham School Affair is a richly realized mystery which unfolds as the book’s narrator, an elderly lawyer named Henry Griswald, recalls the events which transpired the year he was 15. In 1926, Henry is a student at Chatham School where his father is the director. He’s an intelligent boy, given to daydreaming and reading rather than socializing with his peers. The arrival of the new art teacher, the beautiful and well-traveled Elizabeth Channing, upends Henry’s world in ways impossible to relate without revealing important plot points. Suffice it to say that this book is a wonderful examination of love found and lost, of regret and honour, of sacrifice. It’s also a great mystery with a kick-ass ending.

The Chatham School Affair is not told at breakneck speed: the reader is expected to spend a little time with the characters…but it’s worth it. Cook’s writing is often lyrical – not all that common in ‘crime fiction.’ In fact, I have a hard time with that label. Henry is a wonderful narrator, sympathetic even, but what I admired most of all about this book is how Cook walked that wonderful tightrope - never vilifying any character, allowing each of them their motivations and mistakes, their dreams and, ultimately, their fates.

Two thumbs up.

[Kurt Keefner · Rating 2 out of 5]

First of all, this book was mistitled. It should have been called The Chatham School Tease, because the author teases the reader every few pages with his ham-handed foreshadowing. How about a little foreshadowing at the beginning and then just telling your story, hmm? Instead Cook spends way too much time with his mopey old narrator who as a young boy had some part in the Affair. I'll tell you about that again in a few pages.

Secondly, all of the characters are undermotivated. It is not credible that X would commit murder. It is not credible that Y would commit suicide. The narrator/young boy does something that such a young man would never do, never.

I kind of liked Miss Channing, the art teacher put on trial (what the charges are Cook coyly does not reveal until 3/4 of the way through), but she was pretty standard example of the sophisticated and cosmopolitan art teacher type. The relationship between the headmaster and his wife was good.

Look, I'm not saying I wasn't drawn in. It's just that I feel cheated. Here's how low Cook stoops: there is actually one character who goes by two completely different names and whose identity Cook does not reveal until the last 5 pages. This isn't a book--it's an author playing games with the reader.

If you want something good in a prep school setting, re-read A Separate Peace. If you want something really good, with creepiness and a seductive professor and insight into evil, read The Secret History. I will not be trying another book by hook or by Cook, and the Edgar imprimatur means nothing to me now.

[Al · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book won an Edgar? What am I missing? I have a vision of an author trying to make something out of nothing by adopting a creaky writing device of foreshadowing. All it did for me was make me wish he would get on with the story, for goodness sake, so I could finally finish the foolish thing and start something more interesting. Maybe the Edgar committee was sorry for Mr. Cook because he had come up short in previous years, and threw him this bone. Or maybe the Edgar isn't that reliable as a quality measuring device. Whatever the reason, this book is a real drag. Skip it.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

One from the "dark secret shrouded in the mists of time" department. As a reader, I like framing devices as much as anybody, but they need to have some kind of rules; a modern story can't continually roam around in clouds of fear and suspicion like The Castle Of Otranto or The Mysteries Of Udolfo. It can be done in our day, but just not as the barrage of verbiage it was in yesteryear.

The author takes his time (and ours) building the world of this novel, framed within multiple removes and perspectives. We are basically two thirds into this when forward motion begins to overtake the restraints pulling it back into the past.

I understand, I think, that there is some attraction to the slowly developing narrative, the techniques that were so unnervingly effective way back closer to the time of the birth of the novel itself: the plaintive diary-entry, the oil-painting in the main hall with secrets hiding in plain sight, the hidden clue in the locket or suicide note. But Cook's story is so weighted with premonitions, visions and re-imaginings, each crafted so as to dissolve back to the present day ... that it becomes a little ridiculous.

"I came into her room with a reluctance and sense of intrusion that I still can't entirely explain, unless, from time to time, we are touched by the opposite of aftermath, feel not the swirling eddies of a retreating wave, but the dark pull of an approaching one.

Cook's prose is a pleasure, and flows nicely until you stop to question it. The flash-forwarding and revisiting are no doubt meant to instill a floating, dreamy storyline, but are very often just annoying. Even 'dreamy' needs some kind of pace, a pulse; gently drifting timelessness becomes more or less interminable.

Frames around frames are no justification for lukewarm momentum. This novel nearly redeems itself in the very end, with a vexing Conradian ethical convolution, almost allowing the reader to get the sense that all the drifty-dreamy was building to something the only way it knew how... But a last stab, on the last page, at a Joycean elegiac paragraph (ala The Dead) to sum up ... blows the reconsideration.

[Conor · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the cover, this is described as a "novel of suspense." I didn't know what that was before reading this -- and I am still not sure I do know what it means generally -- but if this is an example of it, give me more. Thomas Cook weaves together an incredible tale about a small town out on Cape Cod. The book starts in the present many years after a horrendous incident and slowly returns to memories of the year of the incident. Cook does a great job of dribbling out details here and there. You are impelled on by these little revelations, you want to find out more. I can't recall reading a book in this style, and I have to say that I am not an easy person to please, but Cook really blew my socks off with this book. It was very, very good.

[Dimitar Angelov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Отново силно попадение. Първа книга от автора и със сигурност няма да е последна. Наградата Едгар, която получава е напълно заслужена. Искрено се чудя, как този шедьовър от средата на 90-те години, не е бил издаден на български. Впрочем, нищо от Кук не е издавано на български, доколкото ми е известно.

Големият майсторлък в криминалния жанр, винаги съм спорил с тези, които го криткуват като лек такъв, е да се надскочи оригиналният сюжет. Да, всеки иска заплетена история, съспенс и "ахване" в края на романа, но това са все неща, които могат да бъдат постигнати технически. Всеки който прочете 200 крими, може да напише, ако се насили, приличен сюжет с два-три обрата.

Не всеки обаче би могъл да създаде плътни персонажи, да нареди жив и проницателен диалог и да обвърже "интересния сюжет" с по-висши житейски теми.

Кук успява да покрие всички тези точки. Наглед историята, която ни представя не вещае нищо особено - мистериозна и красива жена идва в малко градче, за да стане учителка по изкуства в елитна частна гимназия. На практика още в самото начало Кук ни казва какво ще се случи, но въпреки това до последния момент успява да дъжи читателя в напрежение. Преминавайки през една учебна година през 20-те години на миналия век, виждаме колко унищожителна сила има в красотата и волята за свобода. Накрая на книгата се замислих, че от нея би се получила страхотна театрална постановка. Героите са толкова добре оформени и позиционирани, че мога да си ги представя на сцена. През размислите и спомените на разказвача - синът на директора на гимназията Чатъм - Кук ни поставя пред куп морални дилеми, на които философията и живият живот, изглежда, дават различни отговори. Винаги ще остане в спомените ми пасажът, в който Хенри се пита "защо, ако щастието е най-висшата цел в живота, едва малцина са готови да ѝ се посветят". Защо е толкова страшно да си щастлив? Или може би, щастието е видение, което се явява под различни форми в различните етапи от живота ни на тази земя?

На две-три години попадам на подобни книги. Тази година имах късмета с 2 - тази и последният роман на Лихейн "Small Mercies". Наградите Едгар, Бари и т. н. не трябва да се дават всяка година. Има години, в които просто дават наградата, защото трябва. И все пак някои наградени са по-добри от други.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Attorney Henry Griswald has a secret. A secret he has kept since 1927 when he was a student at The Chatham School in the small Cape Cod community of Chatham, Massachusetts.

It is a secret that hides the truth behind what would become known as The Chatham School Affair, a scandal that would lead to murder and suicide and leave him forever scarred.

The story begins in the summer of 1926 when beautiful and free-spirited Elizabeth Channing arrives by bus to teach Art at the private school of which Henry's father is Headmaster.

There she meets married English teacher Leland Reed, another free-spirit, left partially crippled from his service in The Great War.

Their friendship leads to affection, then to love, culminating in a passionate affair that results in dire consequences for both of them.

Powerful and emotionally devastating, the novel was honored with the Edgar Award in 1997.

It is a work not just about truth and falsehoods, but also about self-deception, responsibility and the fragility of life.

For as Henry comes to realize, "It was just a little point of light, this life we harbored, just a tiny beam of consciousness, frail beyond measure, brief and unsustainable, the greatest lives like the smallest ones, delicately held together by the merest thread of breath."

You may need at least a day to recover from the reading of this remarkable book. It is Romeo and Juliet on steroids.
,

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a book that could be used for a Psychology class read. I would have given it 5 stars if it had not plodded a bit much in some of its pace within the telling- just after midline it bogged a bit. Became a little redundant in description at the least.

But perhaps that is what was needed to suggest the school year's time in which these events occurred. And the changes in these characters!

And the slow and gradual switch of loyalty and emotional attachments too- not just for the two protagonists in this "love" story. But in the entire town "feel" for the eventual occurrences, as well.

I have read him before and will read others. He has an excellent understanding of human persuasion and influence. How it really works to color human morality and ethics without seeming to do so. Yet he is also very dark.

This story would be excellent fodder for a discussion on moral relativism. It's an excellent study of small town life in that era, as well. I'm going to read all of this writer's work if they aren't too morose- he has perception in depth. Especially upon the role of personal responsibility.

[Criminal Element · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are two kinds of readers, as far as I can tell, when it comes to 1997’s Edgar Award-winner, The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook. There are those utterly perplexed by a crime novel that moves at what they deem a glacial pace and bears contents as literary as they are mysterious, and then there are those like myself who raced through the pages, unable to stand the suspense of not knowing what really happened at Black Pond on that fateful day in 1927.

It actually took me a little while to get into the novel at the beginning, hence why I have more sympathy for the first group of readers than I might. Though written as the 20th century faded, from the perspective of an old man looking back seventy years into his past, it reads very much as a novel from the first half of the 1900s. This is both a feature and a drawback: the authenticity of manner pulls the reader firmly into the milieu, but looking back from 23 years in the future on this book that itself looks back seven decades more, it’s frustrating to regard the morality that permeates the world it’s built, even more so when you realize that the book sees itself less as a commentary on an unjust time and more as an examination, if not an exoneration, of a single young man’s actions.

Read the rest of the review by Doreen Sheridan here!

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Σε αρκετές κριτικές διάβασα ότι θυμίζει την "Ρεβέκκα", αλλά προσωπικά όσο περισσότερο διάβαζα τόσο έρχονταν στο μυαλό μου οι Μπροντέ (διαλέχτε όποια θέλετε δεν έχει σημασία), κυρίως λόγω της κλειστοφοβικής, γοτθικής ατμόσφαιρας παρόλο που το χωριό Chatham περιγράφεται ως ένα ήσυχο, πράσινο, ηλιόλουστο μέρος, παρά τις ξαφνικές του καταιγίδες.
Υπέροχα δομημένο λογοτέχνημα, λίγο mystery, καθόλου crime, είναι μια εξαιρετική, μετρημένη με οικονομία, σπουδή για την αγάπη, το πάθος, την ελευθερία, το ήθος και την ηθική, τις εσωτερικές συγκρούσεις και αντιθέσεις, τις αποφάσεις που τελικά καθορίζουν "τη ζωή που αναζητούσαμε και τη ζωή που βρήκαμε".
Στο τέλος έμεινα άφωνη όχι με το τουίστ αλλά με την ανθρωπιά του. Ειδική μνεία στο χαρακτήρα του πατέρα.

[Adrian Fingleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well it's difficult to write this and avoid spoilers, but I will try. I like crime novels. This is a crime novel but seems like a lot more besides, with musings about life, love, loss, ambition, adolescence, naivety, family relationships and a lot more besides. Lots of Stephen King like twists and turns, a looming tragedy, and great character drawing. I loved it. And it does not demand too much of the reader. It's tight, concise, and has a great 'sense of place' - something I always look for. Great read.

[Karen Wenz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply haunting. I've read this three or four times. It's my favorite Thomas H. Cook novel. I have always envisioned it as a film--not so much that it's a visual tale, but more so the hopes and dreams and tragedies etched on landscape of this seaside village, the characters never quite in synch with one another--always longing for something just out of their reach. Sad, but so well told that I keep coming back to it.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was recommended by the author of "The House at Riverton". The Riverton book is a much better read. The Chatham School Affair is harder to read, with heavy foreshadowing where the The House at Riverton had a lighter touch and smoother narrative. Interesting to read of events in our region, but might not have finished it if not stuck on a plane with only this to read!

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written story of an elderly man looking back on the part he played as a young boy in a scandal that rocked a small town in America in the 1920s.

[Kelly (smeets_books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book. Briliantly written and it kept you guessing right to the end.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed how I look at affairs. I went into this book thinking it would be told one way, and I was blown away with the perspectiveness of it. It's great.

[Cndy · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG. This is undoubtedly the best mystery I have ever, ever read. Love how the author divulges bits and pieces and pulling you in for the ending.

[Kimba Tichenor · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for a fast-paced mystery, this is NOT the book for you as the author not only recreates the sights and sounds of a small New England town in the late 1920s, he also recreates the writing style of this bygone era. The effect is stunning; the reader is transported back in time to a world where cars are still a novelty in small towns and adultery remains a crime. This journey back in time is compliments of the perspective of the narrator, Henry Griswold -- a teenager at the time of the events in question whose burning desire is to escape the propriety and stiltedness of his father's world and now an old man looking back on the scandal that transformed his life. It is the rambling narrative of an old man who is at once reluctant to revisit those past events and driven to reveal the truth about his role in the so-called Chatham School affair before he dies. I will say no more as I do not want to give away the story, but if you have time to savor a slowly unfolding story of passion, intrigue, sullen bitterness, and folly, this book is a must read.

[Solim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled on Cook after I randomly googled "books with the best twist" to see what I would get. I was getting tired of all authors being predictable, or a little too corny, or not impressionable enough to remember their stories. I came across this random list that this book was on and I decided to get this along with a few other books from that list. I started this and of course judged it based on the cover and automatically did not expect much from the book based on how boring and plain the cover is. I was completely wrong and amazed by everything in this book. The prose is unbeatable by any other author, and even when there is not much going on at times in the story, the prose keeps you glued. The characters stand out in a way where not only do I feel like I know these people but I want to go meet these people and discuss this fictional life they lived in and all the happy and terribly sad moments they experienced. I got so engrossed in the book that when I was not reading it, I was thinking about it at school, work and even when I went to play basketball with some friends I was thinking about this book. I have read over 300 books in my last 6 years of reading and never have I been this obsessed with an authors work. I finished this book in about 2-3 days and after I was done, the whole story felt overwhelming that it almost became as if this book was haunting me. I read 4 books after this book within a month or so but kept thinking about this book so much that I had to re-read it after that 4th book. I dont believe there is another mystery author or author in general that can tell such a memorable story as Cook can. I have never felt I would ever need to re-read a book in my life because I never had a book leave that strong of an impression on me but Cook managed to do that and I have re-read it three times so far since I got it and plan to read it again soon. Love this author and I hope he never stops writing. Great book.

[Leila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because I was vacationing in Cape Cod, in a town that was a bike's ride into Chatham. A local used book seller highly recommended it. I couldn't figure out what the appeal was until the last 5 pages.

Though well written, the plot moves along slowly and I am surprised that I didn't abandon the novel at the beginning. But it does build... The story is essentially about the teen son of the Chatham School headmaster, who ends up caught in the middle (privy to many secrets) of an affair between the mysteriously lovely art teacher and the married history teacher. Events started by the affair lead to tragedy for pretty much all of the major characters.

There is a lot of foreshadowing throughout the novel, and after a while you wish the author would just get to the point; once he does at the end, you are well rewarded. It is rare that I am completely surprised by a book's ending.

I gave the book three stars because although the novel reaches a satisfying conclusion, it was a tough commitment.

[Andry Almonte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia inquietante que se extiende desde un oscuro secreto del pasado hasta una demoledora revelación en el presente.

Un día de verano, la nueva profesora de arte de la escuela de Chatham llegó al pueblo. Se instaló en una casa aislada junto a las oscuras aguas de la Laguna Negra. Con su llegada, comenzó una imprevisible cadena de acontecimientos que cambiaría para siempre la tranquila vida del pueblo de Chatham.


Ahora, años más tarde, sólo una persona viva conoce la respuesta a la pregunta que destruyó irrevocablemente toda una manera de vivir: ¿Qué ocurrió realmente aquel día en la Laguna Negra?

He leído esta novela para un reto lector y he de decir que me ha sorprendido bastante y para bien.

Cook nos atrapa con este thriller psicológico con personajes bien construidos, una trama inquietante y una ambientación perfecta.

Llena de misterios e intrigas, donde la memoria y la naturaleza de la verdad son la clave, hay secretos ocultos que saldrán a la luz para cambiar la vida de los residentes del pequeño pueblo.

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This mystery wasn't bad, but honestly I was expecting more from an Edgar winner. I think it was trying for some kind of stylised romanticism, and it mostly succeeded but sometimes just came off as old-fashioned and melodramatic. There was too much build up before we finally find out what "crime" happened, so that it is a bit anti-climactic when what happened it revealed. The whole book kind of plays with ideas of practicality vs. romance and reality vs. fantasy. Since everything is told from the perspective of a teenage boy, some of the melodrama is understandable and even good- it's interesting the way the narrator's perspective changes how you veiw the mystery. Also, the book's final secret really did suprise me and made the book much darker than I had thought it would be. In all, I'd reccomend it to mystery lovers but not to a general audience- it wasn't fast paced and exciting, but it was undoubtably subtle.

[Ellen Brandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I was browsing the shelves at the Bar Harbor library, I overheard a conversation in which one older patron was telling another that The Chatham School Affair by Thomas Cook was one of her all time favorite reads. I'd never heard of the book or the author, but decided to give it a try.
In some ways, the book reminds me of Water for Elephants; a very old man recalls events of a tumultuous year of his youth which very much shaped the person he was to become.
The narrative goes back and forth between the voice of the old man and that of his adolescent self.
I wouldn't label this book as one of my all-time favorites, but it was a great choice for the last of my 'summer reads'. Quick and compelling. Worth reading

[Rj · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being from Chatham, I am a bit biased. In all fairness this must be stated up front. I was hoping for more Chatham geographical and historical references but it was not necessary for the plot. I found this book slow yet strangely appealing. It creeps on you like a vine pulling you deeper and deeper into it's thick ravines. The story seems simple enough, and in ways it truly is, yet the ending provides a gem that catches you off guard and leaves you satisfied that you did the right thing in keeping the boobtube off and missing your episodes of Glee and reruns of Matlock. Enjoyable and well written~ perfect for a beach read (especially if that beach is in Chatham along the shores of Black Pond).

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I am too new to the mystery genre, but I always expect more of a Sherlock Holmes style or even The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo rendering where the excitement of the mystery is uncovering the clues and piecing them together to find the culprit, or perhaps that is my analytically trained mind that wishes for it. Either way, I found Cook's style of reminiscing and only providing a glimpse of a detail here and there quite maddening. Although I suppose in a way, this also leads you through the clues until you find the final culprit, but it's not as linear and the clues are mostly misinterpreted by the reader up until the very end, yet because the crime is known the entire time it doesn't making it nearly as exciting as a "surprise" ending would be. Not my cup of tea.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 5 out of 5]

As usual, this story is filled with little innuendos and teasers to keep you glued to the pages. His theme of death, drowning, father issues and remembering are all present in this award winning novel - and again it sounds like an autobiography.

You can’t help but wonder how much of his stories are based on actual happenings. Why does he seem hung up on Hypatia? I learn something new with every book - like where the word tantalize originated! He keeps me constantly turning to Google for clarification and enlightenment!

Enjoyed the backdrop of the Chatham Lighthouse, as I have visited it and could visualize the events that took place. This is my 13th book by Mr Cook and I can hardly wait to read more. By now I could practically write one!!

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The twist at the end of this mystery elevates it from a "2 star/it's ok" sort of book to a solid "3/I liked it". I was sure of path the plot was taking, was only wondering about the particulars of the method, when - boom - something totally different happened. That's always a plus in a mystery.

In terms of the setting and the characters, eh, I wasn't too impressed. I wish the setting had been elaborated on. the story felt like it could be set anywhere. As for the narrator, I never felt any sort of connection with him so didn't feel invested at all in how the story would end. It was more an intellectual exercise than an emotional storyline.