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Joe Wilder #1
Dance of the Mongoose
"I've been trying to imagine the murder scene. It probably went something like this . . ."
With these words, T.J. Phillips draws readers into the private world of Joseph Wilder, a struggling novelist whose approach to criminal evil is strictly literary--until a trip to the Virgin Islands becomes his first case as a detective.
With these words, T.J. Phillips draws readers into the private world of Joseph Wilder, a struggling novelist whose approach to criminal evil is strictly literary--until a trip to the Virgin Islands becomes his first case as a detective.
- GenresMystery
281 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1995
11 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 16, 2024
A failing novelist returns to St. Thomas, the Caribbean Island of his birth when his best friend's father, a judge, and very important man, is murdered.
From there, you get the usual torpid mystery set in the area.
The novel tries for some magical realism, I think, but it doesn't work out.
From there, you get the usual torpid mystery set in the area.
The novel tries for some magical realism, I think, but it doesn't work out.
July 13, 2007
I found this book on the dollar rack at store. If only all the money I spent was so well invested. This book was just a fun little tale, which is all I could ask from a book.
February 25, 2013
The book starts with a vivid and detailed account of a machete murder...which turns out to be a reconstruction of the crime formed in the mind of the narrator,Joe Wilder, a moderately successful novelist and a not-so-successful playwright. The bulk of the novel is set in the Virgin Islands, and T.J. Philips (pseudonym of Tom Savage) makes good use of the locale, and does an even better job of showing how greed, envy and hatred can fester within the closed society. It's and entertaining and diverting story, but since the focus of the book is on social mores and the often-brittle and hypocritical nature of high society (even on a beautiful tropic isle, human nature is to create a class society) the constant examination of relationships may make for a too-slow pace for readers accustomed to more action and a more forceful protagonist.
May 10, 2015
Nothing spectacular here ! Average characters and plot!
June 18, 2016
I like to read books like this while vacationing in the Caribbean.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews