Reviewed by Lukas:
John Rickard Winter’s End
2003
à Summary
à What’s the book like?
à One page of the book
à Some Reader Reviews
à My personal opinion
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Summary
Winter’s End is a little village near Boston. Two Deputies are on their way home. They find a man with two hunting knives in his hands and a dead woman’s body lying in front of him. They arrest the man.
The first interview doesn’t lead to any results, so Sheriff Townsend calls his old friend Alex Rourke in Boston. He asks Alex for help. Alex is an Ex-FBI Agent and now works in a private detective’s office. He drives up to Winter’s End and starts with his investigations. It’s quit a difficult case, not because there isn’t enough evidence but Alex doesn’t see any connection between them. In his further investigations, things that happened in the past get very important. As he begins to interview the suspect himself a net of menacing discoveries starts to evolve around him. People who Alex thought were not involved in this case become victims, witnesses and accomplices. The picture of an unknown woman in a locket, a mysterious grave and the idea that the fatal car accident of his parents could have been a planned murder, gives him a clearer view of the whole case. He finds out information which has been kept secret. More and more the case has to do something with the person of Alex. Unexpected situations make this case special.
Of course there is also a love story. Alex and Gemma Larson, a doctor at the hospital, fall in love with each other. This love affair has not much to do with the main part of the plot. There are just a few links to the case.
That’s all I’m going to write about the plot. If you want to know how it ends, you’ll have to read the book yourself.
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What’s the book like?
I had no negative experiences with this book. The first thing that interested me about it was the title of the book. The title invited me to read the short summary at the back of the book. After I had read the summary I knew that I wanted to read the whole story.
When I began to read, it didn’t let me go. The text is written in a manner that you don’t want to stop reading because you want to know what is happening next. And because of that you’ll read the book very fast. The book is written in very easy English. There are just some words you don’t understand. But in the context you can guess what they mean.
Sometimes the narrator tells things that happened in the past and you don’t realize at first that it is a flash-back. This may be a little bit difficult at the beginning but after the first few chapters you realize when he talks about the past and then it is easier to understand the connections between some facts.
You can’t read the book without concentration. There are so many details that if you forget them, you are not able to follow the plot. That may be a little problem if you want to read before going to bed. So don’t.
So I really can recommend this book. It’s not really a typical detective story, but it’s a typical thriller. So read it, and I hope you will agree with me.
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One page of the book
Alex Rourke gets a call from a deputy. He tells Alex to come to the graveyard. When Alex arrives he finds a tombstone lying on its side and a letter on it.
This is what’s written in the letter:
So sorry to have missed you, Mr Rourke. It must feel strange to have your life suddenly ruled by the actions of someone else. Are you enjoying the hunt, or is the pressure starting to get to you? I take it you know about the doctor and how he had your pills switched. I wasn’t sure what he’d come up with, but I have to say I admire his efforts. Don’t feel sorry for him, though. The man was scum, a criminal, though his worst offence wasn’t in the records I left for you. Do you know what it’s like to have a loved one taken from you? I’m not talking about your parents here; even if the impact of that sedan hadn’t finished them, old age would have had them soon. No, I’m talking about someone truly close to you, that you spend hours with every day, that you’d do anything to protect. Do you know how it feels when they die? Do you know how it feels when they’re killed by your own blood?
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Winter’s End is John Rickards’ first novel. His second novel, The Touch of Ghosts, which also features Alex Rourke, will be available in hardback from August 2004.
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Now some Reader Reviews
“A page-turner from start to finish”
Take a deep breath when you begin this book because action and tension keep you turning the pages at a relentless pace. This was the first time in a long time I’ve simply not been able to put a book down. Whenever I thought I’d read ‘just one more chapter today’, I had to read another and another. There’s nothing ground-breaking in this type of novel – if you like Harlan Coben, John Connolly, Andrew Pyper, you’ll love this one – but John Rickards prose is so effortless and readable that I found it utterly compelling. Alex Rourke is a dark, edgy protagonist, who I hope we’ll see more of in future books. I’d definitely recommend this novel to anyone after a cracking good thriller.
“Excellent first book”
Just finished reading this book, I couldn't put it down. The story is interesting and engaging and the characters well developed. One of the best crime novels I have read in recent times which keeps you reading, guessing and second guessing until the very end. I would definitely recommend this to anyone.
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My personal opinion
The book is very easy to read. There are just a few words I had to look up in the dictionary. But most of the words translate “themselves” when you read on.
So I can say that the book’s a compelling psychological thriller. Very spooky, very good.
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