Pages:
388
Original
date of publication: 1962
My
edition: 2003 (HarperTorch)
Why
I decided to read:
How
I acquired my copy: Local bookshop, June 2009
Awhile
ago, the author Deanna Raybourn had a blog post which basically sums up the essence
of Mary Stewart’s novels, much better than I could ever describe them. The
Moonspinners sticks pretty much to Mary Stewart’s tried-and-true formula—but she
always manages to hold her readers in suspense, no matter what.
Here,
Nicola Ferris is a young secretary with the British Embassy who decides to take
a holiday and meet her cousin on Crete. She inadvertently arrives a day early
and runs into two hikers, one of which is Mark Langley, who has witnessed a
murder and is in hiding. Added on top of all this is that Mark’s brother Colin
has disappeared…
Mary
Stewart’s novels are quick, beachy reads, and highly addictive—I finished this
one in several sittings over the course of a day. She writes about place very
well, almost to the point that the location of a book is almost as important as
the plot. The characters in this book, as in her others, are kind of stereotypical;
but nothing beats the plot, in which literally nothing happens—but the reader
keeps turning the pages in suspense. This in my opinion is the hallmark of a
good suspense writer, and why I keep turing to Mary Stewart’s novels time and
again for comfort reading.
Comments