The Case Has Altered (Hardcover)

I titled one of my previous reviews: "Why Bother". I know that to title another review with the same title is, probably, well, very unimaginative. However, I can't think of a better title. So, I titled this one "Why Bother II". I am not trying to be mean at all. I just feel that perhaps this is the most boring book that I have ever read in my half-century plus of living. I have been an avid reader since the third or fourth grade. I read biography, history, and fiction. Fiction tends to be more toward thriller and mystery. So, actually, I'm not a novice reader. This book is about the slowest book that I've ever read. The character development is almost non-existant, and, I must admit, I found myself lost several times.

There's not much that I can say about the pacing of this novel except to say that it is at a turtle's pace. If that. Actually, a slow turtle.

The character development is, like I said earlier, almost non-existant. In fact, I got the real feeling, that one must read the earlier Jury novels to really understand the characters. In most series that authors write one can read any book within the series and understand the characters. Not here.

Litterally, I had to force myself to finish this book. In fact, there were times that I was completely lost and had to guess what was going on. Perhaps this was because the pacing was so slow that my mind wandered (it did several times). Perhaps this was because one had to know the characters better to get a better understanding of who was who. One must understand who was who in order to follow the plot of a book. Basically, I didn't know who was who and ended up not careing thus I got lost. Like I said earlier, I really feel that the reader of this book must read an earlier Jury novel to understand the characters.

I'm now reading "The five Bells and Bladebone" by Martha Grimes. Thus far it is much better. It got my attention right away and is holding it so far. If you want to read Martha Grimes, try this one instead.

"The Case Has Altered" is both a waste of time and money.

However, recently, there seems to be much more carryover between books. To start, there's a growing list of women that Jury and/or Plant both 'love' - Vivian, Polly Praed, Ellen Taylor, Bea Slocum, and Jenny Kennington to start with. Jenny Kennington was the focus of this one, but while apparently she is Jury's true love, I felt so detached because I had never read about her before. There were many other such references that went over my head while new 'regulars' had been added that I didn't really know.

In addition to being ripped out of my comfortable old crowd at the 'Jack and Hammer,' I sometimes felt like I must have missed reading a couple of chapters in this book. Grimes keeps referring to an event where Melrose searched all over for Jenny Kennington, and somehow this caused a problem with Jury. At first I thought this referred back to another case in another book, but as the tale went on it seemed like it happened at some point in this book. I was thoroughly confused.

For those who don't know, the main focus of the book is a double murder (one following the other by 2 weeks) out on the desolate fens of England. One victim is of the minor movie star Vera Dunn, the vicious ex-wife of Max Owen, who owns the estate where Dunn was visiting when killed. The other murder is of Owen's vegetable cook. This young cook was a nosy unattractive girl whom everyone overlooked and forgot. What motive could anyone possibly have to kill two such different woman?

My confusion aside, I still don't think this is one of Grimes' better efforts. If you haven't read any of her books, certainly don't start here. You'll appreciate it more if you have developed an affinity the characters.

If you have read Grimes, I would say that while I generally appreciate her trying new things, somehow this plot didn't fall together for her. She makes this one different by letting Jury be vulnerable and, essentially, out of control. He is no longer the smooth operator one step ahead of everyone else. However, something just didn't quite work here. I saw her clues easily planted and solved the case well before the end (which I NEVER do). It wasn't bad, and it was fun to reunite with Plant, Trueblood, etc., but I definitely prefer her other books more.