Customer Reviews

Perfect Trust

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book was as good if not better than the first. Still as horrifying and with twists and turns that a good mystery should have. A wonderful chance to delve into a Wiccan mind and worldview!

This is a great series of mystery books that deal with Witchcraft in a very respectable way. The main characters are witches who help the law decipher occult symbols found at a St.Louis murder site. It's a fairly realistic portrayal of wiccans. Christians won't approve, but the book gets heavily into the craft and it's tenants.

Check this one out, it was a rollercoaster ride.

The plot in this book doesn't take hold until about 100 - 120 pages in, and by page 180 or so the reader realises that only about fifty of the pages she has just read do anything at all to further the story. What does the rest consist of?

It consists of: repetitive arguments between Rowan and his wife and Rowan and his best friend and between Rowan's wife and best friend; long, meandering descriptions of mundane activities inconsequential to the plot which also do not contribute to atmosphere (a torturous paragraph narrating how Rowan presses the button in an elevator to get the elevator to go to another floor, also narrating the texture and shape of said button and the movement of the elevator door comes to mind). Most intriguing of all, Rowan's wife Felicity, who is second-generation Irish-American, has apparently evolved or devolved since the first book into some breed of leprechaun with a dialect thicker than that of an actual Irish person: on one page, she manages to say 'Aye,' five times.

The reader travels very fast through this book, as she ends up skimming page after page of material looking for clues or crucial plot points or even interesting details that contribute to her understanding of these characters, and finding few, is able to move relatively quickly (and that's a mercy) through a turgid and ill-conceived narrative.

Sellars seems to have been spinning his wheels with this one, unsure of where the narrative should go, and unable or unwilling or simply out of the time that would allow him to put this critter through another draft, which it desperately needs. He seems as exhausted and as weeded as Rowan is. Unfortunately, the reader has to accompany Sellars along on his typing exercises as he gets warmed up to move his plot along at last, in the last hundred pages of a 368-page novel. Where the heck was his editor?

If you want to read Sellars, read _Harm None_ which is personable and fun, or _Never Burn a Witch_, which at least has an interesting story. Let this one slip quietly out of print.

I was in the middle of one of Patricia Cornwall's Kay Scarpetta mysteries when I picked up "Never Burn a Witch," the second book in the Rowan Gant series. After only a few pages, I put Cornwall aside until I finished it - and didn't go back to it until I'd finished "Perfect Trust" and "The Law of Three."

With each book, the stakes grow higher for Rowan Gant. There is a real sense of place in the St. Louis setting. The positive portrayal of pagan religion makes it a fascinating read, but Sellars never lets the religious aspect overshadow the mystery. This is a more personal story than the first two books in the series. When the danger comes too close to home, it impacts Gant with crushing realism, and we hurt with him. It takes a stellar storytellar to make that kind of impact on a reader.

I cannot recommend the Rowan Gant series highly enough.

Perfect Trust, what a fantastic concept. This book was so intense that I would stay up reading it and be dragging to work the next day. But then there would be another rush when me and my friends who were also reading the series would began talking about it. And I would find myself all geared up and ready to go home sit down and pour myself a glass of ice tea and begin reading again, to yet another late night. All of this until I was finished. It was every minute of sleep lost worth it.
M.R. Sellars, I tip my hat off to you again. Looking forward to the next book which at the time of this review is out. "The Law of Three". I will review this at a later date. Since the debut of the 4th novel I have had the wonderful opportunity of meeting M.R. Sellars, and he is by far the most sincere, funniest, down to earth, realistic, well spoken, person I know. He appears to have a heart as big as Texas. For those of you who don't think that he reads your reviews, think again, because he really does read your reviews and really does care about what you think.

He said to me that he feels he has an obligation to his fans, (if you will). Please don't think he is not watching and reading because he is. Thank you so much once again. My mind is hungry yet again.

WOW! What a fantastic book! From cover to great looking cover this guy really knows how to write a book to keep you on the edge of your seat. Was not able to put it down and went for two days without sleep just to finish reading it. Wonderfully crafted storyline that differs from the previous and yet brings it all back to the front again. Where is Andrew Eldon Porter now? Should have know that he would appear again. Ben Storm was phenomenal in this story also. And some if the sub characters such as R.J. remind me of myself. Great to see M.R. Sellars is still writing great books.

The editing hasn't gotten any better than it was in the first 2, the writing is a bit better but still clumsy, and the author still has a tendency to preach. That said, I still like it, rather a lot.

It's the most realistic portrayal of Wicca I've seen yet. I get the feeling he's sort of writing a character loosely based on himself and his own wife. It makes a real change from the other stuff out there, and while I mentioned the editing and stuff, all that's not really a flaw. The only thing I really consider a flaw is the lack of a sense of humor in the books. Yes, grim situation and all, but humor is still a good thing.

For the fantastic element, I'd recommend .. in adition to these... the Weetzie Bat books, which have a terrific sense of humor, and are generaly less grim.

But if you like grim, I'd say go with Andrew Vachss, who does grim better than anyone, only with funny bits too.

Remember: your mind is like soup. What ingredients you put in affect the flavor of the whole thing.

Want a book that you can't put down? Grabs you by the arm and plunges you into the drama? Perfect Trust is it! M.R. Sellars is a brillant writer who can thrust you into his world and carry you to the end! This book keeps you guessing to the end. Now M.R. Sellars, how will you top this??

Every cop needs a witch for a partner, and there's no witch better than Rowan Gant. When two deaths are tied to a serial rapist, Detective Ben Storm seeks the aid of St. Louis' resident witch. But when a spirit of one of the dead women starts to subject herself into Row's dreams and waking life, it's enough to coax even a witch to seek help. The author's description of Row's channeling of the dead makes this third installment in the series the best yet.

Wonderful follow-up to Harm None and Never Burn a Witch. I really enjoyed the deviation from the previous format.

I believe Mr. Sellars intended to expose the villan at the begining, giving a clear view of just how disconnected Mr. Gant had become.

I am eagerly awaiting the next book