Chapter By Chapter (usually) features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as a read-along book club.
Last time we got more evidence of a murder, but not much of an investigation. This is turning out to be more of a procedural with personal drama than a mystery story. I’m okay with that, mind you, but best to know that going in. We have two suspects unless the story has a last minute surprise in store, but we’re in the last third of the book, chapter 22 out of 35. If there’s a surprise coming it better get here soon or it’s going to mess with the story. And if not then we’re back to two suspects.
It’s been said that male writers and female writers approach a story differently, at least in a general sense. While I’m sure someone even more book hungry than myself can point to exceptions, typically men are more into action and women into relationships, and I totally admit I’m probably going broad strokes there. (I know one or two woman authors are in the readership now and then who are able to tell me I’m a moron. I just hope I don’t come off as sexist because that’s the internet right now.) So Lorrah, a woman, has been focusing more on developing Spock and Sarek’s formerly strained bond without Amanda’s presence. That allows them to be open with each other without her “interference” for lack of a better word. She’s also focused on the personal drama with Daniel and Sorel’s family, whether it’s Daniel’s being part of T’Zan’s funeral or his currently strained connection with T’Mir or Sendet’s desire to merge his house with Sorel’s for status reasons. Eleyna has been basically in the background but not so much that her presence and connections to this case aren’t there.
The mystery itself isn’t taking center stage, but nothing about the title or blurb immediately brings the idea of a Sherlock Holmes style mystery story. Unlike Prime Directive, where I thought the namesake order would play more of a role–or ANY role beyond one play to get a planet needed help, nothing about the title insists the mystery take prominence. In the end it’s been more of a backdrop for the personal drama and that’s been okay up to now. However, there’s still a promised murder story whether it’s procedural or something for the readers to solve, so we need to get that into action soon. Let’s see if this installment’s chapter has signs of that.
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