The Messenger

I love reading Jan Burke's Irene Kelly mysteries (they begin with Goodnight, Irene), so when I saw her latest novel, The Messenger, at the library, I picked it up. While I was sick I read it, and even in my weakened state, I was disappointed. It's trying to be a paranormal mystery (which I didn't realize or I probably wouldn't have checked it out), but it's badly plotted and the characters are not only two-dimensional but none of them are particularly sympathetic... unless you automatically feel sympathy for folks who perform mysterious actions and then feel weak for a while. The villain is one big trunk o' evil, the hero gets his heroism from being chosen by a dog, and the heroine's strength derives partly from the fact that she's still a virgin. I found it too stupid for any more words.

I'm going to start giving my posts the title of whatever I've read, because I think it could be useful for finding things later, in addition to the author index. The biggest problem with the author index, of course, is that authors are in order of how many times I've mentioned them and then in alphabetical order by first name. Why by first name, I can't tell you.