DEADSTICK is a first of a series of contemporary novels whose main character, Owen Keane is a law-firm researcher. His background (no spoilers) is as fascinating as the mystery he is trying to solve. His relationships with his close friends are also a 'bit out of the ordinary.' Makes you want to know more about him! This is a very good 'whodunit,' with a strong conclusion.
I discovered Terence Faherty a little late, from a story published in the January EQMM, and what I loved about his writing, plot, and storyline was that it was different. Like Ezra Pound urged poets and writers a century ago, Faherty has taken the mystery genre and "made it new." I usually "figure out" mysteries before the end, but I was dead wrong on this one. Owen Keane, the protagonist, was wrong too, so that makes me feel a little better. It was not until the final few chapters that Keane has the epiphany that [seems to] solve the mystery, and while he was slow to get there, the process wasn't annoying in the least because the story was so well constructed. (Well, all mysteries are solved in the final few chapters, but it was Keane's thinking activity and self-doubt that made his deduction process seem much more laborious than, say, Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.
Faherty seems to have mastered character development as well as writing mysteries in a new way, because our protagonist is likeable even though he's a pain, and he's relatable because in his first-person narration, he is fairly self-aware even though he claims not to be. (He has more of a delayed self-awareness, which is all too human!)
Smart writer and a great architect of a story. I'll definitely add more Terence Faherty novels to my list. I dropped everything and finished this one in a day.
Faherty seems to have mastered character development as well as writing mysteries in a new way, because our protagonist is likeable even though he's a pain, and he's relatable because in his first-person narration, he is fairly self-aware even though he claims not to be. (He has more of a delayed self-awareness, which is all too human!)
Smart writer and a great architect of a story. I'll definitely add more Terence Faherty novels to my list. I dropped everything and finished this one in a day.
#1 in the Owen Keane series
Following a cold trail of the dead, Owen Keane, finds something alive and almost forgotten..and threatening--as he winds his way backward to the players in a murder, the murderer, the victim and the crime.
