Helpful Score: 3
Great book! I love the way that Goodman can so seamlessly weave the stories of Greek and Roman mythology, along with a 100-year old mystery, with a present-day murder mystery. While the "mystery" was easier to figure out than in Goodman's previous books, this one was a nice, easy read nonetheless.
Helpful Score: 3
I read a lot, and out of the forty or so books I've read this year, this is the best! If you love mythology, art, or a great mystery, this book has all three!
Helpful Score: 3
This was the first book of hers that I had read, and i throughly enjoyed it. Goodman does a good job evoking the feel of the earlier time period (late 19th/early 20th century- arts and crafts movement) and making the connections to the modern day. Many twists turns and a boatload of red herrings before the story is done. After this, I immediately sought out another of her books and have raced through that as well!
Helpful Score: 2
I really enjoyed this book about a woman whose best friend goes missing and is found dead. Her death is tied up with the family history of the founders of the local college. The story moves along, but there are also tons of literary and art references that really give the story a different feel from your usual murder mystery. Very interesting. I would definitely read another book by Carol Goodman.
Helpful Score: 2
While I really loved Goodman's Seduction of Water, I was only mildly entertained by this one. This one didn't capture my attention.
Helpful Score: 2
Deftly plotted and certainly intriguing...infused with the sinister aura of its setting, a rundown river town wiwth the crenulated towers of an insane asylum rising in the background, the Drowning Tree has its twists and shudders... New York Daily News
Helpful Score: 1
An ok mystery somewhat gothic read.
Helpful Score: 1
Good page turner. Keeps your interest if you like her other books you will surely enjoy this too.
Helpful Score: 1
Overall I enjoyed this book. There was a sense of mystery of wanting to know what to know what happened. Very visual story, lots of description of art and surroundings. The story was hard to follow at times. Too many characters, problems.
Helpful Score: 1
a good read. i think mrs. goodman has a way about writing that sucks you in, but i found myself weary of her work after a few books and im not sure that is on account of me getting bored with her style (i did exclusively read three of her books within days of each other) or maybe it's something else in her writing that requires a break.
i wished the book had ended differently, or at least a second books made (it was nicely unfolded and wrapped up, however i think there was potential for a bit more- although any detail on that would spoil the ending). i loved the characters (as i have with all her characters), that familiar writing that slides off the page, the lovely scenery that she explicitly describes and of course the overlay of poetic and artistic charm.
i wished the book had ended differently, or at least a second books made (it was nicely unfolded and wrapped up, however i think there was potential for a bit more- although any detail on that would spoil the ending). i loved the characters (as i have with all her characters), that familiar writing that slides off the page, the lovely scenery that she explicitly describes and of course the overlay of poetic and artistic charm.
Helpful Score: 1
Great book! Goodman follows up her novel "Lake of Dead Languages" and does not disappoint!
Helpful Score: 1
This is such a wonderful book. The characters are well developed and I was really caught up in their lives and problems. There is a mystery involved in the plot and I didn't figure it out until the end, but the book is much more than a mystery. I'm so glad I read it.
Helpful Score: 1
Enjoyable book! I would read others by this author.
Helpful Score: 1
My book club really liked this book.
This is a story about two longtime friends - Juno McKay and Christine Webb, both artists, reunited at their fifteenth year college reunion. Juno had no plans to attend until she finds that Christine will be lecturing. Life has been less than kind to either woman. Juno's husband is in a mental institution when two years into their marriage he tried to drown her and their baby daughter. Christine spent time in the same institution recovering from issues of her own. But Juno had been instrumental in persuading Christine to lecture her research about a prominent stained glass window gracing the college.
Digging into the Penrose family past, Christine reveals the woman in the window was not the wife of the founder, Augustus Penrose, as popularly believed but her mad sister. Amid questions that follow, Christine appears distant and vanishes the next day. Puzzled, Juno follows her friend's research. Discovering her body in the Hudson River, whether by accident or intent, she intends to find out.
A complex mystery that unravels slowly, Juno finds others who believe that Christine's death was no accident. But, who would want to kill Christine? The college president, whose family founded doesn't wanting family secrets unearthed? Her husband who she discovers is no longer institutionalized? Or, was it an accident after all? The surprise climax answers questions for Juno and readers alike.
Long on my TBR shelf, I found this read well researched novel with a plot that kept me intrigued from start to finish. These are awesome characters. There is a little mythology, details about the women's and the Penrose family art, and wonderful descriptions of the Hudson River valley.
Digging into the Penrose family past, Christine reveals the woman in the window was not the wife of the founder, Augustus Penrose, as popularly believed but her mad sister. Amid questions that follow, Christine appears distant and vanishes the next day. Puzzled, Juno follows her friend's research. Discovering her body in the Hudson River, whether by accident or intent, she intends to find out.
A complex mystery that unravels slowly, Juno finds others who believe that Christine's death was no accident. But, who would want to kill Christine? The college president, whose family founded doesn't wanting family secrets unearthed? Her husband who she discovers is no longer institutionalized? Or, was it an accident after all? The surprise climax answers questions for Juno and readers alike.
Long on my TBR shelf, I found this read well researched novel with a plot that kept me intrigued from start to finish. These are awesome characters. There is a little mythology, details about the women's and the Penrose family art, and wonderful descriptions of the Hudson River valley.
Couldn't get into this...
Really good book; in the top 10% I've read this year!
