The Hell You Say
Josh Lanyon
book reviews:
· general fiction
· chick lit/romance
· sci-fi/fantasy
· graphic novels
· nonfiction
· audio books

Click here for the curledup.com RSS Feed

· author interviews
· children's books @
   curledupkids.com
· DVD reviews @
   curledupdvd.com

newsletter
win books
buy online
links

home

for authors
& publishers


for reviewers

click here to learn more




Buy *The Hell You Say: The Third Adrien English Mystery* by Josh Lanyononline

The Hell You Say: The Third Adrien English Mystery
Josh Lanyon
iUniverse
Paperback
230 pages
March 2006
rated 4 of 5 possible stars

buy this book now or browse millions of other great products at amazon.com
previous reviewnext review

Meet bookseller Adrien English, a mystery writer whom trouble seems to follow. This time his bookstore assistant, Angus, is mixed up with a mysterious occult group. The cult makes threatening phone calls to Angus, and suddenly he is afraid for his life. Adrien doesn't take him all that seriously but still gives him enough money for him and his girlfriend to leave the city for a while. From there, things go from bad to worse. A famous occult writer visits Adrien's store and announces that he's writing a new book about a real local cult. Soon after, he vanishes. Then bodies start to turn up, and Angus is a convenient guy on whom to lay blame. Adrien gets involved as much from a desire to help his friend than from pure curiosity.

At the same time, Adrien has to deal with his sometime lover, Jake Riordan, who is firmly in the closet. Jake is a detective assigned to look into the occult killings and is worried that the case is going to reveal his relationship with Adrien, so he's not happy when Adrien gets more involved with the case. Also, Adrien's widowed mother, Lisa, is getting married, and she wants Adrien to bond with his future stepfather and his three daughters. Adrien also meets another possible romantic interest.

The book has about equal amounts of amateur sleuthing and more ordinary relationship-building. It's easy to sympathize with Adrien and his troubles, and most of the characters are believable and entertaining. Adrien's relationship with both his rich mother and Jake are equally well-written. Lisa is a rather self-involved person who is used to having her own way. On the other hand, after a long widowhood she is trying to change her life, but only on her own terms. Jake is quite an unhappy person who does almost anything to keep his fellow police officers from finding about his sexual orientation, including dating a female cop. Adrien's writing circle, the Partners in Crime, are quite an amusing and on-target bunch of would-be writers. On the other hand, the book is short and doesn't give much screen time to the rather large cast; the Partners in Crime, for example, are seen only in two scenes.

Lanyon handles the subject matter of occultism well. Even though in a detective story there has to be an enemy, he doesn't put all of the occultists or Wiccans or pagans in the book in the same group but instead makes them human and different.

Josh Lanyon is witty, humorous, and minimal. His chapters are short and have short scenes, so his style might come across as choppy, but it suits the mood and tempo of the story well. His minimal description also serves the story well, making his San Francisco vivid. Even though this is the third book in the series, it can be read as a stand-alone.



Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Mervi Hamalainen, 2006

Also by Josh Lanyon:

buy *The Hell You Say: The Third Adrien English Mystery* online
click here for more info
Click here to learn more about this month's sponsor!


fiction · sf/f · comic books · nonfiction · audio
newsletter · free book contest · buy books online
review index · links · · authors & publishers
reviewers

site by ELBO Computing Resources, Inc.