Pierre C ArseneaultReseñas

Sorry but I just couldn't get into this book. To me it read more like a child's book, for someone at maybe a 4th grade reading level and just getting into reading mysteries, not that there was really any mystery to it, most everything is predictable. With this in mind there's no way I could recommend this to anyone else.

Review: Poplar Falls by Pierre C. Arseneault.

This is an Early Reviewers book that leads to an investigation from Detective’s Franklin Dodge and Roxanne Tilley for the uncanny murder of Charlie Baker of Poplar Falls. They also had an open case of the “Panty Bandit” which they were ready to call this one a cold case. The author also weaves into the story a group of older women called the “Naughty Knitters”, who do nothing but gossip and they will surprise the reader near the end with a naughty secret that they keep to themselves.

The story was somewhat ridiculous in areas involving Charlie Baker and the “Naughty Knitters”. He was new to the small town, a bachelor with many women visitors who were curious to the rumor that Charlie’s manhood was very large. So, why was Charlie Baker murdered? As I read about all these women I think they were there to see the size but mostly for the intimacy afterwards that they so greatly needed.

I often give books a lot of leeway in the beginning, recognizing that it often takes time to lock into a authors voice. With that in mind, I read Popular Falls for as long as I could before completely giving up. The book is sophomoric both in writing style and in content. Everything is seen through the lens of a sexual nature. At first, I wrote my lack of tolerance for the simple writing off as a symptom of having just finished Burke and Pelleconas novels, alas it never got any better. I wish I could find something redeeming to say about this book but I just can't. So it's off to Don Winslow I go.

The book description started as somewhat of a different murder mystery - with some possible new twists, a lighter heart than some of the things I am used to reading and I thought it may be fun. After just a little bit into it however (one chapter?) - the overall feel of the book as childish rather than creative became evident - and didn't let up. The plot is interesting enough, but the development of the story uses unnecessary description, immature side stories/characters, and very little surprise twists that couldn't be predicted. I hate to be negative, but this book was hard to finish and needs more work before I would recommend.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. There were clumsy parts, some uneven character development, and some pretty ridiculous situations, but I'm not sorry I read it. I also had a hard time deciding exactly how "small" this small town was. While everybody seemed to know everyone (and almost everything about them), at times the reader was supposed to believe that some things remained private. Not exactly sure how that worked in this town. Would I buy more by this author? Not sure.

Interesting story, kind of a light hearted murder mystery without really being a cozy, if there is such a thing. Large cast and variety of characters, quite quirky on the whole. At times the writing seemed like that of an adolescent boy trying to shock someone, but a good story overall. Thanks for LibraryThing for providing me the opportunity to read and review.

Three stars as I think this book has promise. The story is good, the characters are interesting, but it's not sure what it wants to be. There is suspense mystery with the two detectives but there's also a knitting group that meets to discuss and investigate so there's an amateur sleuth feel to the book too. The writing is choppy and in need of some more editing. I think it might have been let out into the wild a little early.
It shows promise and I would gladly read it again after some more work has been accomplished.

An interesting little book about Charlie Baker who is found dead tied up to his bed with his male member in a hardened condition. The detectives, Roxanne Tilley and Franklin Dodge, have an interesting time trying to figure out who the killer is. Charlie Baker was a very promiscuous man with many women using his services, including married and unmarried women. This leads to many suspects, including several from the Magnolia Wellness and Rehabilitation Center who treated alcohol, drug, and sexual addiction, and Charlie was a client of. Gossip runs wild in this little town, and along the way several secrets are disclosed.

I hate leaving bad reviews. I especially hate it when the book in question was a review copy. This book, however, is truly awful. To begin with the characters are completely flat. We know nothing about the main characters, two police detectives. To make matters worse, the few times he gives a bit of description, he beats it todeath. He calls one character demure three times in two pages. In addition, this is an attempt at a funny mystery. The humor, unfortunately, is that of a 7th grade boy with everything revolving around sex. I’m sorry, but I found nothing enjoyable about this book.

“Poplar Falls” is the obverse of the “I can’t put it down” book: an “I can’t pick it up book. I wanted to find out who killed Charlie Baker and why, but the book is so flawed that I found it difficult to make myself continue reading. Persist I did, though, but I recommend that you avoid it.

The writing is awkward and amateurish. Unnecessary words (e.g., describing a woman’s jacket as “feminine”), incongruous adjectives (e.g. her expression was “riddled”), the use of passive voice (e.g., “At a workbench… sat … Calvin.), abrupt shifts mid-scene in the point of view character, awkward, abrupt transitions, and the frequent use of clichés (e.g., “under a blanket of stars,” “blushed twenty shades of red”) abound.

The story includes a subplot, the “panty bandit,” that is introduced abruptly without foundation, as if the author assumes we already know about it. Inappropriate affect is assigned to characters engaged in routine conversations (e.g., he “replied with a smirk”).

The book has the padded feel of a much shorter story being stretched to meet some target word length. The author often repeats information multiple times, sometimes on the same page, as if we (or he) suffer from difficulties with our short-term memory. More important, the police identify the “panty bandit” mid-way through the book and the murderer of Charlie Baker three-quarters of the way through the book. Thereafter the story provides an anticlimactic rundown of what is going on in the lives of the major characters after the solution of these crimes.

Readers will be disappointed at the manner in which the crimes are solved. Don’t expect any brilliant police work. At the outset the detectives determine that a laptop is missing from the murder scene. Later the lead detective observes a laptop left unattended, in plain sight, outside a store and takes it to the tech department for analysis. Sure enough, the laptop reveals the perpetrators of both crimes and those cases are closed straightaway.

The final disappointment is the author’s attempt to craft a surprise ending. The ending is not plausible or interesting. Without laying any prior groundwork it requires readers to believe that well-established characters who have appeared throughout the novel are not as they have been portrayed.

This book is one to skip.½

The book had the beginnings of a pretty good murder mystery. According to the author he decided to write a light hearted mystery. I got tired of all the sexual references and and the gossiping about all of this by the Naughty Knitters group. Their gossiping became tiresome and very destructive in the town. It detracted from the original murder mystery so the light hearted mystery fell flat.

I really don't know how to review the book, "Poplar Falls"! The story is okay, a man found dead in his bed, tied hand and foot and apparently smothered with a pillow. Police eventually solve the murder, there is an interesting cast of suspects and people involved with the victim, the story line is fine.......
However. I don't consider myself a prude and have certainly heard unpleasant language in my life, but I became tired of the constant x-rated language, sexual jokes and innuendoes that the author seemed to think necessary to the story. It was akin to listening to a young teen male who is overly fascinated with sex.
I really would not recommend the book to the average reader.