SECRET OF THE BIG EASY by Robin Murphy
BLURB:
Secret of the Big Easy is a stand-alone novel and can be enjoyed even if you haven’t read the first book in the series.
While visiting New Orleans for a conference, Marie Bartek and her friends decide to stay an additional week to do some sightseeing. Their vacation turns into something else when Marie has a vision of a woman being murdered.
After they contact the police, they learn that the woman she saw in her vision has actually been murdered. After another similar vision, Marie and the SIPS team are dragged deep into the investigation.
Are the killings cult sacrifices or something else? Will Marie and her friends be able to find the killer before it’s too late?
MY REVIEW:
This is the second book in Marie’s side job as a paranormal investigator. Not having read the first story didn’t impact my understanding of what transpired in this book. I love the paranormal and occult,, so I was looking forward to, what I hoped, would be a good story. And there couldn’t have been a better setting then New Orleans, the home of Voodoo and static worshippers. Robin Murphy furnished some interesting details about New Orleans and the different types of satanic ceremonies.
My favorite character was Gale, Marie’s best friend. She’s quick to jump to conclusions, and usually ends up with her foot in her mouth. She also sounds like she’d be a blast to party with. The story did move along at a fairly even pace, and there were a few minor plot twists.
My biggest complaint about the story was the writing. There wasn’t one bit of internal dialogue anywhere. Not even for Marie, the main POV. Internal dialogue is how the reader gets to know the characters, how they feel, how the events happening around them are effecting them. Robin Murphy did try to personify her characters via actions, like popping a piece of gum into her mouth, or shifting in her chair. Those types of actions are just that, actions. They don’t help the reader get involved with the characters. Because of that lack of attachment, the story fell flat. Whatever suspense or drama we, as the reader, were supposed to feel just wasn’t there. At times, I felt like I was reading a screenplay, not a book.
Anyway, I couldn’t get involved with the story or characters, and I found this to be an average read. I give it 3 feathers.
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