The First Lie by Virginia King is a mystery unlike most others. This is not your typical cop, PI or Wannabe PI jaunt through a bunch of clues foisted at them. Yet, it is a mystery in the truest since.
You can't beat the setting. Set in the beautiful and entrancing islands of Hawaii, there was plenty of rich imagery as well as history and mythology to dig into. The historical and visual are used a bit more sparingly than I would have preferred. There are a great many scenes that could have taken place in Kansas City and it would have fit. I always like when an author can use the scenery to amplify mood or provide a bit of foreshadowing or even act as a red herring. While the author did not take advantage of these things, there was sufficient imagery to keep the story alive. That is likely due to the story itself. There is just enough uniqueness to keep interest up. I was drawn in enough to keep me in the story but, it could have given a lot more.
We get to learn more about the main character, Selkie Moon, by way of her own narrative. First person has always been my favorite point of view. It makes it a bit difficult for the author to get all the information to the reader but, in that difficulty we get to feel the struggle of the main character. That is one of the saving graces to this story. We learn as Selkie does about herself, her friends as well as about the mysteries that surround her.
The First Lie by Virginia King has the potential to be the first of a series of intriguing mysteries based on supernatural subjects. I really hope the rest of the books pick up on this and add a bit of local style and historical and mythological richness to take us even deeper into these stories. There is a bit of language and frank (though not overly crude) discussions of sex and sexuality. For those reasons, I would give these a modest PG13 rating.
0 comments:
Post a Comment