Bloody Point by Linda J. White was one of those garage sale books I picked up a couple weeks ago. I intended to save them for the 24-hour read-a-thon, which starts tomorrow, but I couldn’t resist. I wanted something light to read, right then.
At this, it succeeded. The story moved fairly quickly and kept be with it.
I was hesitant when I first bought it, upon noticing that it was published by Cook Communications, but I bought it anyway. I was really turned off when I found that it had a study guide, complete with Bible verses in nearly each question, in the back of the book. It’s a novel! A murder mystery! Anyway, I mostly was able to push that annoyance to the back of my head and continue reading. I was also annoyed by what felt like editorial comments from the writer about gun control. I suppose it’s OK to push an agenda in fiction, but you have to be really careful about how it’s done.
Set on the Chesapeake Bay, I did enjoy the boating terms and setting. In some small way it reminded me of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey & Maturin novels, although O’Brian’s work is so much better. I haven’t read all of that series, but that’s just because the library doesn’t have them all. I would start again at the beginning if I had the chance to read the rest, so they were in context, in order.
I felt the characters in White’s work were a bit flat.
In general, I like mysteries, I like spy and detective stories; the main characters in Bloody Point are FBI agents. I usually think I’m not very picky about books in this/these areas, but this book is making me second guess that.
I’m glad I finished it now, before the read-a-thon. I want to be able to focus on whatever book(s) I pick up when it starts!
Word Lily 