Wednesday, April 7, 2010

The Clouds Roll Away -review

The Clouds Roll Away is a mystery novel by Sibella Giorello based in Richmond, Virginia. The novel is about forensic geologist, Raleigh Harmon, who must work to solve burgeoning racial crimes focused on an African American rap artist. While trying to solve the mystery of who is committing the hate crimes, Raleigh must also deal with her temperamental mother, catty boss, rich and ever-present ex-boyfriend, and new tenant in her childhood home.

I found The Clouds Roll Away to be a slightly difficult read at first because there seemed to be a great deal of missing information, until I realized about halfway through the book that it was the third book in a series, so I was missing some important background information. In order to truly appreciate the book, it seems necessary that one invest in the first two books of the series to get the background information to make sense of the third book. This was a slight disappointment for me since I have not read the first two books.

Lack of knowledge aside, I did not find the novel to my liking as far as mystery novels go because it seemed like a novel where the first 300 hundred pages are mediocrity leading up to the short climax and conclusion in the last 20 pages. A climax toward the end of a novel is acceptable of course, but only as long as the rest of the story is interesting enough to be captivating. Instead I felt like I was trudging through the story just so I could finish it instead of leaving a book half-read.

*I acquired this book from the site booksneeze.com*