When nineteen-year old
Dara Prince disappeared, almost everyone in the town of Winston, West Virginia, including
Dara’s father, the respected lawyer Ames Prince, believed that she’d run away.
But Christine Ireland, Ames’ ward, was never quite convinced of it. Now, three years
later, the flood waters disgorge a badly decomposed body from the river depths and Deputy
Sheriff Michael Winter suspects that it might be Dara’s body. This sets the town
abuzz with rampant speculation. Ames is in stunned denial while Christine’s mentally
challenged brother, Jeremy, is outright distraught and his ramblings give Christine severe
misgivings. Could he actually have witnessed Dara’s murder or worse?!
Even as the body is sent
away for DNA identification, there is growing tension in Winston. First Christine
discovers Dara’s hidden diary, and then she becomes the target of an unknown and
dangerous assailant. In the last days of her life, Dara had been terrified of some unknown
danger, and now it appears that that very same danger has enveloped Christine. Suspects
are many, motives are myriad and all this happens while constant rain blankets Winston and
the danger of flood becomes altogether too real. What with poisonous snakes, illicit love
affairs, jealous lovers, possessive fathers, witchcraft, Indian burial ground, jewellery
making, spooky cats and more, the mystery becomes murkier by the page. Will it be solved
before more people start dying?
Carlene Thompson has
created a potentially very intricate mystery in this book. The story is a pure who-dun-it,
with more and more suspects emerging as the plot thickens. The setting is also ominous,
with gloomy weather and rising flood waters. Christine’s character is that of a woman
trying to cope to her best abilities while taking care of her mentally challenged brother
– not an easy task under any circumstance, as is shown by her constant struggle to
get people to treat him normally while being sensitive to his special needs. Jeremy, the
brother in question, is very authentically portrayed as a child-like person in a grown-up’s
body, who’s alternately childish, and much too intuitive and shrewd. Suspense begins
from page one when the readers witness what happened to Dara on that fateful night, and
doesn’t let up till the very end. While the climax doesn’t entirely justify the
terrific build-up of suspense, it’s still unexpected and stunning enough.
With fast-paced and
complex plot line, various diverting sub-plots, with interesting characters, a strong
romantic flair and non-stop tension, “If She Should Die” is a riveting whodunit!
Reviewed By Rashmi Srinivas
for The Road to Romance
December 3, 2003 |
