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Pattern Of Wounds (2011)

by J. Mark Bertrand(Favorite Author)

4.13 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0764206389 (ISBN13: 9780764206382)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Bethany House Publishers

series

A Roland March Mystery

review 1: Roland has a chip on his shoulder. Still devastated by the death of Jessica, his daughter, in an accident committed by a drunk driver, he has made a legal form of revenge his mission. If someone gets off, or fails to intervene when something bad is happening, March works out a way to discover some dirt or malfeasance for which they could be punished. His job suffers as a result. He’s also lost whatever faith he had. “ If the Almighty was gonna sit back and let it all happen, somebody had to step up. There’s no such thing in my book as an innocent bystander.” Charlotte, his wife, enlists their renters, overtly religious types, to pull him back into the fold, with little success. “Carter, listen to me. You mean well, I realize that. But there’s no magic for... moremula or platitude they taught you in seminary that’s going to turn me into one of you. It’s not gonna happen. You have no idea what I’ve seen and what I’ve done. Trust me, if you did, you’d be like me, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” “I don’t think I’m deceiving myself.” … “People don’t. That’s the whole point. But they go on believing what they’ve been told, they keep voting and buying and praying, they live good lives surrounded by good people in a good world where everything is good. And they think when it’s not good, that’s the aberration. That’s the exception to the rule. But underneath, Carter, if you could turn this city upside down, you’d see it’s all rot down there, all corruption.” Despite some platitudinous religious overtones (ones that were much less evident in the first book of the series,) there’s a good mystery. A woman has been found floating in a swimming pool, cut up in a rather bizarre pattern and the murder scene has been choreographed to closely resemble the murder scene in a case March had closed and about which a book had been written. The photographs in the book of the floating body were identical to the ones of the current case.As I noted in my review of the first Roland March, I was puzzled by the Christian label attached to it. March has a very cynical view of the world and has little time for the religious, but perhaps some form of over-the-top redemption will take place later in the series. That would tune me out for sure. In the meantime it’s a good series although this one can tend to be a bit confusing mixing up characters. And what’s with the overuse of present tense?
review 2: The latest murder Houston homicide detective Roland March investigates seems awfully familiar. March believes that the killer staged the scene of a dead one in a pool based on pictures from the book on the first big murder he ever solved, the Kingwood Killings. While higher ups dismiss the idea, some people think there's a pattern to the book: that a serial killer was behind the latest killing, as well as several others, including March's signature case. Worst of all, the writer who lionized March becomes an adversary who believes that he and March blew the original case.This book succeeded in upping the ante from the first book with March having to deal with the potential of his entire career being reduced to rubble by this new allegation. He has to struggle to find out who is friends are really. March is all too human character who makes enemies who are willing or even anxious to see him taken down a peg, and he struggles to find someone who he can rely on as an ally. March's big problem is that in the midst of a case, little niceties like gratitude are overlooked which only builds more resentment.One of the more interesting character bits in this story was March's interaction with a New Orleans police officer who had officially gone dirty and begun to coerce confessions. It's scary for readers to realize that March is often just a step or two away from crossing the line, though March seems to think he's a little bit further away than he is. We also get some good back story on what had put him on the outs at the start of the previous book. The mystery is better than in the previous book. No breaks seemed overly convenient, and Bertrand was very skilled with throwing suspect after suspect at the readers, leading to a realistic but explosive conclusion. The only negatives I can find is that the inclusion of the Teresa, a main character from the first book felt pointless in this one and she didn't really do anything. Also, while the book description makes a point of describing March's marriage as troubled, there's very few hints of this in the actual story.Still, a fascinating and engaging read for mystery fans that I wholeheartedly recommend. less

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