The Deer Leap

Rating:
Summary: Not the best of the series, but worth a read
Review: I am a great fan of Ms. Grimes' Richard Jury series, but I must say this is my least favorite of the bunch. I guess my only real reservation is the graphic descriptions of how animals are abused and killed by the most sadistic of predators: Man.

Plot-wise, "The Deer Leap" is a worthy as any book in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Not the best of the series, but worth a read
Review: I am a great fan of Ms. Grimes' Richard Jury series, but I must say this is my least favorite of the bunch. I guess my only real reservation is the graphic descriptions of how animals are abused and killed by the most sadistic of predators: Man.

Plot-wise, "The Deer Leap" is a worthy as any book in the series.

Rating:
Summary: The Deer Leap
Review: I am very much a fan of Martha Grimes; but in this offering, she loses the battle when trying to balance her sparkling, dry humor and an almost depressing sullenness. I don't want to ruin the book for anyone, but the ending leaves us completely drained emotionally. I am a big fan of Ms. Grimes and have read most of the Jury novels. I am not one to always expect a "storybook" ending; but the resolution of this one is decidedly dark (even Melrose Plant does something totally out of character). I would rate this the weakest entry of the 10 or so that I have read so far, although it is still superior to most current books of the same genre.
My advice is not to read this one if you are feeling blue and want a pick me up!

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps The Most Poignant Of The Jury Series
Review: One sign of a well-crafted character is that the reader comes to care about that character with more than the detachment typical of fiction. Martha Grimes is one of a few talented authors who can create such characters seemingly at will, not only the repeating theme characters such as Richard Jury and Melrose Plant, but those whose appearance is abbreviated to the confines of a single volume.

This Grimes does in the person of a young lady named Carrie Fleet. She, and the events surrounding her mysterious origin, constitute the central structure of the Deer Leap. Among other things, Carrie loves animals, and detests a local laboratory that engages in animal testing of consumer products. It is the graphic nature of Grimes' description of this that has put some readers off; however, it should be emphasized that Grimes has not jumped onto a PETA soapbox here. These scenes are tightly and economically written, and are necessary to the plot and especially to its harrowing denouement. Without giving too much away, it is in the resolution of these circumstances that we discover to our surprise that we care about certain characters perhaps more than we thought we did, and it is this resolution that makes The Deer Leap perhaps the most poignant of the Richard Jury series. The reader may curse Grimes for having gotten to him or to her, and that is one sign of a superb performance in authorship.

This is a necessary continuation of the Jury series in other ways as well, for example, along the way we get to discover why Melrose Plant now carries a cosh instead of the more stylish sword-cane he used to carry. And that is really all this reviewer can squeeze in without giving away the surprises. Once a reader has finished The Deer Leap he or she will not be able to read any of the Richard Jury series quite the same way again.

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps The Most Poignant Of The Jury Series
Review: One sign of a well-crafted character is that the reader comes to care about that character with more than the detachment typical of fiction. Martha Grimes is one of a few talented authors who can create such characters seemingly at will, not only the repeating theme characters such as Richard Jury and Melrose Plant, but those whose appearance is abbreviated to the confines of a single volume.

This Grimes does in the person of a young lady named Carrie Fleet. She, and the events surrounding her mysterious origin, constitute the central structure of the Deer Leap. Among other things, Carrie loves animals, and detests a local laboratory that engages in animal testing of consumer products. It is the graphic nature of Grimes' description of this that has put some readers off; however, it should be emphasized that Grimes has not jumped onto a PETA soapbox here. These scenes are tightly and economically written, and are necessary to the plot and especially to its harrowing denouement. Without giving too much away, it is in the resolution of these circumstances that we discover to our surprise that we care about certain characters perhaps more than we thought we did, and it is this resolution that makes The Deer Leap perhaps the most poignant of the Richard Jury series. The reader may curse Grimes for having gotten to him or to her, and that is one sign of a superb performance in authorship.

This is a necessary continuation of the Jury series in other ways as well, for example, along the way we get to discover why Melrose Plant now carries a cosh instead of the more stylish sword-cane he used to carry. And that is really all this reviewer can squeeze in without giving away the surprises. Once a reader has finished The Deer Leap he or she will not be able to read any of the Richard Jury series quite the same way again.

Rating:
Summary: Poignant, unfinished story
Review: This is one of Martha Grimes' early Richard Jury novels, where some of the characters are almost stereotypical and not quite real--sometimes these early novels seem to me to be played out against cardboard sets in my mind. Despite this, this is a poignant, rather unfinished story about a child who seems to belong to no one and have no past and has given herself to protecting animals. Not even Richard Jury is able to protect Carrie Flood, and this is parinfully sad.

One of the fun things about this novel is the introduction of Carole-ann, definitely a mutilayered character, and to see the development of Mrs. Wasserman.