A Test of Wills

Rating:
Summary: Good yet disappointing
Review: When I picked up this book, I saw a blurb on the cover saying it had been named one of the hundred best mysteries of the century (!) by some group called the "Independent Mystery Booksellers Association." This set my expectations high. Too high, as it turned out. As a mystery, "A Test of Wills" is second rate. The pacing is uneven and the solution comes from out of nowhere. It seems to have been grafted on from one of those psycho movies that starred Bette Davis at the end of her career. (It also renders the rest of the book as just a batch of red herrings.) As a novel, the book is somewhat more successful. Todd is a good stylist, and he creates an interesting cast of characters, including his protagonist, the sympathetic police detective Ian Rutledge. He also captures the time and place well (a Warwickshire village, circa World War I). The gimmick in this series is that Rutledge is a shell-shocked war veteran who is constantly badgered by a voice inside his head, the voice of a soldier he had executed years before. This gimmick wears thin very quickly. I was hoping that the voice would become an imaginary sidekick who helped him solve the crime, but that was not to be. Instead, the voice just became an annoying distraction. I think that fans of historical fiction are more likely to be pleased by this book than hard core mystery buffs.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: When I read the description of this book I was thoroughly intrigued by the components of this story; particularly the character of Inspector Rutledge being a WWI veteran haunted by the voice of Hamish. I really expected to enjoy reading this book, however I was very disappointed. I found the Hamish/Rutledge characterization to be very interesting, but the remainder of the characters in this story were not well developed and practically a cliche'. Most of the plot I found predictable and I am sorry to say that within the first 15 pages I guessed one major plot point, before the middle of the book, I knew 'whodunit'. If you are looking for something that's compelling reading, pass this by.

Rating:
Summary: Borrowed idea from the movie "Of King and Country"
Review: When I read this book and came upon the scene where Rutledge was remembering his killing Hamish, the ghost who plagues his conscience, I was struck by how much this seemed like the climactic scene of the old British film "Of King and Country" starring Dirk Bogarde. If you watch that movie, you'll see many comparisons in this book. Ideas are not sacred but it seemed a bit blatant to me.