Rating: 
Summary: Death and Sex what more can a reader ask for?
Review: Dear Sir/MadamTime and other factors forego me to summarize the plot of this most excellent mystery, others have summed up the goings on quite well, so you probably have no need for another capsule of the action. I write with one request. Please read this mystery by the gentleman and man of letters Tony Strong. He returned to his character of Terry Williams who appeared in his previous novel THE POISON TREE, further breathing life into the scholar in the highlands of Scotland. A setting quite suitable for the paranoia and withhunts which permeate this tale. All of his characters are fully alive to the sensitive readerm be they contemporary's of Ms. Williams' or ancestors burnt at the stake for either witchcraft, or sexual deviation (i.e. homosexuality/lesbianism). I can almost smell the rain and fog blanketing the small village this book is set in as Williams as a researcher, and her wiccan friends who have been falsely accused try to solve the murder of a young lady who briefly practiced in the wiccan coven. Besides characterization and atmospere though, the strongest factor in my wholehearted recomendation of this work is Mr. Strong's writing. It is clean and very technically sound as he builds suspense without sacrificing realism or grammar. An excellent mystery that kept me guessing right until the final chapters.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fine Mess
Review: I found this book at the library. Seeing that it was the second in a series, I took both this book and "The Poison Tree" home. I read "Poison Tree" first and was introduced to Terry Williams, the bi-sexual, divorced academic, trying to pull her life back together and finish her doctorate at Oxford. I found the first book interesting and fun. Mr. Strong has a way of painting an image that sticks with you. He also peopled the first book with interesting characters with conflicting motives. The ending was needlessly violent and somewhat sadistic, but made sense and was consistent with the tone of the story before it. I dug into "The Death Pit" with relish, but the story and characters fell apart. Terry is still pursuing her doctorate, but now she is a broken woman who suffers panic attacks and has trouble sleeping. Mr. Strong never mentions what causes Terry's breakdown. I guess he assumes that you've read the first book. It doesn't matter. Terry miraculously recovers and is back to her old, albeit shriller, self. I won't bother recounting the plot, it meanders all over the place. Half of it could've been edited away and not affected the story. As for the huge cast of characters, most of them are stereotypes or deadends. I've never been to Scotland, but Mr. Strong portrayal of the townspeople is downright medieval. The Wiccans fare little better and the police completely disappear about halfway through the book. Most unforgiveably, the ending was very similar to the ending of the first book. I suppose the blurb writers would call it "shocking" or "riveting", but I would call it "ludicrous" and "insulting". Read "The Poison Tree", it's not a perfect book, but it's a fun book. Don't waste your time with this one.
Rating:
Summary: A hodgepodge mystery...
Review: I thought this novel had great promise when I first started reading it, with the marriage of modern day and historical witchcraft practices and discrimination, anthropology, small town suspicions, and a gruesome murder in a remote Scotthish location. I felt that the entire storyline just dissolved about half way through the book, with no clear direction of plot or character. It also didn't help that I thought the main character to be wholly unbelievable and even a litle bit annoying with her irrational outbursts and sexual escapades with both genders. It seemed to me that the auther tried a little too hard to add twists and turns to his novel to keep the reader's interest going, but in the end had so many loose ends to tie up that it was completely unsatisfying.
Rating:
Summary: An intriguing mystery
Review: I thought this was an intriguing mystery with details which rang with authenticity. It does contain violence and gore, but you would think any reader happening apon a novel entitled "The Death Pit" would expect that. This book is reminiscent of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander Series in both style and setting (17th century and modern day Scotland). Unlike Gabaldon's time travel series, the link between the past and the present is a series of letters written by a 17th century woman who was burned at the stake for being a witch. What keeps me from giving Tony Strong five stars for this work is that I feel that a mystery should be more tighly plotted. This had a rambling feel as if the author was making it up as he went along and had no clear idea of who commited the murder until close to the end of the book. The mystery contained in the letters of 17th century accused witch was better enmeshed in the story. At the denoument it brought all the separate details together and let you see how they fit with startling clarity, prompting you to think "Oh, of course that's what it was. Why didn't I see that before?" No such moment comes at the revelation of the modern murderer.
Rating:
Summary: An intriguing mystery
Review: I thought this was an intriguing mystery with details which rang with authenticity. It does contain violence and gore, but you would think any reader happening apon a novel entitled "The Death Pit" would expect that. This book is reminiscent of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander Series in both style and setting (17th century and modern day Scotland). Unlike Gabaldon's time travel series, the link between the past and the present is a series of letters written by a 17th century woman who was burned at the stake for being a witch. What keeps me from giving Tony Strong five stars for this work is that I feel that a mystery should be more tighly plotted. This had a rambling feel as if the author was making it up as he went along and had no clear idea of who commited the murder until close to the end of the book. The mystery contained in the letters of 17th century accused witch was better enmeshed in the story. At the denoument it brought all the separate details together and let you see how they fit with startling clarity, prompting you to think "Oh, of course that's what it was. Why didn't I see that before?" No such moment comes at the revelation of the modern murderer.
Rating: 
Summary: I wish he'd written more...
Review: I wish Tony Strong had written more books! I loved the last one, and this second is equally as good, if not better! He has an unquestionable grasp of the english language. I found his prose style refreshing and compelling. The characters are all well drawn and interesting. The plot is an absolute cracker. He mixes the two strands with effortless ease, and they run on parrallel brilliantly. He juggled them excellent, and each one adds flavour to the story. The conclusion is excellent, just as exciting as that of his previous novel. I sped through this book in two days, and i loved every page. the visit to the orphanage is incredibly harrowing, and i felt very moved by it. I also adore the way these two books are both, essentially, classic mystery novels, but they have a brilliantly dark contemporary twist. Excellent, yet again Tony. I cannot wait to read "The Decoy"!
Rating: 
Summary: Uneven, unsatisfying, but unusual
Review: It took some work to get through this, principally because the ending was not only a complete change of tone from the rest of the book, but felt rushed and contrived. This is a by the numbers book with a few well drawn characters, a completely cardboard villain, and a suitably modern heroine whose moral, intellectual, and sexual ambiguity is supposed to hook us into her world-weary view. Unfortunately, a little of that goes a long way, and Terry Williams comes off too often as a selfish, self-aggrandizing whiner. Consquently, rooting for her in her final ordeal is sort of pro-forma. "The Death Pit" makes the Wiccans look good, the police look like idiots, and contains at least one satisfying plot twist. This story had a good premise but could have used *one* more rewrite, a little tightening here and there, and a lot more sweetening.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: Solid follow up to a very good debut. Strong plot, and a rabid page-turner. I did not put this down from the moment I picked it up and it was 23 of the most satisfying hours I ever spent with a mystery.
The odd and obvious red herrings are thrown in for good measure but were entirely unnecessary, the end took me completely by suprise and I loved that. Tony Strong has done what is becoming increasingly more difficult; He breaks the mold of the standard who-dunnit and comes up with writing which is enthralling and fresh.
I don't like to give away plot lines in books but I will give one bit of warning here. This novel contains a rape scene that is so graphic and disturbing I had to skip through it. But aside from those few pages the book is two thumbs way up!
Rating:
Summary: GREAT PREMISE, POOR EXECUTION (if you'll pardon the pun)
Review: Take pig farming, lesbianism, witchcraft, murder, betrayal, forensic anthropology, historical intrigue, graphic scenes of death, and put them all together on say, the Scottish Isle...and what do you get? The makings of an incredibly intriguing and beguiling mystery. Unfortunately, in the hands of Tony Strong, what comes out of this mix is merely a hodge-podge of information and characters that act in predictable and unintelligent ways. It's as if the author attempted to attract too wide a range of readers, but only succeeds in confusing a perfectly good premise with overkill and an unbelievable plot. Terry Williams, the lead character, begins the story proclaiming herself to be a lesbian scholar, researching the history of a woman who was burned as a witch centuries earlier--but who may have been lesbian as well, and burned instead for that. Her goal is perhaps to bring the persecution of witches in Scotland into the present by comparing the modern day persecution of gays and lesbians. Through letters and research, Terry gets closer and closer to the truth...or what she thinks is the truth. In fact, she uncovers another mystery altogether--the recent murder of a local woman who might possibly have been killed by the local witch coven. In a wholly predictable move, Terry enters the coven under false pretenses...and lands immediately in the bed of the most handsome male of the group. Is she using him, or he her? Who cares...it has no bearing on the plot. Soon enough, Terry finds herself vying for the affections of a local pig farmer (and you can draw your own analogy from that) in whose "Death Pit" (the trough dug for disposing of pig carcasses) the murder victim's body was found. The story deteriorates from there. (again, no pun intended) Though the historical information regarding the witch hunts and trials in Scotland are fascinating, if a bit morbid, the interwoven storyline is a distraction. While the bookjacket suggests a mystery extraordinaire, it was as interesting as a made-for-tv-movie in its second or third showing....and about as well written. Trudging through the last few chapters I found myself eager for its end...so I could move on. Once committed to reading it though, I felt obligated to finish, much to my disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: The Many Turns of the Death Pit
Review: The Death Pit by Tony Strong starts out well, but gets a little winded midway. The twist at the end serves an excellent remedy to the short cumings to the plot and is quite inspiring. The scope of the book was good enough to hold interest. I.e., the many historical references to forensic science, witchcraft, religion and gender politics (past and present). Thankfully the author did a lot of research. Our heroine indeed was a little "unpredictable" but that made the story somewhat interesting, and yes titalating. There are one or two loose ends you would have to figure out on your own. Over all, the book is a good diversion. My Mom read it and loved it! Perhaps a sequel or a better screen play would be in order. Winona Ryder where are you?
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