Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Return to Sender by Craig Johnson
Showing posts with label cults. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cults. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
Thursday, July 03, 2025
Review: Return to Sender: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson
As a reader, I am very tired of the whole cult
trope. You know the drill. Shady charismatic cult leader, a couple of enforcers,
and a bunch of cult church members drugged out of their minds, following the
leader who hears/sees God, scriptures in the sand, whatever, and bad things
inevitably happen. Unfortunately, that is the majority of the story in Return
to Sender: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson.
As the publisher, Viking, has a long history of
ignoring my ARC requests on NetGalley, which then counts as a denial against me
in their system, I knew it would happen again this time. So, as soon as it was
listed in the Dallas Public Library System, I requested it, and was prepared to
wait a very long time. This book, apparently, does not have the interest level
as his previous books have had, as it came very quickly. While I was on the
list for print and digital, the digital arrived first. It did so just three
weeks after publication and less than two weeks after they actually had the
copy in the system. That never happens.
The latest in the series has Sheriff Walt Longmire
far from home and in the area of what is known as the “Red Desert.” Located in
the Southern central part of Wyoming, the region features a massive sand dune formation
and a lot of strange happenings.
At the behest of Mike Thurman, a cousin of Walt
Longmire’s late wife, he is there to find a missing woman. Blair McGowan has
gone missing. She had been a multi-year contractor for the United States Postal
Service and had a route that went over 307 miles. That distance made the very isolated
carrier route the longest in the country. She just vanished one day and nobody
knows where she is or what happened.
Her 68 International Travelall rolled out from the
parking lot at the post office one morning and she was in it. Many hours later,
it was parked back in the lot. While she was not seen exiting the car, she
seemingly did her route, and then just walked away. She was known to be a bit
stubborn and eccentric so it could have happened that way. But, Mike does not
think so at all.
After a short period of time, her scummy boyfriend
sold it at to a local used car dealership. That car is still there and available
for sale. The boyfriend also quickly sold off the rest of her stuff. He’s
clearly moved on and is in no way concerned or caring about what happened.
Walt Longmire knows the local law enforcement and
can’t really find any fault with their investigation. They had next to nothing
to go on and worked the deal as best as they could. They also don’t seem
inclined to put any more work into the case. Which is why Mike reached out to
Walt.
Mike wants Walt to go undercover as a postal
contractor, take over her route, drive and deliver mail, ask questions, and see
if he can figure out why she went missing and what happened.
He agrees, buys her car, and before long is out on
the route delivering the mail. Of course, things get weird as this is the Red Desert,
aka, the Bermuda Triangle with Sand. And, if you have read the book
description, you know that part of the weird is the aforementioned cult trope.
No spoilers here.
Despite the fact that it leans heavily on the cult
trope, Return to Sender: A Longmire Mystery is a good read. Predictable
in many places, the book moves quickly and tells a good yarn. Which is about
all you can ask for living in a time when cults are all the rage.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4lrXYpF
My reading copy came in eBook form from the Dallas
Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Review: "Revelations: A Darker Side Mystery" by Jan Christensen
It has been two very long years but in the here and
now of late October 1987, Kirk Hudson is finally home in California. While his
stepdad, Philip, is not pleased he is back that attitude is not shared by the
rest of the family. His mom, Emily, and his identical twin brother, Ben, are
ecstatic that Kirk has finally left the religious cult in Texas and is home.
Kirk isn’t ready to talk about the cult, known as Celestial Village, or why he
left, but they don’t care about that right now. They are just happy he is home.
It does not take long for that happiness to be
shattered. Soon Ben is murdered, Ben’s finance is held hostage, and to save her
Kirk is forced to return to the cult. A cult led by a brother and sister who
are planning for the end of the world in a few short days.
Shifting in point of view from Kirk, to family
members, to various cult members, and others this fast paced novel by Texas
author Jan Christensen weaves a dark mystery. Leadership within the cult is
beginning to fracture, Kirk and his family are under tremendous stress, and
unbeknownst to nearly everyone is the plan of the cult leadership. Something
known as “Transfiguration Day” is coming far sooner than anyone expected.
A good story that shows the dark side of religious extremism
and mental disorders, Revelations: A Darker-Side Mystery moves
at a rapid pace to its climax. The mystery of why Kirk left is what drives the
majority of the book before being morphed into what the cult leadership is
planning taking over the remainder of the book. Though the novel is set in
twelve days in late 1987, this fiction read could easily happen today, next
year, or at any time.
Like most books that rely on psychological suspense,
as this mystery primarily does, dysfunction on many levels is at work here.
Dysfunction in Kirk’s family as well as dysfunction in the cult, leadership and
lower levels, underpins most of the psychological suspense. It also is the background
of a sexual relationship between two characters that may disturb some readers.
Not so much in terms of the descriptions of what is done, but the fact that these
two specific people are involved with each other. It is difficult to say more
as this is a major plot point of the book.
By the end of the book some things are resolved
while others are not. The fact that some things are not tied off as well as the
subtitle give the reader the impression that this book is the first in a planned
series by the author. If so, the series should be interesting.
Revelations: A Darker Side Mystery
Jan Christensen
CreateSpace
ISBN #
978-1477684009
June 2012
212 Pages
Paperback (also available in e-book)
$9.99
Material supplied by the author in exchange for my
objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2012
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