Book Review – CEDARDALE COURT by Nathan Lee Christensen
Cedardale Court Synopsis
Cedardale Court is a neo-gothic murder mystery with enough fools and old flames to keep you happily mixed up for most of a long weekend. When Canner Connelly and his daughter, Chloe, move in with their Uncle Henry, and a simple drainage problem turns a normal Sunday morning into a slightly darker affair, it’s not easy to tell where everyone might end up, or if they’ll even make it at all. (Amazon)
BOOK REVIEW
Don’t judge this book by it’s title. It is no sleepy suburban drama. The sleepy face of this Cedardale Court backwater belies it’s writhing underbelly. This street is filled with people harbouring murderous intent and when they set out to do something, they don’t do it by halves.
In Cedardale Court debut author Nathan Lee Christensen has crafted a high-octane thriller starring the most unlikely of perpetrators and protagonists.
His inventive use of character stereotypes commonly badged as the least threatening and ineffectual within society, hammers home the old adage, ‘never trust the quiet ones’ to shocking effect. Daughter Chloe is also an endearingly precocious character that provides a humorous counterpoint to the story’s darker elements.
Although the prose is laboured in places, Christensen does develop an atmosphere of foreboding well and presents some stark and evocative imagery.
But those were arguments for someone else to hear. Somewhere else in the world, somebody was about to do something crazy, somebody who had taken too much for too long and were about to push back hard. That person was walking right up to the line and was hearing the voices of reason. The voices of kindness and compassion. The advocacy for the sanctity of life. Reason mixed in with the voices of doubt and fear. And, someone, somewhere else, was truly and fortunately starting to listen. But not here. Tonight, those voices were yawning and getting ready for bed.
Christensen is one of those brave authors that does not shy away from having characters he has spent time developing efficiently dispensed for the betterment of the tale.
The mind that developed the Cedardale Court plot is clearly a creative one. I look forward to seeing what other tales Christensen has to tell in the future.
BOOK RATING: The Story 4 / 5 ; The Writing 3 / 5
BOOK DETAILS: Cedardale Court (Amazon – Kindle); Cedardale Court (Barnes & Noble) ; Cedardale Court (Kobo ebooks)
Genre: Mystery, Drama, Action-Thriller, Crime-Detective
Author Information: Nathan Lee Christensen is a husband, father, and long lost Oregonian, currently living on a cliff overlooking the Pacific in the bay area. He says, ‘As a stay at home dad, this sort of thing (writing) is as good a way to rub shoulders with adults as any.’
– Nathan Lee Christensen’s blog or Facebook page.
Other reviews of Cedardale Court: Borough of Books ; The Owl Bookmark Blog, Cat’s Thoughts
* I received this ebook from the author for review purposes. My receiving this title at no cost did not impact my ability to express my honest opinions about it.
