My Reading Room: Aug 24, 2010

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Book Tour and Review: Ashes to Water by Irene Ziegler

Welcome to my stop on the TLC Book Tour for Ashes to Water by Irene Ziegler. Be sure and check out the other tour stops listed at the bottom of this post.

My Review:

Why I read this book: I was offered the book as one I might like from TLC Book Tours. When I read the description it really sounded like something I would like so I signed up.

How is the book driven: Primarily character in my opinion. The main event, Annie's father's death has already happened and the book is about the characters and Annie's investigation into the death of her father.

My Thoughts: Simply amazing. Ms. Ziegler does a wonderful job weaving several story lines together. When I first started reading it, I wasn't sure where it was going. I couldn't see how the storylines would work together. But they do and masterfully so. This has to be one of my favorite books this year. It's a little dark, it's suspenseful, the characters are intriguing and Ms. Ziegler paced the book beautifully keeping me hooked and wanting to turn the page.

The characters were interesting and all different. Annie and Leigh, the two sisters are as different as night and day and make for great contrasts through the book. Eugene is an interesting addition as well as Kingfisher, who is the man you love to hate. The sheriff and of course Della. The characters seem to encompass all the typical people in small-town life without feeling cliched.

The plot is great and suspenseful while developing the characters well as it goes along. All-in-all, Ms. Ziegler did a wonderful job with this book and I look forward to checking out Rules of the Lake which is also about Annie soon. If you enjoy a southern gothic feel to your suspense or if you just enjoy great character-driven suspense, then this is the book for you.

My Rating: 4.75/5.0

About Ashes to Water

• Hardcover: 394 pages
• Publisher: Five Star (June 16, 2010)
Ashes to Water is a mystery/thriller, and Irene Ziegler’s first novel.
Set in the 1980s, Ashes to Water is an atmospheric story of a small-town Florida murder and one young woman’s reluctant involvement in its resolution.
When Annie Bartlett returns home to bury her murdered father, she confronts the woman arrested for the crime, only to discover reasons to fight for the woman’s acquittal. This pits her against her erratic and unwell sister, Leigh, whose very survival may depend on a guilty verdict.
Annie soon becomes snarled in the social and political dynamics of the town, a wrenching attraction to her old boyfriend, and the emotionally difficult business of sorting out her estranged father’s tangled past. Obstructing Annie further are “visits” from her mother, who drowned in Widow Lake when Annie was nine. As her attempts to solve her father’s murder lead to more bloodshed, Annie finds herself a suspect in a plot not of her making, and a threat to the town’s movers and shakers, suddenly very anxious to see her gone. When Annie’s father is finally laid to rest in the lake that claimed her mother, Annie glimpses in his sinking ashes the flashing glints of hope and healing.
While it stands alone, Ashes to Water continues the story of Annie Bartlett, who grows up in Ziegler’s collection of linked short stories, Rules of the Lake.

About Irene

Irene Ziegler is the author of Rules of the Lake (stories) and Ashes to Water, both set in central Florida, where Irene grew up. An actor, she has had recurring roles or guest starred in many notable TV series and films. She is also the voice on your cell phone’s GPS, so kindly stop yelling at her. She lives in Virginia with her husband and a wolf-dog. She is an excellent parallel parker.
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