Official Review: A Final Portrait by Joel Martin

[Thimble]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A Final Portrait" by Joel Martin.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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In the summary of what the author wanted this book to be, Joel Martin mentioned that he wanted this book to focus on characters and hark back to the older mystery novels. I definitely felt that while reading it. A Final Portrait is a murder mystery taking place in what appears to be England at the beginning of the industrial age. It was an enjoyable read, featuring an injured soldier just coming back from the war and straight into a murder investigation. The story takes place in high-society homes as well as what could be the average street. The author is tight-fisted with detail, so the reader has to make up a lot of it. I would recommend this book to read, but it’s still missing some things to make it excellent.

Since Martin mentioned characters I paid close attention to his. The main character was interesting. Daniel Roth essentially lost the use of his right arm in the war after ten years of fighting and had to come back home. He is intelligent, focused, and along with addictions he picked up, he has the characteristic of having nothing to lose.

There are many supporting characters that I really wanted to learn more about. Martin did a good job writing both the men and the women equally. No character felt like it was there to fill page space. Also, no character was perfect. Each person was naturally flawed in some way that made sense.

A main theme of A Final Portrait is change. So many things are changing in Daniel’s life: his location, his physical abilities, even the place where he grew up is changing. A few other characters are affected by change as well, but not as much as Daniel.

One big part of mysteries that I review them by is how easy or difficult it is to figure out who-done-it. That was really difficult to judge with this book because of its length. It’s only 45 pages so the story goes by in a flash of gunshots and longing thoughts of cigarettes.

The length is the main problem I have with this book. I felt that it was a stripped down version of the full novel. I have read mystery stories written that were short, but they felt like complete versions. This was not that case. In places there was not enough description for the reader. Vagueness can be good in a mystery, but there was too much with this book. I mentioned early that I wanted to know more about the characters. Part of the reason was because there wasn’t enough written about them. If there had been more description and characterization then the mystery itself would have been more compelling.

I rate this book 2 out of 4. I would recommend it to readers who love murder mysteries, but it’s not excellent and not an essential read. It’s also a very quick read if you need something to fill time in between books. If Martin fleshed out the book more I would give it a 3. Also, the character of Daniel Roth and his world are compelling enough that I want to see more. I could see him in a series of short stories.

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A Final Portrait
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[bookowlie]

Nice review. I enjoy reading books that take place in England. At least, this book appears to take place in England.

[Thimble]

Nice review. I enjoy reading books that take place in England. At least, this book appears to take place in England.

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. I looked up the cities mentioned in the book. I think the writer might have made them up. Derring and Redmark are the names. The description of the setting reminded me of the England described in Agatha Christie novels though, hence why I'm leaning towards England.

[bookowlie]

Sounds like a good guess! I've noticed a lot of writers make up town names. I assume it's so that they don't have to get the setting exactly correct as they would with a real town. Otherwise, they just want to create their own unique place.

[Rachaelamb1]

Nice review. Its hard to believe a mystery could be solved in 45 pages!

[findjoel]

Hi Thimble,
Thanks for the review. Well thought out and balanced. For clarification The Daniel Roth Mysteries is based in a fictional world with fantasy elements. Probably the confusion comes from lack of clarification within the story. As to the length it's designed to be focused more on the people and their development over the series rather than on complex mysteries which as you pointed out is difficult to judge in 45 pages. Thanks again for the review and for all the comments on it.

[Thimble]

Hi Thimble,
Thanks for the review. Well thought out and balanced. For clarification The Daniel Roth Mysteries is based in a fictional world with fantasy elements. Probably the confusion comes from lack of clarification within the story. As to the length it's designed to be focused more on the people and their development over the series rather than on complex mysteries which as you pointed out is difficult to judge in 45 pages. Thanks again for the review and for all the comments on it.

I'm really happy that you thought the review was fair. I would definitely love to read more about this world and its characters. The introduction to them was very interesting.

~Thimble