Review by Abacus -- All Good Things by Rosemary Reeve

[Abacus]

[Following is a volunteer review of "All Good Things" by Rosemary Reeve.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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All Good Things starts with a blood spatter, a small spatter as such things go, but to Jack, it struck terror in his heart. Jack Hart is the protagonist of this bone-chilling, thriller mystery story. Jack, hardly admitted to himself that he loved Harmony, but he knew Harmony was missing, and it terrified him. The West Precinct police felt no urgency declaring Harmony as missing, they were quite happy to wait 24 hours before beginning a search. Before the day was out, a giant, $300 expensive, bouquet arrived on the 42nd floor of Piper Whatnot & Hardcastle for Harmony.

Jack and Harmony are both associate attorneys for Piper Whatnot & Hardcastle, and Harmony was about to be made a partner. Her father was Humphrey Piper II, who had been the managing partner but currently runs new business development in Asia. Harmony idolized her father. By the next day, Harmony’s father had been found dead, his body crammed into a large suitcase at the airport in Fukuoka, Japan. Now, the police were all attention.

Rosemary Reeve secures your attention from the first sentence of the book, and each page is new and exciting. Her writing is intense, and it is impossible not to respond to the drama. The author is an attorney and very authentically describes the work done in the attorneys' offices. We learn about archived files, and the time it takes to convey them to the correct floor in a 42-story building, and so much more. We are very comfortable with all the characters in the book.

Jack's character is well-developed, he is basically a kind man with a sad childhood, as a foster child. Both the policemen relate to Jack as they too were fostered. He maintains a love-hate relationship with his alcoholic mother, who is repeatedly trying to obtain money from him. The episodes that Reeve records about Jack and “the starving, mistrustful, half-psychotic dog,” Betsy, whom Jack adopted, are delightful. Jack has to restrain and master the dog every time he comes home from work. Then all is well until the next evening. Betsy gains my vote for the best animal star in a mystery.

The plot moves at a fast and furious pace. We are aware of Jack’s thought processes, as he thinks through the evidence and comes up with more ideas about what happened to Harmony. As Jack and the police chase down new suspects, Jack gets beaten up several times. As each creative lead comes to nothing, we are on the edge of our seats all the time. There are several subplots, but the one concerning the fate of the fostered children is sad and disturbing.

All Good Things is the first of four books which are all on sale at this time. The books are set and were written in the 1990s and don't have all the latest communication gadgets. So, it is good old-fashioned police work that captures the criminals. This excellent mystery story gets 4 out of 4 stars from me. I do not rate it 3 out of 4 stars because of its lively pace, exceptional characters, and humor. I found no errors and believe it to be professionally edited. I recommend it to people who love mysteries, thrillers, elaborate stories, and pleasant characters. I did not dislike anything about the book.

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All Good Things
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[Erin Painter Baker]

Really nice review. The dog would probably be my favorite thing about the book as I don't read mysteries/thrillers, but do love dogs.

[Abacus]

Really nice review. The dog would probably be my favorite thing about the book as I don't read mysteries/thrillers, but do love dogs.

Thanks, glad you liked it.