Review of Elliefant's Graveyard

[Rajnee Varma]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Elliefant's Graveyard" by em thompson.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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Elliephant’s Graveyard is an engaging crime thriller by em thompson featuring a greenhorn police constable, 20-year-old Heather. She was confident that Antonio Fantoni, and then his wife Ruby, were murdered, but the cases were shut, declaring them as a street mugging and an accident, respectively. Their daughter, Ellie, left her home in her mobile repair van of domestic appliances with her grandmother’s locket and the ashes of her mother and her beloved Tom. She had decided to scatter the ashes in the chapel where her parents were married and then end her life with an overdose of sleeping pills. When Heather was sent on a forced leave by her boss, she decided to investigate on her own, posing as a cookery journalist.

The story portrays greed, corruption, arson, illicit relationships, threats, and the revelation of more murders. The well-crafted plot is executed beautifully, and nothing appears irrelevant to the story. It is written in the third-person omniscient perspective, and the author’s writing style is quite unusual and laced with humor. Witty sentences like, “The next few hours of Prendergast’s life were a dizz of socktakeoffing, finger-tickoffing, shorts-pulldowning, Xray-taking, trolley-flaking, corridor-waiting, doctor-baiting, hot-sweet-tea-slurping, painpill-popping and sheet-tuckining in a clatterous softshoeshuffle ward” (Page 109), and words like “haprandomly, sliced-twocumber, coolcumber, backedyback, chuckular, kitchenary kitch-ditch, plumpenormous, and sorryminder,” are amusing as well as challenging.

The characters are well-developed and memorable. Heather as a cop is overconfident, impractical, naive, and stubborn. She is a stickler to the rules and does not use her common sense much, often landing in trouble. Ellie, on the other hand, is a skilled woman who thinks rationally and is always eager to help with her expertise with appliances. Fluke and Penelope, the couple on the farm, are quite interesting and significant characters, and their farm animals are brilliant pets able to communicate with humans. Penelope’s hospitality, Fluke's indifference, Julian’s knack with herbs, and Naff’s competence as a friend and protector are captivating. Eurydice, as a police officer, is the epitome of corruption and evil. The story becomes more interesting and suspenseful as it progresses, revealing many secrets of the past. There is nothing to dislike about the plot, storyline, or the writing style of the book. However, there are several typos overlooked in editing that do not allow a perfect rating. My overall rating of the book is 4 out of 5 stars.

The suitability of the book title is apparent in the story. The book does not contain any scenes of violence or vulgarity, making it suitable for young readers too. I would recommend the book to people interested in crime thrillers based on logic and investigation more than the use of guns and physical action.

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Elliefant's Graveyard
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[NetMassimo]

This seems like the kind of crime thriller featuring murders that are initially dismissed but in time reveal a number of ramifications. A cerebral development makes it a must-read for reader who like investigations developed clue after clue, bit of evidence after bit of evidence. I hope the author does proper proofreading to make it excellent. Thank you for your great review!