Review: I'm a great fan of the rest of this series, but this book, not so much...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2014
Although I have greatly enjoyed the majority of the 1929 series so far, I was disappointed with this one. If you've read the rest of my reviews of the various books of this series, you'll know I'm a big fan of the main storyline and the main characters - the three couples introduced in 1929 Jonathan's Cross. However, I really could do completely without the parallel characters Elizabeth, Simon, Stewart, etc. of Book Two - Elizabeth's Heart and Purgatory Cove: Book Five. These two books were relatively disappointing, especially considering that in the "main" books M.L. Gardner has proven herself to be a very talented author and expert at character development, who could have done so much better had she instead written more books directly involving the main characters of 1929-Jonathan's Cross without delving into the supernatural and the world of the mentally ill. Actually, Gardner did accomplish just that in Drifter-Book Four which, while another 'parallel' tale, still managed to continue and bolster the main storyline of the series without delving into the supernatural.If Purgatory Cove had been a standalone book, I would have rated it one or two stars, though admittedly not so much based on its own merits but because of my own personal bias - I just don't really like the story of Elizabeth, Simon, et. al. - it just does not interest me. Throughout all of these superfluous "Elizabeth" books I find myself impatiently wishing to get back to the main storyline, which I hope now to do through 1931 Caleb's Err, which I have recently purchased but not yet had the chance to read. However, my own bias notwithstanding, this is still a Gardner work, and it is well written with the usual good character development which Gardner has consistently demonstrated, so even though I don't care for the storyline much, it has its merit and I am sure anyone interested in the basic premise of a book dealing with the mentally ill and the paranormal would enjoy it. For that reason I am giving it three stars overall. But I am really looking forward to reading 1931 Caleb's Err in hopes of my long impatiently awaited return to the main storyline.