Review: 5* for subject matter; 2* for presentation as described below
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 4, 2014
No One Sees Me `Til I Fall, second installment of the Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries series, Kindle Format Version V8 by Jen J. Danna with Ann Vanderlaan is a story that could have been taken from a daily news report involving a family of Afghanistan immigrants in Massachusetts.The story begins as a dark figure surreptitiously deposits a black bag in a municipal landfill in an area that is scheduled to be ploughed under the next day which will allow complete disintegration of the contained body. An anonymous call brings Massachusetts State Trooper Leigh Abbott to the site in time to retrieve it and from there to request help from Boston University forensic anthropologist Dr. Matthew Lowell to solve the case. As the tale unfolds we find that the victim was a lovely teen aged girl who had been horribly mutilated to satisfy the archaic beliefs and laws of an antiquated male dominated society simply because she was embracing the mores of her newly acquired home country.Other reviewers have expressed fervent empathy for the victim and an intense support because the authors have brought this subject forward. I concur completely and heartily embrace the sentiments repeatedly expressed. My concerns are strictly with the manner in which the story has been presented. According to the front material, the authors respectively are "part of a dynamic research group at a cutting edge Canadian university" and "a retired research scientist". It is because of these credentials that I find myself disappointed. The forensic details presented are correct, as would be expected. However, the characters are not `fleshed out', their intercourse seems to be forced, the plot activity appears somehow contrived, and each chapter, for some indefinable reason, is initiated by a word followed by its definition. In other words, I am disappointed that authors with the credits listed have not provided a more forceful presentation of this most disastrous complication of a clash between the mores of different cultures. A minor annoyance is lack of information that the book is of novella length with the last twenty-seven per cent devoted to an introduction to the authors' next product.So, to conclude: in this reader's opinion, although dealing with a most timely subject,and obviously enjoyed by many, the presentation does not allow inclusion of this book as a `good mystery' when compared with so many that have been well researched and well written.  Reviewed by John H. Manhold, award winning fiction/non-fiction author.