Play With Fire
by Dana Stabenow
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Description
A mushroom hunting foray turns gruesome when Kate Shugak stumbles across a burnt and decaying corpse amid a grove of morels. Was the deceased the hapless victim of last year's forest fire? Why has no one reported him missing? And why wasn't he wearing any clothes? Absent evidence of foul play, the state troopers are inclined to call it death by misadventure; Kate's investigative instincts suggest otherwise, leading her down a path that requires she confront issues of community, faith, and free will.
Customer Reviews
Play with fire.
I was disturbed by Dana's apparent hate of organized religion. Not all Christians are fanatics, just like not everyone of every other religion known to man over history. Just the fanatics make the books, the rest of us are doing the best we can to live each day in a peaceful way that glorifies our Lord (whomever that may be)
Skip this one
Religious fanaticism has the potential to be a good plot for a murder mystery but this one fails on most counts. The plot was predictable from the moment the body was identified. The bulk of the story seemed more a stage to launch the author's internal theological debate rather than plot development. There was precious little reference to cultural practices or beliefs of Alaskans or Aleuts which would have made the story less tedious. The characters were too unbelievable with drastic division between groups. The fanatics and those associated were too weird while the agnostic were the sane, beautiful people. Even Mutt was not believable. At one point, Kate was attacked in her tent but a dog of this breed would not let strangers close without warning. Also, Mutt was to have looked "coy" after a verbal reference to the smell of roses. I struggled to finish this one hoping that it would produce some twist or element of surprise. However, not even did justice prevail. The bad guys went unmolested while Kate and Mutt wondered off into the sunset, impotent. Had I read this in the series first, it would have been the last.
Another good one
This book does portray a number of people's negative experiences with organized religion, however, it does not attack all organized religion as fanatical. I felt this book gave an honest window into various characters' religious experiences and the way it influenced their lives, beliefs and worship.
The story does not have the classic resolution of the bad guy getting what he deserves. However, I still found it satifying. In life we all come up against situations and circumstances where we cannot "win." We must simply do what we can, find some satisfaction in that and move on. It was refreshing that the ending was more realistic instead of putting Kate on a pedestal as some sort of unstoppable superhero.
It would be naive to deny that there have been and continue to be great crimes and atrocities committed by various religious people and religions. This is merely a statement of truth, not an attack on people at large. We achieve nothing by getting defensive.
And, yes, I am a Christian too.
- $4.99
- Category: Mysteries & Thrillers
- Published:Jun 16, 2011
- Publisher: Gere Donovan Press
- Seller: Gere Donovan Press
- Print Length: 314 Pages
- Language: English
