Slipknot (original: 2007; edição: 2007)

Good novel by a good writer. I really enjoyed the scenes where Jane Bunker stowed away accidentally and the boat is perilously close to sinking. You can really feel the tossing and turning of the waves. Sometimes, though, the action is a little unbelievable but I didn't know who the murderer was until the end. Good thrilling novel ( )

Review: Slipknot by Linda Greenlaw.

This was an interesting book written by a Maine author. I had read another one of her books about being aboard a fishing boat that involved dangers at sea and dreadful weather. This time Linda Greenlaw writes about Jane Bunker, a young woman who gave up her career as a homicide detective after twenty years in the sunshine State of Florida. Jane Bunker was craving a move back to Maine, her place of birth to find some peace and quiet. She settles down in a small costal town named Green Haven, Maine as a marine insurance investigator but she gets capsized by a murder on the pier.

It interested Jane to get involved three days after she got to Green Haven because she knew the ropes of investigating. Jane figured a little side job was more enticing then her insurance work and plus, she could investigate on the sly between being an insurance adjuster. As a former detective Jane first headed to shore and seen people standing around a dead body next to the pier where she took unauthorized pictures and listen to the rambling talk that it was Nick Dow, the town drunk and that he probably fell off the pier. However, Jane read more into the demise body because it seemed that his head was bashed in and not from the fall.

As an Insurance investigator her first company to look over was a sardine factory and finds many infractions that needed to be fixed an order to keep the factory open. There are a lot of secrets that was going around Green Haven and Jane was also moving slyly around the people of the town to see what she could gather without asking questions…. ( )

Meh. I can't say it's great, but I can't say it's horrible either. It's below my desired standard, as I had a good idea of the killer by the third chapter.

The writing did add a few paragraphs that I'd have dropped with a summary, since it added unneeded detail. Though I had one stretch where I thought it was unneeded, only to discover those details helped fill in a later scene.

Is the series worth pursuing? If I can't find anything better, maybe. ( )

The author knowledgeably portrays cod fishing, boat workings, processing plants, fishing villages. The mystery was decent. The writing didn’t grab me. ( )

Greenlaw has created an extremely interesting main character backed by a whole cast of memorable townspeople. Jane's landlords are good at wining and dining her, but they do not understand the meaning of privacy, wandering in and out of her apartment at will. The manager of the fish plant is ill-tempered and untrustworthy, while her foreman is a sweetheart. And it doesn't take Jane long to learn that there are all sorts of things going on in that small town.

This is a fast-paced book with lots of depth. There's so much going on in Green Haven that it takes time to unravel all the clues and red herrings to figure out who- and whydunit. The setting is pitch perfect, and it should be. Greenlaw is a deep-sea fisherman and captains a lobster boat in Maine. She knows her stuff. As Jane performs the tasks of a marine insurance investigator, I learned so much about the inner workings of these hard-working vessels and the many ways that cash-strapped fishermen can attempt to file insurance claims.

But the best part of Slipknot by far is the section when Jane finds herself with the killer on a boat heading straight into a storm. Wow! Absolutely mesmerizing action that put me right on the boat with her. I'm glad I have good sea legs; otherwise, I could've gotten very seasick.

Slipknot is so good that I'm glad I got my hands on the second book in the series, Fisherman's Bend. I can't wait to meet up with Jane Bunker again! ( )