Currently reading
Frackistan: The Promise and Peril of America’s Energy Revolution
Savaging the Dark
The End-of-Life Handbook: A Compassionate Guide to Connecting with and Caring for a Dying Loved One
Final Journeys: A Practical Guide for Bringing Care and Comfort at the End of Life
A Better Way of Dying: How to Make the Best Choices at the End of Life
Handbook for Mortals: Guidance for People Facing Serious Illness
Change Anything: The New Science of Personal Success
S.
Dances in Two Worlds: A Writer-Artist's Backstory
Tigers in Red Weather
Hunting Season
This is ok.Two stars means "It's ok"
I'm not going to read this again, though.
Usually, when you get a bawdy tale like this, it's a facade for some biting social commentary and there's usually a zinger at the end, like all the jerks get their comeuppances or the women really rule the town or he would have gotten away with it, too, had it not been for you meddling brats or something similar.
This one...well, I think most readers know there's murder afoot and recognize the culprit because, come on, a guy who used to live there who watched his father murdered and barely got away with his life then returns with a vendetta and people start dying? And the guy is a pharmacist? Also, the one remaining member of the family doesn't think any of this is weird? And she likes the pharmacist? This isn't Holmesian science, here so all that remains is to amuse through bawdy humor and witty one-liners on the general patheticness of humankind then wrap it all up with a twist!
Only that didn't happen so much. Yes, there was lots everyone having sex with everyone and their goats plus ridiculous situations and general silliness but that undertone of "See how I mock the [target]?" was missing or if it was there, it was far too subtle for an ogre like me to pick up. I didn't find the story wry, I wasn't really amused, I never giggled with snideness. And the twist is only a twist if you haven't already figured it all out. I thought the pharmacist was gay, though I'm not sure how that would have impacted the overall story, but no. That wasn't it at all. The twist fell flat.
I'll chalk this one up to lost in translation and move on.