LDS Women's Book Review

Hello Friends- Your favorite Hillary here- (You know it's true. There aren't a whole lot of Hillary's out there :)

Today I bring you- drum roll please- "Shadows of Eden" by Timothy Bone

The premise of this story is a Harvard scientist/researcher suddenly goes missing and a cop calls in a favor to Del Price P.I. Del is LDS (but not preachy), quick-witted (one of my favorite characteristics) and charming. Oh, and a good, honest P.I. He is hired to find this scientist and finds a sinister plot along the way.

This is Timothy Bone's first novel published by Cedar Fort just this last year. He hails from both BYU and Boston University. I haven't seen a new author write like this. Ever. Dorothy Keddington is close, but still not like this. To describe this book as eloquent would be an understatement. Usually I can finish a book within a few days. This one took me a full 7+ days to read. Not because it was boring, therefore hard, but because it was eloquent and I had to think/concentrate about what some of the words meant or else I got lost.

Now, when I say eloquent I mean a paragraph like this:

"Jared Timmerman was an anglophile and as with most such that meant Victoriana, in this case the scientific paraphernalia of that age mingled with small objets d'art and knickknacks. Shelves had been put up against two of the walls of his office to display the plethora of turned bronze apparatus, microscopes, and calipers for every occasion. On another wall in a gilt frame hung a small painting of bucolic sterility of the type that was attractive only in direct ration to the frame of the artist." (pg 34)

WOWZA. I still don't know what "bucolic" means.

I had to really slow down my reading to make sure I was following this guy. That being said, when I kept up, I laughed myself silly on lines like this:

"I find news from the BBC to be more trustworthy than it's state-side counterparts because it's delivered in a formal British accent." He (Del Price, the main character) goes on to say to himself "...How does one implement this linguistic uplift? Exclusive schools in Maryland? An upbringing by eccentric aunts? Certainly we shared the conviction that contemporary language has degenerated into a tired mush of imprecision, flabbiness, and profanity, a communication mudslide." (pg 35)

What I also found was that Del THOUGHT like this, but didn't necessarily talk like that. He talked "normal" (mostly) and acted "normal" just thought linguisticly uplifting:) (I don't think linguisticly is a word...)

Just to forewarn, there is some swearing in the book, not overly done, but it is there. There are no inappropriate actions, unless you count murder- but hey it's a murder/mystery in fact, Timothy- we need to talk about how to write a good kissing scene. I will not deny that this is in no way a romance, but "It was a good kiss and long enough" (pg 165) just doesn't cut it for the romantic in me :) Not that it needs to be drawn out, but c'mon!

Overall, I thought it was a great read, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery/suspense and a thoughtful, intelligent, unrushed style of writing. Just be prepared to have to think a bit more than usual. It felt more realistic to me than some P.I. books I've read because of the laid back/non-stressed nature of Del, and I liked that about this book. Seemed like a realistic process for solving a crime!

For those that don't know my husband- well that would be nearly everyone, he is actually reading this now too. He's self- allergic to books.

Well done Timothy! I look forward to future work!

FTC FYI- Library