Book Review: Walking With Ghosts

Reviewed By: Woodstock - RAM

Walking With Ghosts     Amazon UK PB
John Baker
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Sam Turner # 4

Wow, what a book! At first it seems we will follow Sam Turner on a fairly routine insurance investigation. The wife of a very wealthy man has disappeared and the original assumption by the police is that she and some unknown lover have faked a kidnapping. But her body is discovered buried in a box, and investigation reveals that she has starved to death. The life insurance company hires Sam to investigate before the impressive death benefit is paid.

But almost immediately Baker shifts the point of view to that of Sam's wife Dora - dying of cancer, in a great deal of pain, lovingly cared for by Sam, and traveling through the memories she carries of her life.

The insurance investigation continues - continuing characters Marie and Geordie begin a fairly standard course of inquiry, interviewing the dead woman's friends, tracking her husband's movements. The book shifts between Dora's memories and the present day activities of Sam's staff when a third point of view enters the narrative - that of a solitary resident of the city named William.

The flow of the three interlocking narratives drew me in and kept me completely engrossed. I discovered that instead of prompting impatient curiosity about where Baker was leading me, the moves between the three story lines meshed with each other and I was confident that I would understand eventually. Not sure exactly how Baker accomplished it, but it really worked!

There are momentous changes in the personal lives of Geordie and and his girlfriend Janet, and a wonderful party with a delightful moment as continuing character Celia lets her hair down.

This is really much much more than a PI procedural. Through the most excruciating of human experience, Sam Turner pulls on our heart strings. What a wonderful character he is!

Woodstock - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Woodstock - RAM