Terrapin

Title: Terrapin
Author: T. M. Doran
Ages: 15 and up

I am very conflicted in my opinions of this book.  On the surface Terrapin was a mediocre mystery story with (mostly) dislikable characters.  However, after I read it I felt like there must have been something about the book that I was missing.  After all anyone could see that the mystery part of the story was nothing remarkable and there was nothing special about the plot.  I started to reflect on what the author might have been trying to convey behind the pretense of a murder mystery.  I came to the conclusion that Doran was trying to provoke the reader to think about where their actions and decisions can lead them and that some choices are unrepeatable.  I'm sure there is way more significant philosophical meanings to this book that I didn't get.  (Why is the book called Terrapin anyway?)  The main character, Dennis Cole, is an interesting character only because I never liked him.  He is boring and apathetic about mostly everything.  You do see the change in character in the end.  I wished that the author would let the reader have more of a glimpse of the new and improved Dennis Cole before closing the book.  There was so much darkness in the book and so little light that I felt like I deserved it.  Dennis Cole's father was a better character because it's what he says and does that leads Dennis to choose to do the right thing in the end.  I'm planning to re-read this book as soon as I have more time (which might be never).  I didn't enjoy this book as I would any other mystery book, but it did get me thinking.  I'm reading another of T. M. Doran's books called Toward the Gleam and so far I like it a lot better than this Terrapin.  Look for an upcoming review on it.

Content Advisory: A lot of cursing.  Pretty much anything except the f-word.  Some of the characters undergo marital strife and one of the characters is hinted at to have had an affair.  Lots of violence (it's a murder mystery after all).  Some of the ways in which people die are pretty gruesome and the explanations of them are a sometimes in-depth.