Millers Kill in the Adirondacks, New York
"To Darkness and to Death"
(Reviewed by Eleanor Bukowsky AUG 20, 2005)
“It’s true, he thought. We are all related. If not by blood, then by bonds we don’t even realize. Until they’re gone.”
Julia Spencer-Fleming, in her new book, To Darkness and to Death, describes the terrible events that occur in a small Adirondack town when a conglomerate called Global Wood Products is poised to purchase thousands of acres of timberland. Some residents of Millers Kill are resentful and angry about the sale. They resort to desperate acts, including kidnapping, assault, and murder to express their frustration and to exact revenge against the people who have wronged them.
The main characters are Clare Fergusson, an Episcopal priest, and Russ Van Alstyne, the Police Chief of Millers Kill. Although Russ is married, he and Clare have deep feelings for one another that they try to keep hidden. However, their mutual attraction has grown stronger with time, and the strain of pretending that they are platonic friends has become almost unbearable.
Spencer-Fleming has created a rich mosaic of diverse personalities with many strengths and weaknesses. Clare and Russ are compassionate and giving people whose self-respect and integrity prevents them from embarking on an extramarital affair. Eugene van der Hoeven is an emotionally and physically scarred recluse who stands to lose his beloved home if the land sale goes through. Randy Schoof, a logger, is deeply in debt; he panics and behaves rashly when he realizes that he will undoubtedly lose his job in the near future. The CEO of Reid-Gruyn Pulp and Paper mill, Shaun Reid, scrambles to prevent a hostile takeover of his company. The lives of all these people intersect in bizarre and unpredictable ways before the final drama plays out in an explosive conclusion.
To Darkness and to Death has an epic, universal quality. This book is reminiscent of a mini-Greek tragedy, in which the characters destroy themselves and their loved ones because of their arrogance, greed, selfishness, and stupidity. Spencer-Fleming captures the atmosphere of Millers Kill perfectly, contrasting the beauty of the area's scenic grandeur with the sick and ugly emotions that fester beneath the surface. The novel reads quickly and the tension grows unbearably as the story progresses. I wish that Spencer-Fleming had gone with a less busy ending. Too many melodramatic events occur one after the other, weakening the book's believability. Still, Julia Spencer-Fleming has created an engrossing, thematic, and well-written thriller with a powerful message.
- Amazon readers rating:
from 11 reviews
Read a chapter excerpt from To Darkness and to Death at author's website
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Bibliography: (with links to Amazon.com)
- In the Bleak Midwinter (2003)
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- Fountain Filled with Blood (April 2003)
- Out of the Deep I Cry (April 2004
- To Darkness and To Death (June 2005)
- All Mortal Flesh (October 2006)
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Book Marks:
- Official website for Julia Spencer-Fleming
- Grace Cathedral interview with Julia Spencer-Fleming
- Who Dunnit review of In the Bleak Midwinter
- Trashotron review of In the Bleak Midwinter
- BookReporter.com review of A Fountain Filled with Blood
- The Portland Phoenix review of A Fountain Filled with Blood
- The Mystery Reader review of Out of the Deep I Cry
- The Portland Phoenix review of Out of the Deep I Cry
- BookReporter.com review of To Darkness and to Death
- Read an excerpt from All Mortal Flesh
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About the Author:
Julia Spencer-Fleming , with one parent from Tuscaloosa, AL and the other from Argyle, NY, likes to
think of herself multi-geographical. A former military brat, she grew up in
places as diverse as Mobile, Rome, Stuttgart and Syracuse. A graduate of Ithaca
College, George Washington University and the U Maine School of Law, she took up
writing while still a stay-at-home mother of two. During the time it took to
finish her first book, she got a full-time job at a Portland, Maine, law firm
and had a third child.
Julia didn't want to write yet another lawyer-sleuth, so she used her army past and a keen eye for the goings-on at her Episcopal church to create Clare Fergusson, first female priest in the small Adirondack town of Millers Kill. The result, In the Bleak Midwinter, made debut history when it won the St.Martin's/Malice Domestic contest, the Dilys Award from the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association, and the Agatha, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards for Best First Novel.
Now happily quit of the law, Julia lives and works in a 180-year-old farmhouse in the southern Maine countryside with her husband and three children.
