Reviews
Reviews
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The Midwest Book Review - July 1999 Hatch is Ellen Larson's first mystery featuring Natalie Joday, a northeastern New Jersey newspaper reporter, drawn back to her native stomping ground in Bergen County. Natalie has bittersweet memories of Haworth, having brought up her younger brother Daniel after the tragic death of their mother. Although alike in manner and looks, sister and brother differ widely in their approach to life, and Natalie has spent many years pulling her younger brother out of scrapes with the law: "Sgt. Allan's eyes flicked from brother to sister. It seemed to him that the sister's frankness was rooted in personal conviction, while the brother's grew from shop-worn experience, through the caesura of which some more complex motivation could be glimpsed. He pursed his lips and drew a thoughtful breath." Natalie receives a call from the stricken sister of one of her brother's old flames. The old flame has disappeared, the family has money, and the sister fears foul play. Simultaneously, the police latch on to Daniel as a primary suspect when the body turns up. Natalie is caught between acting as an anchor for Sarah Dow, who is in the midst of a greedy, dysfunctional family who may prove to be her undoing, and helping out her brother Daniel, who she feels is holding back from the police and entangling himself in a quagmire of suspicion. Larson creates a wonderful cast of characters surrounding the murder victim herself, Lydia Dow, the beautiful, dramatic, danger-addicted nymph who flits in and out of Daniel's life, even in death, driving him to distraction; the Dow family itself, deliciously evil and manipulative; Sarah herself, who seems too innocent to be real; and Natalie, our every woman heroine, trying to make sense of all the insanity into which her dear brother has been drawn. Since Hatch is set up as a psychological murder mystery, Larson isn't in a hurry to produce a love interest for Natalie, but rather is content to allow Natalie and Daniel to work out their family relationship in the midst of this crisis. Daniel's future, and his actualization into an adult, depend upon the outcome of this highly stylized and well written story. Only then will Larson allow Natalie herself to get back to the life she has so carefully chiseled out of a troubled childhood. Hopefully we can look forward to more of Natalie and Daniel, in happier circumstances. In the meantime, Hatch should be highly recommended as an excellent first showing involving two likeable characters who have much more to teach us in future sequels. Shelley Glodowski Amazon.com - July 1999 This book is about a murder in New Jersey--but no Mafia hitmen or tough-talking private eyes inhabit this particular landscape. "The Hatch and Brood of Time" presents a far different aspect of the Garden State. Placed in the placid, affluent suburbs of northern Bergen County, this murder mystery might have taken place in England. There is the "castle" on the hill, inhabited by a controlling father, wicked stepmother, quirky cousin who lives in the garden house, and two daughters, one of whom turns up dead. The dialogue is literate and a family inheritance is crucial to the plot. The main character, Natalie Joday, a newspaper reporter, gets drawn into the plot because her brother once dated the murdered girl and is now a suspect. The Jodays were the poor kids in the neighborhood after their father went alcoholic, while the Dows--the rich folks who live in the "castle" turn out to have just as many family dysfunctions. Although there is a budding romance between Natalie and the police sergeant, the true love/hate relationships here are familial--sister and sister, brother and sister, father and child. Several minor characters, including the manager of a community theater and the nasty Dow cousin, add color to the story. But the mystery here is not only "who did it" but why. And the background themes--the problems that reckless parents foist upon their children--the enduring scars of kids who are "outsiders" in an affluent town--have their own power. I hope some enterprising movie producer scoops this one up. I would like to see that final chase through the hills of northern New Jersey not far from the Palisades and Fort Lee, where the earliest movie thrillers were first filmed. Barbara Hudgins, author of New Jersey Day Trips (July 1999)
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