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Mystery Reviews |
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The
novel Voices in the Sand by Anne Underwood Grant is written in the
first person, giving the story immediacy. The reader experiences the
fright, the bravado, and the uncertainty of the circumstances along with
the speaker. The
speaker is Sydne Allen Teague, a divorced mother who is spending a weekend
alone at the coast near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Her children are with their father, so she is free to pursue her
own interests. One of those interests is fishing. She stands in the surf
on the night of her arrival to catch her dinner. Sydne spent many summers
at the beach throughout her youth, so she knows or remembers
many of the locals.
However, the two men she sees at the beach that first night are unfamiliar
to her. She will soon know
much more about them. That
evening as she walks back to her Aunt and Uncle's condo (the uncle is
recently deceased) she discovers a dead man face down near the pool. She
calls the police and the chief detective is another man whom she will
understand later. While sunbathing the next day, Sydne hears "voices
in the sand" describing how to dump a body. The
romantic aspect of the novel enters as Sydne accidentally runs into O.C.
Loud, the young man she fantasized over as a teenager. Together they try
to understand the pattern of circumstances that have befallen the
close-knit beach community. The
descriptions of the coastal community are strikingly beautiful. That
includes the descriptions of fish, water, trees, sand, leeches, and wind.
For anyone familiar with the Carolina coast, the novel will snap mental
photos of the beauty of the region. If someone is looking for a fast-paced
read, laced with twists and turns, this is the book she should
take to the condo with her for an enjoyable read at the coast. Though
this reader considers herself aware of possible shifts in the plot, she
was blindsided by the twists and turns in spite of being on the lookout!!
© 2001 Southern Scribe, All Rights Reserved |
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