The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections

By Ea Jurczyk

Too slow. Unbearable to get through. I did like the rare book angle. I liked that the protagonist was an older woman. did not have a strong sense of place. Had promise but I didn’t like the execution.

I hated the IT references. It was really stereotypes from the 80s. Lots of this book irritated me. Heavy emphasis on age, on clothes, all bothered me. Flashbacks were disruptive. Poorly done. Inconsistency on how a modern-day university would run. Some descriptions were beautiful–there was potential here.

So slow. I gave up when nothing had happened by page 100.

Lisle was very tedious. Mystery was very obvious. Side characters more interesting than main who was boring and forced. Really a miserable person. Potential–could have been so cool. Unnecessary plot points.

Realistic that the university wouldn’t want to call the police. Main character was pretty whiny. Didn’t think she was a good mom to her daughter. I did enjoy Rhonda as a character. Enjoyed the premise and liked the mysteries that weren’t murders.

I basically hated it. Lisle was a passive aggressive alcoholic and everyone else manipulated her. I jumped to the end.

So hard to finish. Boring to me. Didn’t like it. Mystery was obvious.