Touchstone

Great book for Anglophiles and King fans

If you are familiar with Laurie King's work, you will recognize her deft touch in this book -- strong characterization and plot, and a compelling mystery are all hallmarks of hers. Along the way there are fascinating glimpses into British intelligence, WWI, and class issues. She really brings history alive in a way that makes one aware of how union strikes and post traumatic stress affected everyday people.

But as integral to the plot as all of these things are, the central focus is always on individuals, and individual relationships. We learn how the landed gentry live and love, we can experience the wild beauty of the English countryside. And meanwhile we can feel the mystery growing ever tighter, ever closer to what we are sure will be a horrific climax. Little clues are dangled here and there, but it's difficult to tell who is really pulling the strings.

My only quibble was with a certain portion of the ending, which I wasn't sure was entirely believeable. But that may just be a personal preference. It was still a satisfying book, and anyone who loves England, and Cornwall in particular, will enjoy the setting immensely. Though King is an American, she captured perfectly exactly what I personally love about England and English people. I would recommend this novel highly.

Read it!

The characters are fascinating, and King is a gifted writer. This is one of her best works of historical fiction. Write on, Ms. King!

A good read

Very well written, too much character development, short on action.

Surprisingly poor book

I usually love Laurie King's books (except the Mary Russell series). I was disappointed with this one. The plot was predictable, the ending absurd. Frankly I found this book rather boring.

First King disappointment

I have read nearly all of Laurie R. King's books and was so disappointed that Touchstone did not live up to her other work. The story and the characters are interesting enough, generally speaking, the problem is editing. The book could easily have been 100 pages shorter and none the worse for wear - in fact, I'm certain I would have enjoyed it far more if it had been. I like a good descriptive narrative style as much as the next person, but does the reader need to know what every leaf and rock at Hurleigh House look like? I'm glad to be done with Touchstone and look forward to the next King volume which I hope will show this volume to have been an aberration.

Delightful twist

Laurie King has shown again that females are capable of anything that can be imagined. The characters were well drawn and sympathetic. The American came across a little too slow at times, did not fit with other things he did. All in all, a good read

Laurie King never disappoints. This was an unusual and captivating book.

I would like to see this set of characters again!

Touchstone, or not as good as 'Folly' (apologies to Gilbert)

Entertaining but well below her best. The story line seems to plod rather than sparkle, and it was hard to really care about her characters. This is the first book by Ms. King about which I could say this, and I believe that I have read them all. Still, it remains mildly entertaining.

A thick juicy story -brilliant storytelling

By April 1926 although several years have passed since the armistice ended the combat the United States and England are still recovering from the War to End all Wars. Three bombs went off in a relatively short time in the United States causing much damage and killing innocent people. Harris Stuyvesant is determined to catch the bomber, not because he is a Bureau of Investigation agent but because one of the devices turned his favorite brother into a vegetable. He tracks the evidence to up-and-coming charismatic leftist politician, Richard Bunsen.----------------- Trying to get close to the man he plays five degrees starting with meeting Aldous Carstairs who sends him to a former patient of his Bennet Grey whose sister Sara is friendly with Lady Laura Hurleigh who is Richard¿s lover. Bennet was injured in the war and came through with certain abilities. He is a human lie detector and has a sense of what people are thinking and planning. He agrees to go with Harris to a Hurleigh weekend party. Tensions are high because the miner¿s are going on the strike and a general strike is planned to bring the government down. Lady Laura is planning a weekend where the two sides can talk away from the noise of the public and media but there is another agenda being played, one Harris intends to stop.---------- TOUCHSTONE is a thick juicy story that shows England between the two world wars and how the government feels about the unions. Harris is in England to bring vigilante justice to the bomber and ends up falling for Sarah. He comes to care for Bennet and tries to rescue him from Carstairs clutches. Carstairs wants to be the power in the shadows that steers England on a course that seems acceptable on the surface but is deviously deceptive. Laurie R King creates fascinating characters and places them in several subplots so that the reader understands what motivates them.--------- Harriet Klausner

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