Truth Be Told

The Elephant Tree by RD Ronald: Review and Giveaway!

Posted: 26 Jan 2011 10:36 AM PST

The Elephant Tree

By RD Ronald

Published in: August 2010

Published by: Troubador Publishing

260 Pgs

Format: Paperback
Source: Author

Genre: Crime and Mystery, Fiction

Synopsis:
Mark Fallon is an overworked detective investigating a spate of attacks at a string of high profile city centre nightclubs. Scott is a dejected 24 year old struggling to make ends meet working for his brother and supplementing his income with a small-scale drug dealing operation. Angela is an attractive 23 year old, raised by her father, a career criminal and small time drug dealer who supplies Scott with cannabis.

This is a chilling tale spanning a few months in the lives of Scott and Angela, where realizations about the present combine with shocking revelations from the past leading to an apocalyptic climax where they no longer know whom they can trust.

My Review:
The Elephant Tree was filled with crime and mystery. I haven't read many books in this type of genre but I thought the synopsis was interesting and I decided to give it a try.

In the very beginning of The Elephant Tree, we are introduces to Mark Fallon a detective investigating a murder at a high profile club. There are a lot of innuendoes that something seems to be off about the murder, the way people are acting and the small details of how it took place. After that first encounter with Mark Fallon we don't hear about him for quite some time. I think the switch of characters right away kind of confused me. After understanding that I was reading about someone completely different I was able to get a little more enthusiasm towards it.

Somewhere in the middle of the novel, the point of view jumps to Angela (one of the main characters), but it jumps to the past. I think the overall set up of this was kind of confusing; it was a little hard to follow at times. I did, however, enjoy reading about her history because it gave an understanding about how all three people were connected.

The character descriptions and actions where very detailed. While reading the book, I was able to get an image of what they looked like and why they acted the way they did. I felt that the bits of history on the characters really gave you an insight on their motives and actions.

Now, the ending completely threw me for a loop. The author did surprise me in the end, and it was also explainable. It wasn't a complete shock; once I looked back I could see foreshadowing.

The Elephant Tree kept me on my toes for most of the book, and was a good read in general. I think I may end up picking up more mystery novels.