Manuel De La Torre De La Torre itibaren Amboori, Kerala 695505, India itibaren Amboori, Kerala 695505, India

Although about Jody Linder whose Father was killed and her mother disappeared when she was 3, this really is the story of a family and other intertwining families in a small town. As Jody grows, she is intrigued by her few interactions with the son of the man she has been told killed her father. Her grandparents raise her in a tight extended ranch family with uncles, wives and children. She wants to find out what happend to her Mother so the mystery search is the primary developing story until the last quarter segment of the book when fast paced unraveling takes off. Somehow the title didn't fit the book for me but it did perk my curiosity enough to get me to read it.

** spoiler alert ** Another great R. Hill mystery. As usual, Mr. Hill draws the reader in immediately into mysterious bits. When the story starts in earnest, we already know that bad things had happened to Wolf Hadda, and he loses no time in letting us know what they are. Hadda seems to take longer to realize that he has been set up by his friends than would ordinarily occur, but he appears to be one of those good people who believes most people, or at least his longest friends can be trusted. The fly in the oinment appears to be J. Childs --- whose office in the "government" is never really identified. Piecing together the mystery, the reader is not in doubt that Hadda has been set up, so the mystery is who has done the setting up? Is Mr. Childs behind it all? He surely has his fingers (or his strings on his puppets?) in most of the "pies." Or are Hadda's best friends and his wife just really bad sociopaths? Hill makes the unraveling of this plot really interesting by adding Alva Ozigbo --- Hadda's psychiatrist - a black woman who he meets when he ends up in prison, with one eye and a really mangled body --- the final indignity of his incredible fall. Lots of plot twists and turns and startling revelations at the end to ramp up the drama. The twisted family revelations at the end do not seem to me to have been necesary. His wife/sister? He really does find the peace of mind that he wants --- at the end of this riveting story, with Alva. And Alva gets what she finds she really wants, too --- out of the prison hospital, which, at first, she thought was a big step forward in her career. Hill always makes his readers care about his characters --- his development of their personalities is thoutful, thorough, and integrated gradually into the story. I wonder if the Woodcutter is a stand alone -- or the beginning of a new series.

Narrated by Christina Traister - Narration 3*s - She gets the attitude / emotion right so that part's good. But the slow delivery pace made the book semi-boring to listen to. The slower delivery compared to the much faster pace in my head when I read it myself was detrimental to the audio version of the story. I enjoyed listening anyway, because I'm a Garwood fan and I'd already read the book and knew where it was going. Julie Garwood is a comfort read / listen (with a good narrator) and a decent story. I consider this one in the decent category, making it three in a row that were good enough reads /listens to fall into the "comfort" aspect. Predictable but enjoyable.