Sunday, July 15, 2012

Echoes of Titanic by Mindy Starns Clark & John Campbell Clark

This is the first book Mindy Starns Clark has written with her husband,  a Titanic history buff. It focuses on Kelsey Tate, the great-grandaughter of Adele, a survivor of the Titanic disaster, who works for the family investment business Adele helped to establish after reaching America. She discovers her mentor dead on the same night her grandmother's role and identity on the Titanic is questioned while they also face a hostile takeover. She must work to solve the mystery of what happened all those years ago on the Titanic and whether her mentor committed suicide or was murdered. Cole Thornton, an ex-boyfriend, aids her in the investigation while she reevaluates her priorities in love and faith.  The fate of the company and her life depends on the outcome.

With this year being the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's sinking, there have been some new fiction books on the market featuring that event. This is the third book I've read this year focusing on the Titanic, two new ones and one quite a bit older one, and I sadly have to say that I was disappointed with every one of them.   I did like that the authors wrote sections that took place in 1912, showing us what happened between Adele, her cousin, and other people of the time.  Those were my favorite parts of the book and I wish they would have put  a lot more of those in. I felt they did a pretty good job portraying the ship, what it was like sailing on it and what transpired during the sinking. It was the modern-day story that was lacking. The mystery surrounding the murder was ok, but the characters seemed flat and all the talk of investments and bonds got a little tedious. There wasn't much to the romance and the book just seemed to move too slowly. I did like how Kelsey started thinking about her life and faith and what her priorities should be in balancing a career and a family. I think that's something that could really resonate with both women and men. I think either men or women interested in Wall Street and history would probably like the book and while I did like parts of it, I found it disappointing overall.

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