Three Graves Full

by Jamie Mason

I have discovered a new author to add to my favorites list.   I read this entire book thinking this was a male author and was blown away to discover it was a female.  I don't know that I am always able to distinguish one from the other but usually I know something about the author going into a book and quite often the name provides that information.  Not that I care one way or the other - I have both male and female authors in my favorites list - but I just assumed this author was a man.  And, frankly, the book read like it was written by a man.

I loved this book!  Absolutely, loved it.  The writing was spot on. I felt like I was watching a movie instead of reading because I could see and sense the action that well.  A few weeks ago I couldn't stay involved with a book because I was working on a quilt.  This week I was at the finishing stages of that quilt, which usually holds my undivided attention but I was forced to divide my time between it and this book.  I wanted to pull my hair out because both were calling me with equal draw.  

Three Graves Full made me laugh, bite my fingernails, and turn pages as fast as I could go.  One of the best books I've read in the last several years.  And to think it's a debut novel.  Amazing!  I can't wait until Mason's next book.  Here's the write-up from Net Galley that enticed me to request a copy of this book for review:

“There is very little peace for a man with a body buried in his backyard.”With this memorable first line, we meet Jason Getty, a regular guy in every mild sense of the word. But extraordinary circumstances push this ordinary man to do something he can’t undo...and now he must live with the undeniable reality of his actions. And just as Jason does finally learn to live with it, a landscaper discovers a body on his property—only it’s not the body Jason buried.As Jason’s fragile peace begins to unravel, his life is hitched to the fortunes of several strangers: Leah, an abandoned woman looking for answers to her heartbreak; Tim, a small-town detective just doing his job; and Boyd, a fringe-dweller whose past is about to catch up to him—all of them in the wake and shadow of a dead man who had it coming.With the tense pacing of a thriller and the language and beauty of a fine literary novel, Three Graves Full heralds the arrival of a stunning new voice in fiction.

I usually don't suggest mysteries/thrillers for bookclub but this one I would recommend.  There are so many good literary passages with insight into the human psyche, bullying, self-doubt, truth & lies.  I highlighted many.  I bargained with my husband that if he would read Three Graves Full, I would relinquish my hold on the Kindle until he finished it.  I'm that desperate to have someone to discuss it with me.  Let me know if you read this book and what you think.  It goes on sale Feb. 12, I believe.  Watch for it.  This is an author you will hear more about.