Reviewer: Lori Graham
Title: One Dead Under the Cuckoo’s Nest (A Pauline Sokol Mystery)
Author: Lori Avocato
Publisher: Avon Books
ISBN: 0-06-073167-2
Release Date: October 2005
Genre/Sub-genre: Mystery/Suspense
Year/Setting: Current
Overall rating: 4.5
Sexual content rating: None
Lori's Website:
www.loriavocato.com
Pauline Sokol is celebrating another birthday and wants more out of life. Actually, she had enjoyed being a nurse but burn out can be a very rough thing. In looking for a new career, Pauline found medical fraud investigation to be challenging and invigorating but yet something she could understand.
One man who keeps popping in and out of her life is Jagger. Somehow she is beginning to understand the new cases which come her way seem to correspond with when Jagger has her involved in something as well, including this latest caper. He asks for her help in transporting a patient. All she has to do is act as a nurse for a couple of hours. Sounds simple, right?
It isn’t so simple when Pauline wakes up as the patient herself in a physic ward and, of course, no one believes she isn’t Mary Louise. The nuns are nice enough, that is except for a couple but then isn’t that always the case? The patients seem very disturbed but then shouldn’t they? Her new doctor looks a lot like Jagger or does he? Are the dreams of people entering her room real or just the pills talking? Is anything what it seems to be in this ward of wackiness?
Now in reading this description, you would think this story is one which will keep you on the edge of your seat and keep your muscles so tense you are ready to scream. That really isn’t the case. Before you start to think it isn’t suspenseful, think again. Lori Avocato has found a way to create a mystery full of twists and turns while injecting humor. I mean look at the title – One Dead Under the Cuckoo’s Nest – that begs for laughter doesn’t it? I have to admit if I were ever to become an investigator, I would probably be much like Pauline. Waking up in situations which confuse the heck out of me; having a crush on a man like Jagger who I think likes me too but kisses me on the FOREHEAD; and every wrong turn taken in the search of clues getting me injured. Yep, sounds like me.
Lori brings this sleuth down to a human level. Unlike classic detectives like Sherlock Holmes, Perry Mason and Agatha Christie, I can truly see myself in Pauline. I can see coming up with the solutions she does. I can see the paths she takes and how she overcomes obstacles and wrong turns. I can empathize with how she reclaims her strength after being knocked down.
The cast of characters in the story either add a lot of intrigue or a lot of humanity and humor. All of them are quite human and believable. There are more Pauline Sokol mysteries coming out and my bet is we will continue to enjoy her antics for awhile yet.
The only down side to One Dead Under the Cuckoo’s Nest is the first chapter or two. There is quite a bit of information in those chapters but they seemed a bit tough to read. Parts of them moved rather slowly and other parts moved in such a way I couldn’t grasp what the author was attempting to say. Once I got past these though I was hooked. It could be because it is part of a series and I haven’t read the other stories so bear this in mind when deciding whether or not to read this work. Even if you don’t read any others, it is well worth the read and the time.
Lori
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