BOOK REVIEW: PALE BLUE EYE

The setting is 19th cent. America, and retired New York City Police Detective Agustus Landor is called in to discreetly investigate a cadet that has apparently hanged himself on the premises of the newly installed West Point Acadamy. The case is complicated by further cercumstances, the body is found the next day to have had its heart removed.Landor finds a strange ally in his investigation in the form of Cadet Poe, who ads an element that is everything one might associate with Poe. Instilling into the narrative the caress of poetry, a sense of beaitifully wrought melodrama in the form of romantic love and its dangers, and...distinctly gloomy inquiry as to the elements of the heart, both literal and not, of those that people the narrative.This book was as wholey satisfying as "MR. Timothy." Every bit as dark and witty and full of fully fleshed out characters and scenery as his other book, Pale Blue Eye brings fourth the character of a young Edgar Allen Poe with an almost eery conviction, ease, and thoroughness. The language of the story is brooding and dark and yet full of sentiment that reminds one of the Poetry of Poe with the plot twists and depth of character that is uniquely Bayard. A mystery, yes, but also indeed a book that has so much more to it. So full of life are those that we meet along the way, that I was disturbingly invested in their actions.The story builds quietly and dangerously. With much appreciated humor , the plot sneaks up and grabs you with further offenses and feignts of hand that are entertaining and delightlful to no end. The book is intense.It grips you, and then holds you captive untill the verylast.