Adams, Jane – CAST THE FIRST STONE

[LJ Roberts]

CAST THE FIRST STONE (Police Procedural-England-Cont) – Ok Adams, Jane – 2nd in series
MacMillan, 1996- UK Hardcover

Detective Inspector Mike Croft is involved in the legal appeal of Fletcher, a convicted child abuser. Fletcher alleges the existence of a journal identifying other abusers including a JP and others in very high places. Eric Pearson lives in a quiet neighborhood but quickly becomes a target of violence. He had once been accused ofchild abuse and is now seen taking pictures of all the people in the neighborhood. Pearson also claims to have the journal written by Fletcher for which Croft is looking.

I had problems with this book. it seemed choppy and took a long time for the parts of the story to merge into a cohesive plot. I also felt that, unless you had read the first book of the series, “The Greenway,” you would not have had any idea who the characters were or how they fit together. There was next to no independent character development in this book. The story does finally pull together and become quite interesting in the last third, but it took a bit of an effort to stay with it and get that far. I’m not giving up on Ms. Adams yet, as I did enjoy “The Greenway,” but I do hope subsequent books are far better than this.