Tabula Rasa

by Shelly Reuben

Meet arson investigator Billy Nightingale and his brother-in-law, Officer Sebastian Bly, who are called in to investigate a house fire that killed two young children. Suspicious details at the fire... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 015101079X
• ISBN13: 9780151010790
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Arch seduction by a master storyteller

... Edith is soon put away, Annie and Billy adopt and name the baby Meredith and, through Book Two, life is so idyllic as Meredith grows up to be a dancer, you begin to think Reuben is writing a soap opera. But, stay. You're being seduced by a very capable writer. Author Reuben has a demonically inspired way of taking us back to the realm of the mystery-thriller, intensified by a stratagem I can only describe as arch. Effectively so. (...)

Fire!

I loved it. Loved the tone. So entertaining! Such fun! And it's a horror story besides with a truly frightening person lurking. Very engaging story with people you will love. Written by an honest-to-goodness Private Eye who specializes in arson, so the theme is Fire, and while you are enjoying the story, you'll learn a lot about fires too.

Tabula Rasa

Give Shelly Reuben, author of Tabula Rasa, a blank slate and watch out! Her latest novel will have readers clamoring for moral support before they are able to face the climax of this multilayered, complex, thoughtful, heart tugging, mind numbing, finger biting mystery. Reuben's tale of arson is a mystery in more than just the conventional whodunit sense of the word. Tabula Rasa explores the mystery of enduring love, unflinching loyalty, and above all, hard gained wisdom. Reuben reminds us good can be found everywhere if only one is prepared to look for and nurture it. Reuben's book leaves us spellbound by the triumph of beauty, happiness, and life itself. From the darkness, she leads the reader and her characters to the light that will warm us until they appear again with the publication of her next book.

Out of the flames . . . a flower

This novel was a big surprise; not the usual arson whodunit from Shelly Reuben, but a thought-provoking story of the tending and nurturing of a young girl who has faced mortal danger in a fire as a baby and then must face it again as a talented young woman. I liked all the characters very much, their dialog, their independent outlook on life and their places in it, and the reasoning and objections they must bring to the fore in solving a very knotty problem.

New heights of story telling

When I began to read Tabula Rasa I expected another one of Shelly Reuben's great fire procedurals. That would have been enough to please me. This new book, though, is both as good as her previous thrillers and, frankly, much better--even more of a page turner. Her devoted readers will love it because Shelly Reuben continues to give us new things to learn about arson. But she will get a whole raft of new readers who will appreciate her fabulous new intriguing characters. The stunning Annie brings you into her sophisticated but also earthy orbit. Merry is gorgeous, difficult, and captivating. Her husband and brother, fireman and cop respectively, are characters the reader wants more of (and I hear that there will be a sequel to this book--I am really excited). Shelly's use of the Red Cross is ingenious as a device for revealing clues to this mystery. Mystery, yes! But more than a mystery at the same time. Shelly Reuben has written a gripping novel. A must-read.