Title: Invisible
Publisher: Revell
Publication Date: August 1, 2004
Format: Kindle
Genre: Mystery, Christian fiction
Other Books in the series:
In Plain Sight, book #2
On The Run, book #3
Stranded, book #4
How I Got It: free Kindle download
Goodreads Summary:
She's not your average crime fighter! Ivy Malone has a curiosity that sometimes gets her into trouble, and it's only aggravated by her discovery that she can easily escape the public eye. So when vandals romp through the local cemetery, she takes advantage of her newfound anonymity and its unforeseen advantages as she launches her own unofficial investigation. Despite her oddball humor and unconventional snooping, Ivy soon becomes discouraged by her failure to turn up any solid clues. And after Ivy witnesses something ominous and unexplained, she can't resist putting her investigative powers to work again. Even the authorities' attempts to keep Ivy out of danger and her nosy neighbor's match-making schemes can't slow her down. But will the determination that fuels this persistent, quirky sleuth threaten her very safety?
Review:
Ivy Malone, an older woman and widow, takes her friend Thea to a historic graveyard to pay her respects to family members buried there. What they find is that vandals have once again hit the cemetery, this time actually pulling headstones out of the ground. They report the destruction to the police.
The story continues with Ivy and Thea going about their routines. Ivy wonders at how much their lives have changed as they've gotten older and outlived their husbands, and in Ivy's case, their children. The ladies often talk about how much the neighborhood has changed since a freeway cut it off from most of town. The world has changed around them and they sometimes feel left behind. The church they went to for years closed, and now the closest church is very large and more focused on capturing the interests of a younger generation. Despite this, Ivy and Thea have faced life together, having mini adventures like trying new foods. They might have been old, but they were living their life and enjoying it.
Readers are also introduced to Thea's secretive but sweet basement tenant, Kendra. The ladies like Kendra, she's kind but slightly mysterious and, they suspect, dating a married man. Speculation about Kendra's life occupies the ladies only briefly. When Ivy starts to see faces of famous people in her tomatoes, she realizes that she needs a new hobby, one that will keep her mind occupied, but is at a loss as to what to do. And then Thea dies. It's a blow to poor Ivy, who feels so isolated in her old age. She's alone now, with no one to help her spend her days. She also discovers that she's invisible. People simply don't pay attention to a little old lady. It was easier to be overlooked or ignored with Thea to laugh it off with, but now it hurts. She thinks about it over a couple of days and realizes that she can use her "powers" for good. Ivy decides to indulge in her "mutant curiosity gene" and makes plans to hide out at night in the vandalized cemetery, hoping to get the vandal's license plate numbers. After several nights of surveillance, Ivy gets some action. Unfortunately she wasn't able to get any plate numbers, but she did see the face of one of the vandals. When Kendra disappears, Ivy contacts the police, setting off an unforeseen chain of events.
There was a lot that I liked about this story. It was a nice little mystery, with plot twists that I did not expect, and Ivy Malone was a good character. She was sassy and nice, and you really felt her loneliness and sadness over the changes that aging had brought. She missed her husband and friends, things that had once been so important or a point of pride (like cooking from scratch) were no longer so. Her faith was a part of her character and an important part of her life. I felt so bad for her loosing the church community that she had been a part of for 30 years and then having to go to a larger church where she was ignored and pretty much unwanted. I liked the character of Matt Dixon, the police detective Ivy befriends. He's your typically character that befriends the little old lady, but he was nice and humorous.
What I didn't like was that Ivy seemed to meet an inordinate amount of people who had either lost their faith or never really believed in a higher power. I could understand Dixon's issues, as a cop he's seen a lot of bad things. But it started to seem that every other person she met didn't believe in God. By the fourth person I was thinking, "Not this conversation, again!" Whereas Ivy's belief and ruminations about God seemed natural for her character, McCourtney seemed to try to force her story into giving her opportunities to have a very specific conversation about faith. It came across as clunky, it interrupted the development of the story, and got old quickly.
Despite this, I liked the humor and Ivy's character, but did not plan to read any other books in the series. I was simply going to say this book wasn't for me, but it was nice and might be a good read for others. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't for me. And then the book ended and I changed my mind. The ending affected my overall view of the book so much that I will discuss it below, but it might be considered spoilery.
So we get to the end of the story, Ivy has testified against the bad guy, I was satisfied. But the story kept going. The bad guy had an equally bad family and they threaten Ivy. There they are, in the middle of the court house, and the brother delivers this corny threatening speech and then tells Ivy that she's gonna be "roadkill". Apparently the brother, two sons, the wives, and the kids are all standing there listening to Ivy being threatened. She surrounded by "feral smiles". So she has to go on the run. This whole bit was just over the top and completely ruined the story for me. Invisible would have had a nice, if tidy, ending had this entire threat been left out. I had envisioned Ivy like a type of Jessica Fletcher or Miss Marple, you know, someone with an unfortunate habit of finding dead bodies. I'm sure that will be there, but mixed in with an element of Ivy-on-the-run. The only thing that comes to mind is "Ridiculous".
Notable bits:
Apparently this situation required stronger action. I suspected the only idea that occurred to me would instantly catapult me into Weird Little Old Lady territory. So be it.
Perhaps eccentricity is an area I haven't explored sufficiently.
I wrapped my ands around the familiar cup and tried to draw strength from it. It was from Thea's old Moss Rose set, remnant of careful scrimping and saving in her first year of marriage. Yet the mellow old cup now brought me no comfort, only a feeling of helplessness, of time slipping away. Sunday-best dishes gone to everyday and now to mismatched pieces. like Thea and me.
My tomatoes, though still no larger than green marbles, were already showing bulbous lumps and protuberances.
I framed a particularly lumpy one with my fingers and held it at arm's length, squinting. If you look at it just right, it bears an amazing resemblance to-
I dropped the tomato. No!
I might find inkblot abstracts in a fingernail blister. I might flirt with a bit of whistle-blowing eccentricity. But I was not going to start seeing miniature Nixons in my tomatoes!
The guard at the hospital checked my ID and patted me down. Me. I got patted down! I felt rather flattered that he thought I could have an AK-47 concealed in my pants leg or a bomb strapped to my Wal-Mart bra.
Verdict:
Invisible had a nice twisty plot, a very sympathetic lead character, a pat end to the mystery, and a ridiculous end to the book. The very end of the book just ruined it for me. HOWEVER, while I'm going to give it 2 stars, I really do think that this book will appeal to others.
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