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Amagansett Mark Mills Books

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Amagansett Mark Mills Books

A beautifully written mystery thriller set in the period post world war two in Amagansett. The body of a wealthy young woman is found by local fisherman at first she has thought to have drowned.

There was a lot to appreciate about this novel. The murder is investigated via two sources, the Basque fisherman Conrad Lobarde who found the deceased and the local police officer Hollis. Each have their own methods of finding the truth and follow separate paths. That two pronged approach worked well in this novel. This novel isn't only about the murder though, it's also about the life and history of the inhabitants of Amagansett, class divide and the effects of war on the town and the inhabitants.

I came across this novel by chance and originally saw the title as "Amagansett" which I thought was intriguing so was surprised after the download to see I had purchased "The Whaleboat House". Thoroughly enjoyed this one.


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Amagansett Mark Mills Books Reviews

This has become one of my favorite books. I return to it again and again. Mark Mills is able to transport the reader back in time and gives you a different view than the typical historical fiction. He gives insight into the characters like puzzle pieces. At first the back stories seem irrelevant, but he later ties them together into a beautiful story.
Thought the book was a history, ad it was as in its way. I needed a distraction after the holidays and this fit the bill. I was drawn in by the prologue and kept being drawn in by the characters. Read in two days and enjoyed the ride.
"Amagansett", Mark Mills' first novel, is a thoughtful and intelligent, if unusual, murder mystery. Set in the post-World War south fork of Long Island, it is the tale of Conrad Labarde, a Basque immigrant fisherman who hauls a dead girl from the surf in his fishing nets. The dead girl, Lillian Wallace, is a member of the New York aristocracy who "summer" on Hampton's beaches. As Mills patiently unwinds the story, we learn that the stoic Labarde is a highly decorated war hero, having served in a secretive commando team in the European theatre. But this is but one of the secrets that gradually materialize in the rigid demarcations between Amagansett's opposing social strata's.

At times slow moving, rambling in others, "Amagansett" is nonetheless beautifully written and carefully researched. If you appreciate a bit of history as well as some education in your fiction, you'll find both in this largely overlooked period between WWII and the Cold War, and the somewhat obscure and forgotten dunes and fishing towns of Long Island. The characters, if somewhat stereotyped, have depth and hold interest, especially in the vivid portrait of the virtually extinct culture of east coast shore fishermen. The standard clichés of the evil rich and the noble poor threaten at times to overpower the story, but Mills atones with a climax that is genuinely thrilling and features a few unexpected twists. All things considered, this complex and elegant novel is an impressive debut; I suspect we'll be hearing much more of Mark Mills.
Amagansett is an earlier Mills novel and I thus worried I might be disappointed. Not to worry. The work stands well on its own, not needing Mills other works to give it stature. World War II is the background scenery, never overplayed and working naturally to justify the terrible events taking place in post-war Long Island among the old family native fishermen and the invading new wealth.
Toward the end of the book, the hit man in town to bring down Conrad LaBarde wonders about his target How Could He Know So Much. LaBarde is one of if not the main characters in Amagansett. I, for one, wondered the same thing about Mark Mills, for his capture of the post-war years in a small fishing village not yet The Hamptons is a wonder to behold.
The descriptive qualities of this novel were amazing for me. I don't live anywhere near an ocean and yet this author was able to illustrate the constantly changing nature of the waters off Long Island, New York to such an extent that I almost felt as if I could smell, taste, and hear the ocean. There was a depth of knowledge regarding fishing off those shores which made me believe in the characters wrestling a living from fishing the waters.

Since this was the first novel I've read by Mark Mills I had no idea what to expect. That it was a thriller was plain from the book description, but the many layers of character development was something which isn't necessarily well done by many writers so exploring not just Conrad Labarde, the fisherman, but also Tom Hollis, the policeman, was a true delight. It was also very entertaining to have portions of each character's back story revealed little by little throughout the novel. There was always something new coming around each corner so I didn't experience any middle-of-the-book drag which can sometimes happen. There are a multitude of contrasts presented in this novel and they add to the build-up of tension by impacting how the investigation into the death of Lillian Wallace was allowed to move forward, or not. There is also the feeling of a world trying to get back to normal in 1947, after so many years of war. Years in which even Labarde, the son of Basque immigrants who settled in that obscure spot in America, had his life change completely by what happened in Europe.

I found this to be a fascinating reading experience. I enjoyed watching the author unfold a double mystery and acquainting me with some of the mysteries of the ocean and those who make their living taking the risk of fishing in it. The ending was a little bit of a disappointment when the capture of the criminal took place, a little too contrived for me, but other than that it was a wonderfully moving experience to read this high quality novel.
A beautifully written mystery thriller set in the period post world war two in Amagansett. The body of a wealthy young woman is found by local fisherman at first she has thought to have drowned.

There was a lot to appreciate about this novel. The murder is investigated via two sources, the Basque fisherman Conrad Lobarde who found the deceased and the local police officer Hollis. Each have their own methods of finding the truth and follow separate paths. That two pronged approach worked well in this novel. This novel isn't only about the murder though, it's also about the life and history of the inhabitants of Amagansett, class divide and the effects of war on the town and the inhabitants.

I came across this novel by chance and originally saw the title as "Amagansett" which I thought was intriguing so was surprised after the download to see I had purchased "The Whaleboat House". Thoroughly enjoyed this one.