Sign up for our newsletters to receive our Best of 2024 ezine!

Read advance reader review of The Fields by Erin Young

Summary | Reviews | More Information | More Books

The Fields by Erin Young

The Fields

A Novel

by Erin Young

  • Critics' Consensus (2):
  • Published:
  • Jan 2022, 352 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Reviews


Page 1 of 5
There are currently 33 member reviews
for The Fields
Order Reviews by:
  • Betsy R. (Gig Harbor, WA)
    Best debut novel I've read in a long time
    The Fields is about a young recently promoted detective who works in the town she grew up in. When one of her childhood friends is found dead in a cornfield, she is determined to find out who and why. The story moves into a complex web of theories and possibilities and I found it to be riveting. It will be a bestseller if enough people see it and read it. I loved it!
  • Henry W. (Lake Barrington, IL)
    Surprise
    I could not put it down. What better endorsement can one give a mystery. The tale is filled with unresolved twists and turns. Most of the twists are logically resolved but in some cases the resolution is so unexpected as to be pure coincidence. Of course the book does include all the modern culprits, the media, big corporations ,and politicians. The author also teases us with a big secret from the lead character's past for a good part of the book. The lead detective has a stressed personal life and a tendency to go beyond her authority. A character similar to the non compliant officers of other detective series.
  • Laure R. (Fresno, CA)
    THIS BOOK IS A GEM
    I was delighted to find a crime novel set in the rural Midwest…specifically Iowa cornfields! I was most pleased to be caught up in the fast paced story with so many unexpected twists and turns almost immediately.

    This is a police procedural filled with complex characters, well fleshed out. It contains a serial killer, corrupt politicians, three women missing from the small community, a drug crisis and much more. It focuses on Ms. Riley Fisher, a newly promoted Sargent on the small local police force. She has plenty of baggage to bring to the job as well as a number of relatives and friends and others she has been surrounded by most, if not all, her life.

    The pace is very fast and elegantly written. It is particularly deserving of praise for it is the debut of Erin Young's writing a crime thriller. I was very pleased that Ms Young plans to make this the basis for a series. Put me down for the next one! I happily recommend this book as a really great read.
  • Lynn D. (Kingston, NY)
    Great crime story !
    The Fields is a compelling crime story with many layers. It's a police procedural with a sympathetic and flawed detective (and her family). The author takes on Big-Ag vs, small farmers, political corruption, drug abuse, and the societal challenges of the rural Midwest, including the Iowa State Fair. It all adds up to a great read. I look forward to the next Riley Fisher story!
  • Judy K. (Montgomery, TX)
    Beware of the corn!
    The mystery genre is my favorite and I must've read a million mystery books. I've learned to love a good, tangled yarn that, in the end, plays me for a fool. This book surprised me and that surprised me. I also love a good serial killer, a depraved serial killer (is there any other kind?) and The Fields checked that box as well. We've got a flawed detective (think Harry Hole, Jo Nesbo's protagonist as the gold standard) and a back story concerning said detective that keeps rearing it's ugly head. We have a lot of intriguing things in play, all set in the cornfields of Iowa, written by an English author, which is a mystery in itself. How is a lady in Brighton, England, intimate with midwestern America? I live in Texas and I'm very sure I couldn't write about Brighton, England. Kudos to Erin Young for an absorbing story that is well written and keeps you guessing. I look forward to her next book with Sergeant Riley Fisher as the protagonist.
  • Colleen F. (Carrollton, TX)
    Page Turner
    I have to say that this book was truly a page turner. I enjoyed all the twist and turns that this book has to offer. Just when you think that you have solved who did it. There is more that happens. I sure hope that she comes out with a part two of this book. I would love to learn more about the main character.
  • Rebecca K. (Chicagoland)
    A great new series
    Erin Young's debut novel "The Fields" is a fast-paced and timely mystery. Set in Black Hawk County, Iowa, the story begins with the discovery of a dead body in a cornfield. A young woman was brutally murdered and her body found on a family-run farm. It's one of the few in the area not connected to the Big Agriculture giants. Sergeant Riley Fisher is surprised to find that she recognizes the dead girl as a friend from her high school years.

    When more victims turn up, the police try to determine whether they're all related. Eventually, a conspiracy is formed - do the bodies have anything to do with the disagreements between the small, family farms and the large ones using genetically modified seeds and toxic bug sprays. And what role does the state's governor, currently running for reelection, have in the situation?

    I loved the characters in the story, especially Riley. She reminds me a bit of Chief Kate Burkholder from Linda Castillo's mystery novels set in Amish country. Riley is a young cop with a complicated history thanks to tragic events in her past. She has to deal with the sexism of others on the force, including one officer particularly angry that Riley received a recent promotion for which he also applied.

    This is a fast-paced book (I would have read it faster if I wasn't recovering from major surgery and on lots of painkillers), and I especially raced through the final half because I couldn't wait to find out what happened. I was never able to guess the "whodunit," and I'm sure fellow mystery lovers will appreciate the complexity of the plot. This is the first in a planned series, and I cannot wait to read the future installments!

More Information

Read-Alikes

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: My Friends
    My Friends
    by Hisham Matar
    The title of Hisham Matar's My Friends takes on affectionate but mournful tones as its story unfolds...
  • Book Jacket: James
    James
    by Percival Everett
    The Oscar-nominated film American Fiction (2023) and the Percival Everett novel it was based on, ...
  • Book Jacket
    But the Girl
    by Jessica Zhan Mei Yu
    Jessica Zhan Mei Yu's But the Girl begins with the real-life disappearance of Malaysia Airlines ...
  • Book Jacket: Patriot
    Patriot
    by Alexei Navalny
    On the 17th of January, 2024, colleagues of Alexei Navalny posted a message to his Instagram account...

BookBrowse Book Club

Book Jacket
In Our Midst
by Nancy Jensen
In Our Midst follows a German immigrant family’s fight for freedom after their internment post–Pearl Harbor.
Book Jacket
The Berry Pickers
by Amanda Peters
A four-year-old Mi'kmaq girl disappears, leaving a mystery unsolved for fifty years.
Who Said...

No matter how cynical you get, it is impossible to keep up

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Big Holiday Wordplay 2024

Enter Now

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.