Country Priestess centers around a little boy and his family. Timmy is not an ordinary boy. He's autistic. But at the same time, he's an artistic genius. The character of Timmy is so promising and interesting that he is what drew me to reading this book.

Timmy has a special relationship with his uncle Joe; he draws pictures. After Joe's girlfriend dies under strange circumstances, Timmy starts drawing mysterious pictures of maps, names of strangers, precognitive art--clues for his uncle Joe. In the meantime, Joe gets blinding headaches which seem to be contoured to controlling his behavior. Timmy's artwork is a beacon for his uncle.

There is something about Dick Claassen's style that I like--probably that it is straightforward and unpretentious. There are places which do seem a bit too simplistic unless this was aimed toward a young adult readership, and frankly it could have used another good editing pass. And I wasn't sure how to take a hero named Joseph Sur Landszlodt (lancelot) until later he meets MeLing Guinevere Huntington. When reading, pay attention to the names--like Doppelganger for the restaurant. You can decide for yourself if such details being deliberately pointed out by the author are subtle or too heavy-handed.

Also, I do wonder a bit at the rapidity of the pace of the romance between Joe and MeLing. I was reading Country Priestess for the paranormal sf mystery and the characterization of Timmy, so I found the romance a bit of a distraction. In fact, MeLing is key to Timmy and Joe's quest--but I hate to say more and give away too much plot. Though I was a bit disappointed (I did have very high expectations of this particular novel,) I am still looking forward to reading a continuation of Timmy's character in Claassen's Silver Seed.

Allie
Copyright 2006