Book 42 of My 2012 Goal

The Nose Knows: A Spunky Mystery by Holly L. Lewitas
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Nose Knows by Holly L. Lewitas is an extremely amusing tale about a psychotherapist who is overcoming an incident that took place years prior when one of her patients became violent and took her hostage. She finally now is continuing to 'see' her patients via computer when something very strange and terrifying takes place. This is the main plot, I won't recap what the whole book was about since you can already read that but what I will tell you is that there are things going on with every turn of the page (I don't write 'spoiler' reviews so I won't go into them) and the story is told by Spunky, her female terrier.

At first I was confused since I couldn't figure out how this would work because I thought this would be more of a child's story since the dog is telling it yet the plot is certainly not a child's story. From page one to the end I was delighted with the author's ability to make this work. The story had just the right amount of humor, suspense, mystery, and something I am not sure just what you would call it but most people who have animals experience it at one point or another. It is sort of an ESP that is connected with the animal where you 'understand' what the animal is thinking and/or feeling. Any ways, there is some of that and also the use of animals for therapeutic reasons. The story never was boring and throughout I figured I knew what was going to happen or who did it just to find another twist taking me in a different direction. I found it extremely hard to put down the book since I wanted to know what the next page held and was sad to see it end. Speaking of ends, what a twist that ending was!

The animals in the story only add to the amusement at times with their antics and now I know the real reason why my dog runs and sort of whines in his sleep. The animals play spy, match maker, companion and protector among other things. The dog's view of death, grieving, relationships, and depression for both humans and animals is explained. As I said this is not a child's story although I am sure some young adults would understand and enjoy it. Even if your not an animal lover this mystery story still stands on its own and is still a must read.

I totally enjoyed this story and I am amazed with the author's ability to put so much foresight and her ability to write from an animal's point of view. The explanations of animal behavior such as a cat that swishes her tail or closing her eyes twice is amazing. Most people wouldn't have even noticed such things so I imagine a lot of watching and studying animal behavior took place before she wrote this book. Hats off to the author, your observations certainly paid off!

I recommend this mystery to anyone from young adult on up whether your an animal lover or not. This is one book going on my "Must Read" list.


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