In the prologue, Andy describes a beautiful scene in nature. It didn't take long for the beauty to turn ugly. Before Chapter 1 began, I was caught up in the story. Every time I thought I was closing in on the killer another possibility appeared. The storyline had a lot of twists and turns, but the story flowed smoothly. The people of Rhinelander built their livelihood around a dark legend that couldn't come to light. I didn't want to stop reading. I have the first two books in this series on my "must read" list.

In "In the Garden of Monsters", Crystal King paints word pictures that flow like poetry. The details of the meals and garden are extraordinary. I kept waiting for the next pomegranate seed to be unveiled or for a new persona for a character to be revealed. The ending gave me the feeling that things ended as they were meant to end. Love and friendship win.

What you see isn't always what you get. The night shift cleaner fills her life by "taking care" of the people who work on the fourth floor, her floor. She realizes that she is doing this in the dark of night without them knowing what is happening. But she doesn't realize that she is in the dark too. She makes a day visit and realizes that her relationships are shadows.

I didn't feel like the story had an ending. Life just went on. Maybe that's the point.

As I began to read, I didn't know if I'd be able to keep all the characters straight. But the story soon settled into a story of generations. A story of moms, daughters, and granddaughters. The tale of family joy, grief, and secrets unfolded with unexpected twists and turns. At first it seems like a story of women; but read closely. The story of the men of the town is woven in and gets stronger throughout the book. All the characters I thought I'd confuse came to life in this story of generations and relationships.

I selected this book because I love the language in the First Nations Version of the New Testament. It feels grounded. I was hoping to get a better feel for our Indigenous people by reading something written by one of their own about them. A Council of Dolls did not disappoint. I could feel the characters and what grounded each of them.

As I was reading, I thought of my Missy Sue. I decided she would have been friends with Ethel and Mae. I'm not sure that Winona would have fit in Missy Sue's circle of friends.

I found several phrases that I really appreciated. One of the early ones is "I'm careful when I'm dusting, try not to walk into a song in my head …". How many times have you been doing something and you ended up walking into a song? Another is "Your spirit isn't big enough to walk in our words." That phrase made me stop to do some soul searching about my own spirit and how I feel when I'm reading the FNV of the NT. There were many more phrases that made me stop and just reflect.

The last paragraph will echo in my head for a long time. All my life, I've worked closely with people. I wish I would have been the one to summarize all I've seen in the lives of people and written that last paragraph!