Jamie Mason (1)
Author of Three Graves Full
For other authors named Jamie Mason, see the disambiguation page.
Works by Jamie Mason
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Gender
- female
- Short biography
- Jamie Mason was born in Oklahoma City, but has always named Alexandria, Virginia and the greater DC metropolitan area as her hometown. She grew up in the shadow of the Pentagon (a shadow that is somehow darker and longer than the shade given off by lesser five-story buildings.) This might explain a few things about her suspicious nature.
A veteran nomad, Jamie has never grown attached to any particular piece of real estate. As such, her heart is home in several places scattered around DC, but also in Richmond, Virginia, San Diego, California, Asheville, North Carolina, and a whole list of places she's only visited. And a few of those, only in her mind.
She enjoys writing, reading, films, Formula 1 racing, NFL football, drinking whiskey, talking about things, and driving. She is addicted to coffee, and although her habit demands only two to three cups per day, let's just say you wouldn't want to be left standing between her and the carafe first thing in the morning. She is conflicted about time spent sleeping and resents speed bumps. Ticking clocks make her very irritable. Currently, Jamie lives with her husband and two daughters in the mountains of western North Carolina where she writes in a little room full of lovely things. And hopes. (From the author website: www.jamie-mason.com) - Birthplace
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
- Places of residence
- Alexandria, Virginia, USA
North Carolina, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
This story totally hooked me.
The writing has a literary flair, with beautifully crafted sentences and poignant observations throughout.
Pacing is the kind of slow burn that invites us into the characters' minds so we feel the emotions, then gradually builds in urgency and intensity as the truth unravels.
The plot is complex without ever becoming convoluted.
Characters are well developed, realistic, and, I thought, fascinating. I loved Carly! When someone is called "fearless," it doesn't show more really mean they have no fear, only that they have the strength needed to move beyond the fear. That's Carly, and she's a badass teen!
The Hidden Things isn't a throwaway thriller. This is a character study, a look at the lies we tell others and ourselves, and a glimpse at what people are capable of when pushed to the edge.
*I received a review copy from the publisher, via NetGalley.* show less
The writing has a literary flair, with beautifully crafted sentences and poignant observations throughout.
Pacing is the kind of slow burn that invites us into the characters' minds so we feel the emotions, then gradually builds in urgency and intensity as the truth unravels.
The plot is complex without ever becoming convoluted.
Characters are well developed, realistic, and, I thought, fascinating. I loved Carly! When someone is called "fearless," it doesn't show more really mean they have no fear, only that they have the strength needed to move beyond the fear. That's Carly, and she's a badass teen!
The Hidden Things isn't a throwaway thriller. This is a character study, a look at the lies we tell others and ourselves, and a glimpse at what people are capable of when pushed to the edge.
*I received a review copy from the publisher, via NetGalley.* show less
There is very little peace for a man with a body buried in his backyard.
That's how you begin a novel worth spending a snow day reading.
Jason Getty had grown accustomed to the strangling night terrors, the randomly prickling palms, the bright, aching surges of adrenaline at the sight of Mrs. Truesdell's dog trotting across the lawn with some unidentifiable thing clamped in its jaws. It had been seventeen months since he'd sweated over the narrow trench he'd carved at the back border of his show more property; since he'd rolled the body out of the real world and into his dreams.
Jason is not a strong man in any respect, not the type you'd expect to have a body buried in the yard. The anxiety of his secret, not guilt but fear of being found out, is tearing him apart. He can't even bring himself to work on his yard, so he finally hires landscapers to take care of the front...just the front. Unfortunately for Jason, there are two bodies buried there, which causes the police to start digging up his yard, searching his house, and otherwise disturbing the quiet life of anonymity he's been clinging to so desperately.
In her acknowledgements, Mason thanks [a:Tana French|138825|Tana French|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1277505771p2/138825.jpg], who "extended encouragement and friendship when she was too busy to do so. She treated a fan like a peer, and I don't know why she did it, but it's one of the finest things that's ever happened to me." I can see how Mason might be influenced by French, in that both write addictive, gritty prose with flawed, but sympathetic characters. However, Mason's writing is in no way derivative of French's. The mysteries, such as they are, are solved pretty quickly, at least for the reader. Instead, this is the story of the aftermath of murder, for the murderers and those left behind. The detectives are mostly along for the ride, not driving the story. That said, I think fans of Ms. French will enjoy this. I certainly did, and I look forward to seeing what Ms. Mason writes next.
Warning: There's a fair amount of gore. Bodies that have been in the ground for 17 months are neither pretty nor fragrant. show less
That's how you begin a novel worth spending a snow day reading.
Jason Getty had grown accustomed to the strangling night terrors, the randomly prickling palms, the bright, aching surges of adrenaline at the sight of Mrs. Truesdell's dog trotting across the lawn with some unidentifiable thing clamped in its jaws. It had been seventeen months since he'd sweated over the narrow trench he'd carved at the back border of his show more property; since he'd rolled the body out of the real world and into his dreams.
Jason is not a strong man in any respect, not the type you'd expect to have a body buried in the yard. The anxiety of his secret, not guilt but fear of being found out, is tearing him apart. He can't even bring himself to work on his yard, so he finally hires landscapers to take care of the front...just the front. Unfortunately for Jason, there are two bodies buried there, which causes the police to start digging up his yard, searching his house, and otherwise disturbing the quiet life of anonymity he's been clinging to so desperately.
In her acknowledgements, Mason thanks [a:Tana French|138825|Tana French|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1277505771p2/138825.jpg], who "extended encouragement and friendship when she was too busy to do so. She treated a fan like a peer, and I don't know why she did it, but it's one of the finest things that's ever happened to me." I can see how Mason might be influenced by French, in that both write addictive, gritty prose with flawed, but sympathetic characters. However, Mason's writing is in no way derivative of French's. The mysteries, such as they are, are solved pretty quickly, at least for the reader. Instead, this is the story of the aftermath of murder, for the murderers and those left behind. The detectives are mostly along for the ride, not driving the story. That said, I think fans of Ms. French will enjoy this. I certainly did, and I look forward to seeing what Ms. Mason writes next.
Warning: There's a fair amount of gore. Bodies that have been in the ground for 17 months are neither pretty nor fragrant. show less
With The Hidden Things (Gallery Books, 2019) Jamie Mason has crafted a solid suspense thriller that is firmly rooted in contemporary culture. It all begins when 14-year-old Carly fends off a would-be attacker who follows her home from school. Their encounter in the front hallway of her family’s home is captured by the surveillance cameras that her stepfather, John, had installed. Predictably in the 2010s, the video goes viral on social media after first being posted on the local police show more website. Soon Carly is fielding questions and attention from friends and strangers alike, who all know her as the plucky teen who defeated the bad guy.
Carly’s a bit overwhelmed by all the attention, but not so much that she doesn’t notice how oddly John is acting in the wake of the incident. And she isn’t immune to the household tension that erupts because neither Carly nor her mom realized John had installed surveillance cameras inside as well as outside the house.
Many cities away, the viral video comes to the attention of a group of people who are particularly interested, not in Carly and her heroics, but in what’s shown in the background: The corner of an old painting that was stolen from a museum and later thought to be lost forever when an underground sale went awry. How did it end up in Carly’s house? And to what lengths will people go to get it back?
The story is told from a variety of viewpoints, giving the reader insight into what all the main players are thinking and feeling. There’s Carly, of course, who is the heroine in more ways than one. But there’s also her stepfather, who finds himself trapped in a situation that could cause him to lose the comfortable home life he has finally found. And the other people who were involved in the caper-gone-wrong along with John are also given their turn in the spotlight: hapless loser Roy, ruthless bad guy Owen, and the enigmatic Marcelline, left for dead but very much alive. As they all converge on Carly’s home, no one’s sparing a thought for who might get caught in the crossfire. And it’s up to Carly to try to save herself, her family, and her “normal” teenage life.
Mason does a great job of juggling the rotating viewpoints without losing the reader’s attention. She managed to make me sympathize with each of them in turn, even when I knew the unspeakable things some of them had done. And she doesn’t try to wrap things up with a neat bow and unbelievable feats of strength from a young teenager. Carly is indeed her own savior (with a little help) but she is changed irrevocably by what she learns and what she is forced to do, and Mason doesn’t shy away from exploring the consequences of those actions. It kept me turning pages to the very end, and feeling satisfied when I closed the cover.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. show less
Carly’s a bit overwhelmed by all the attention, but not so much that she doesn’t notice how oddly John is acting in the wake of the incident. And she isn’t immune to the household tension that erupts because neither Carly nor her mom realized John had installed surveillance cameras inside as well as outside the house.
Many cities away, the viral video comes to the attention of a group of people who are particularly interested, not in Carly and her heroics, but in what’s shown in the background: The corner of an old painting that was stolen from a museum and later thought to be lost forever when an underground sale went awry. How did it end up in Carly’s house? And to what lengths will people go to get it back?
The story is told from a variety of viewpoints, giving the reader insight into what all the main players are thinking and feeling. There’s Carly, of course, who is the heroine in more ways than one. But there’s also her stepfather, who finds himself trapped in a situation that could cause him to lose the comfortable home life he has finally found. And the other people who were involved in the caper-gone-wrong along with John are also given their turn in the spotlight: hapless loser Roy, ruthless bad guy Owen, and the enigmatic Marcelline, left for dead but very much alive. As they all converge on Carly’s home, no one’s sparing a thought for who might get caught in the crossfire. And it’s up to Carly to try to save herself, her family, and her “normal” teenage life.
Mason does a great job of juggling the rotating viewpoints without losing the reader’s attention. She managed to make me sympathize with each of them in turn, even when I knew the unspeakable things some of them had done. And she doesn’t try to wrap things up with a neat bow and unbelievable feats of strength from a young teenager. Carly is indeed her own savior (with a little help) but she is changed irrevocably by what she learns and what she is forced to do, and Mason doesn’t shy away from exploring the consequences of those actions. It kept me turning pages to the very end, and feeling satisfied when I closed the cover.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. show less
A delightful new voice in psychological thrillers whose work is bound to be a hit with readers of Tara French, who encouraged the author. Mason has woven a darkly funny and sometimes gory tale of an everyman who just happens to have a dead body buried in his backyard – the corpse of a bully he killed in self-defense. Finally beginning to feel secure again after 18 months, Jason hires landscapers to spiff up his yard, only to have two other bodies dug up. How long will it be before the cops show more find the third? Into the tale come the former home’s owner, responsible for the two new corpses; the widow of one of the bodies, determined to find closure but instead showing up late one night to find Jason digging up “his” body to move it; and two cops, one of whom owns a dog which is so perceptive (and from whose perspective some of the story is told) that he guides the police to his owner after he vanishes from the crime scene. These six characters converge in a climax so over-the-top the reader will not be able to put the book down until the last page.
The publisher’s blurb compares this story to a Coen brothers film, and it really does beg to be dramatized. The action is non-stop, the humor understated and funnier for that, the characters memorable and the dialogue spot-on. Highly recommended – just don’t expect to get much else done until you've finished the book.
Ebook copy provided by NetGalley.com. show less
The publisher’s blurb compares this story to a Coen brothers film, and it really does beg to be dramatized. The action is non-stop, the humor understated and funnier for that, the characters memorable and the dialogue spot-on. Highly recommended – just don’t expect to get much else done until you've finished the book.
Ebook copy provided by NetGalley.com. show less
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