{"id":872,"date":"2020-12-20T00:04:33","date_gmt":"2020-12-20T00:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/?page_id=872"},"modified":"2020-12-20T00:25:19","modified_gmt":"2020-12-20T00:25:19","slug":"review-in-the-times-argus-and-rutland-herald","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/review-in-the-times-argus-and-rutland-herald\/","title":{"rendered":"Review in The Times Argus and Rutland Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"872\" class=\"elementor elementor-872\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-38281fd elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"38281fd\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-8a31914\" data-id=\"8a31914\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b17336b elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"b17336b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The Times Argus &amp; Rutland Herald - Weekend Magazine, December 19-20, 2020<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2dccbf3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"2dccbf3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201219-samclarkbookreview.jpg\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"720\" src=\"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201219-samclarkbookreview-1024x720.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-875\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201219-samclarkbookreview-1024x720.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201219-samclarkbookreview-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201219-samclarkbookreview-768x540.jpg 768w, https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201219-samclarkbookreview-1536x1081.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/201219-samclarkbookreview.jpg 2014w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e4b475c elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"e4b475c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2>Text of Review<\/h2>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-03567d4 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"03567d4\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-e-type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-22133e4\" data-id=\"22133e4\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-e-type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2f1fd61 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"2f1fd61\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"headline\">A roiling &#8216;Inland Sea&#8217; kicks up mayhem<\/h1><div class=\"meta\"><ul class=\"list-inline\"><li><span class=\"tnt-byline\">By Jim Higgins Correspondent<\/span><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"subscriber-preview\"><p><br \/>About halfway through Plainfield author Sam Clark\u2019s first mystery novel, \u201cThe Inland Sea,\u201d I worked out a second meaning for the beguiling title, this one a metaphor.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-preview\"><p>The first and literal meaning of the title is illuminating enough. Who knew? In fact, the 40-miles-long body of water sandwiched between mainland Vermont to the east and the North and South Hero islands to the west, is what locals and other savvy Vermonters call the inland sea. Oh yeah, the northern tip of this mysterious \u201csea\u201d pokes eight miles into Canada.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\"><p>The second and metaphoric meaning for the title popped into my sluggish brain after I got around to doing what I often told my literature students: to understand what a book or short story is about&#8230;mull over the title.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"tncms-region-article_instory_top\" class=\"tncms-region hidden-print\">\u00a0<\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\"><p>Inland sea, hmm. How about that term in the psychological sense to describe internal turbulence, as in the roiling, mysterious, unstable nature of we mortals, and especially the main characters in this book? I don\u2019t know if Clark had that second meaning in mind when he titled the book, but it works for me.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\"><p>And, if nothing else, the Inland Sea roils.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\"><p>Even when it\u2019s iced over. Which is when the murder takes place, in the dead of winter. The killer\u2019s snow machine breaks down on the ice and he stumbles upon an ancient adversary temporarily holed up in a shuttered cabin on Osprey Island, a couple miles offshore from St. Albans.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\"><p>Clark tips us off quickly on the identity of the killer and the victim. The killer is easy to know, a one-dimensional feckless bully-boy who never grew up. Now, with his wealthy parents dead, he\u2019s inherited their New York house on Lake Champlain, and in middle age makes a comfortable living running methamphetamine from Canada to points south.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"tncms-region-article_instory_middle\" class=\"tncms-region hidden-print\">\u00a0<\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\"><p>The victim is not so easy to know. In fact, readers are the only ones who know his identity since his body was stripped of all identifiers and dumped on the next island over, Burton Island. He was officially a missing local person from 30 years prior and the police work for a month just to ID him.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\"><p>Clark slowly teases out the dead man\u2019s remarkable \u201cmissing\u201d story through the machinations of a clever, near-retirement Vermont State Police detective who grew up on the shores and on the boats of the inland sea.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\"><p>The colorful, vulnerable, and roiled characters we meet along the way, their family dramas, their failed romances, their career trade-offs to live on the sea, their moments of transcendence, all add juicy flesh to this complex police procedural that unravels just slowly enough to provide several nights of great reading. Best of all, it all leads to a truly satisfying guns and roses climax.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\"><p>This is Clark\u2019s first novel (he has written two other books on design and building) and the cabinetmaker boldly chose both paths through the yellow wood. The first path is writing about what you know, in his case, boats and the lake. The second path is writing about what you don\u2019t know so much, murder, mayhem, and police investigations. Clark pulled this one off, probably in the murder and mayhem case through his own dogged reading and research that we mystery buffs love.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\"><p>Clark\u2019s writing is understated, subtle, and peppered with deep insight into the human drama&#8230;and the human comedy. This little LOL came from the detective\u2019s childhood buddy as he\u2019s breaking down a boat engine: \u201cPeople should take better care of these things. I think they forget to read the maintenance schedule where it says \u2018Change the grease and repaint the hull every twenty years whether it needs it or not.\u2019 \u201d<\/p><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\"><p>Inland Sea is published by Rootstock Publishing in Montpelier and is available in all bookstores.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"subscriber-only\">\u00a0<\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Times Argus &#038; Rutland Herald &#8211; Weekend Magazine, December 19-20, 2020 Text of Review A roiling &#8216;Inland Sea&#8217; kicks up mayhem By Jim Higgins Correspondent About halfway through Plainfield author Sam Clark\u2019s first mystery novel, \u201cThe Inland Sea,\u201d I worked out a second meaning for the beguiling title, this one a metaphor. The first&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/review-in-the-times-argus-and-rutland-herald\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Review in The Times Argus and Rutland Herald<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/template-pagebuilder-full-width.php","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"full-width","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"on","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-872","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":894,"href":"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/872\/revisions\/894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samclarkdesign.com\/inlandsea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}