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Nick Barrett #2
Crown of Thorns
When a girl from the wrong side of Charleston tries to sell a seventeenth-century painting stolen thirty years before, Nick Barrett is asked to look into the mystery. His reluctant investigation collides with a woman desperate to free herself and her child from a cult. As the web of deceit widens, Nick unearths a secret hidden beneath the surface of Charleston's high society. Nick's journey leads to his discovery that God's grace must not only be accepted but shared. Nick Barrett returns in Crown of Thorns, a psychological thriller that explores the ultimate mercy - God's grace.
365 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Sigmund Brouwer
256 books410 followersSigmund loves going to schools to get kids excited about reading, reaching roughly 80,000 students a year through his Rock&Roll Literacy Show.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 15, 2021
I could not put this down! So so good! Branding, torturous baptizing, old story’s of slavery and new story’s of racial hate. Two different young girls a prison to their secrets entertained by their stories. Wow wow wow! Cults are a new favorite plot for me!
This book was GREAT! READ IT!
Christian Fiction - Christian in content
Also: I didn’t know this was number 2 of a series lol so I have not read the first…..yet…..
This book was GREAT! READ IT!
Christian Fiction - Christian in content
Also: I didn’t know this was number 2 of a series lol so I have not read the first…..yet…..
December 29, 2023
Crown of Thorns is the second in Sigmund Brouwer’s Nick Barrett Mystery Series, the first being Out of the Shadows (linked to my review).
Nick Barrett had grown up in Charleston high society as an outsider. His father was from an old, established family, but his mother was a waitress. In the first book, he had come back to Charleston after several years’ absence when he received an unsigned note promising information about his mother’s disappearance.
At the beginning of this book, Nick is still in Charleston, on a break from his teaching duties in New Mexico, embroiled with his half-brother in a court battle over the family inheritance.
While he waits, he visits frequently with a couple of old friends from his former years in Charleston, elderly twin sisters who own an antique shop. They ask him to help with a dilemma. A young girl from a crime-ridden side of town had come to them trying to sell a four-hundred-year old valuable painting that had been stolen from one of Charleston’s elite families fifty years earlier. They wanted to know, among other things, how this girl had come by the painting.
When Nick meets the eleven-year-old girl named Angel, he has no idea what he’s about to get into.
The plot weaves threads from a fifty-year-old murder, a young mother trying to escape from an abusive cult run by her father-in-law, and Angel’s voodoo-practicing grandmother.
If I had just started with this one and hadn’t read the first book or others of Brouwer’s, I probably would not have gotten past the prologue with its talk of voodoo spells. I just like to stay as far away as possible from that kind of thing. But I had read enough of the author’s work to trust he wouldn’t steer me wrong. He’s not promoting those practices and doesn’t go into gratuitous detail. And, as Nick’s journey has been spiritual as well as familial, the author clearly includes the offsetting truth of the gospel.
I look forward to reading the concluding book in the series.
Nick Barrett had grown up in Charleston high society as an outsider. His father was from an old, established family, but his mother was a waitress. In the first book, he had come back to Charleston after several years’ absence when he received an unsigned note promising information about his mother’s disappearance.
At the beginning of this book, Nick is still in Charleston, on a break from his teaching duties in New Mexico, embroiled with his half-brother in a court battle over the family inheritance.
While he waits, he visits frequently with a couple of old friends from his former years in Charleston, elderly twin sisters who own an antique shop. They ask him to help with a dilemma. A young girl from a crime-ridden side of town had come to them trying to sell a four-hundred-year old valuable painting that had been stolen from one of Charleston’s elite families fifty years earlier. They wanted to know, among other things, how this girl had come by the painting.
When Nick meets the eleven-year-old girl named Angel, he has no idea what he’s about to get into.
The plot weaves threads from a fifty-year-old murder, a young mother trying to escape from an abusive cult run by her father-in-law, and Angel’s voodoo-practicing grandmother.
If I had just started with this one and hadn’t read the first book or others of Brouwer’s, I probably would not have gotten past the prologue with its talk of voodoo spells. I just like to stay as far away as possible from that kind of thing. But I had read enough of the author’s work to trust he wouldn’t steer me wrong. He’s not promoting those practices and doesn’t go into gratuitous detail. And, as Nick’s journey has been spiritual as well as familial, the author clearly includes the offsetting truth of the gospel.
I look forward to reading the concluding book in the series.
April 1, 2022
5 Stars
5 stars for Crown of Thorns (Nick Barrett Mystery Book 2). Nick is back in Charleston waiting for his inheritance to be finalized. His two old friends, Glennifer and Elaine ask for a favor in checking out a young girl called Angel. In checking out Angel, he stumbles into a religious cult. Could not stop till I got to the end. Nick has grown by leaps and bounds in his search for his relationship with God. In this book he gets closer to who he really wants to be.
5 stars for Crown of Thorns (Nick Barrett Mystery Book 2). Nick is back in Charleston waiting for his inheritance to be finalized. His two old friends, Glennifer and Elaine ask for a favor in checking out a young girl called Angel. In checking out Angel, he stumbles into a religious cult. Could not stop till I got to the end. Nick has grown by leaps and bounds in his search for his relationship with God. In this book he gets closer to who he really wants to be.
July 19, 2019
Enjoyed this one so much...
...that I am getting the next book in this series right now! The characters are believable, and you find yourself identifying with them. There are a couple of gaps in the plot at the end, but not enough to ruin the story.
...that I am getting the next book in this series right now! The characters are believable, and you find yourself identifying with them. There are a couple of gaps in the plot at the end, but not enough to ruin the story.
December 31, 2016
Did not anticipate liking this book but ended up loving it. Good mystery, lots of action and heart! Would recommend for sure.
June 16, 2021
Not as good as first book - plot and new characters didn't grab me
December 31, 2021
It kept me looking for a while
January 20, 2009
No need to recap the story here as others have done a fine job of that. I too was introduced to Nick Barrett in the second book of the series (intend to get the first soon). Even so, reading the first is not required to enjoy the second.
Sigmund Brouwer breaks a number of rules in vogue these days among genre writers. He flips from first person to third person from chapter to chapter. But, the effect is powerful. First person is reserved for his private eye type narrative while third person fills in the gaps for what is going on with the other characters of the story.
The story itself is the real winner. Brouwer manages to get the reader to consider everything from racism to uptown/downtown snobbery in one compelling story.
This one goes into my must-read list.
Sigmund Brouwer breaks a number of rules in vogue these days among genre writers. He flips from first person to third person from chapter to chapter. But, the effect is powerful. First person is reserved for his private eye type narrative while third person fills in the gaps for what is going on with the other characters of the story.
The story itself is the real winner. Brouwer manages to get the reader to consider everything from racism to uptown/downtown snobbery in one compelling story.
This one goes into my must-read list.
November 16, 2009
Excellent book. Page turner. Kept me reading. Started this on a rainy Veterans Day and finished it a couple days later.
I forgot that Sigmund Brouwer is another author I cannot put down. I didn't realize this book was in a series otherwise I'd have read the first book first (I like doing that). There were some allusions to what happened in the first book, but no retelling of the old story.
The flashbacks and circular nature of the story might get old to some. Or might turn away some (like me) who kind of like their stories linear.
I forgot that Sigmund Brouwer is another author I cannot put down. I didn't realize this book was in a series otherwise I'd have read the first book first (I like doing that). There were some allusions to what happened in the first book, but no retelling of the old story.
The flashbacks and circular nature of the story might get old to some. Or might turn away some (like me) who kind of like their stories linear.
March 4, 2014
Nick Barrett investigates the reappearance of a painting for a couple of friends. The trail leads him to a poor orphan, her half sister, and a dangerous cult. Very entertaining with a powerful ending.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
September 26, 2007
I was able to get into this book much faster than the 3rd one in the series. Maybe it was because I already knew who the main characters were.
February 12, 2011
I read this not knowing that it was the second in a series. Oh well.
February 2, 2014
Didn't want to put it down. Great character development!
February 5, 2016
A good novel. Enjoyable, and enlightening.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews