First to Find

by Mark Gessner

Players of a treasure hunting game called geocaching uncover the grisly and obscure clues left by a spree murderer. Players find these clues scattered around the country and write about them online. A couple in Austin, Texas begin to pull the clues together and a horrific picture begins to emerge. Will they identify and apprehend the killer before he kills again? Not before the killer joins their game...

Genres: Mystery

282 pages, Paperback

First published July 26, 2010

Reviews

[PirateSteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of geocaching .... a coffee shop/geocaching romance .... and the couple try to track down a spree killer for the bounty. Busy book.

[P.J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I first got my Amazon Kindle, I was looking for 3 or 4 books of which I had been wanting to read. This was the second book I got for my Kindle as I had heard some things about it and the reviews seemed pretty decent. Being a geocacher, too, drew my interest.

Luckily, I didn't read it within the first seven days I purchased it. If so, I would have stopped after two or three chapters and returned it for a refund. Being you have to give full stars for your rating, I went with a 3, thought I would have given a 3.5 if I could have.

Allow me to break it down.

The good

The book has an interesting storyline and plot. The geocaching parts are interesting and well done. The mystery overall is pretty solid, though there are some holes. As the book continues, everything gets better. The ending comes upon you quick, but it's a good one and it comes together quite well. Certain parts how they connected (without trying to give away the book -- how they got some key info though) were really well done.

There were a couple of "Oh S@#$" moments at the end that made me really happy I kept reading this book. It portrays geocaching in a pretty good light, it has a good murder-mystery and the character development isn't too bad.

The bad

Does there really need to be 75+ chapters? Though it breaks up easily for places to stop and start reading, there were times I'd flip once on the Kindle and the chapter ended.

The beginning, to me, was painful. I like description and think its needed, but I can't stand when things were repeating so much. Such as the part when we first meet the killer and in the span of a few paragraphs, I was told about "The plan" way too many times. OK. I get it. He had to stick to the plan.

There were a few grammar issues that made me cringe. As someone who also writes, it's tough when I see things like this (such as using less or under instead of fewer in certain spots). Alas, if you are not someone who recognizes things like this when you jump into a book, this might not be as painful, if at all.

I do wish there was a bit more of a connection between the geocachers and the man on the loose though. Would have really put things together.

Overall thoughts

Not bad. I would be higher on it if I hadn't had to pay so much for a Kindle version, but I'm not upset over it. The book took some time to get going, but once it did, things came together. It's a good mystery, though non-geocachers might not enjoy it as much as geocachers will.

I'm a firm believer of plodding through a slow-starting book or one that seems like it's pushing too much on you. This one, to me, started slow and the writing early made me want to throw it aside (well, delete it off my Kindle). But I continued through and am glad I did. I'll be telling some of my caching friends to check this book out for sure.

[Rachel Barnard · Rating 5 out of 5]

First to find is full of firsts and finds that you may think you have all figured out until the ultimate first to find, every nightmare any geocacher has dreamed about. If it’s a gruesome murder, then why leave behind a jar of urine or a dead dog? Casual geocachers out for their finds will stumble upon more than they bargained for in this tale of murder and revenge. If the geocachers put together the clues, will they be led right to the killer or will he catch on to their game?

Mark Gessner opens his book First to Find with the quote “Never mess with a Geocacher — we know the best places to hide a body.” (Page 5). Gessner continues to give out great tidbits in this book, like little treasures waiting to be read. The writing style was continuously smooth, without hitches or hiccups. The flow of action was also quite smooth and progressed naturally, building up tension over time to its exciting climax.

Gessner doesn’t give the reader a chance to guess the identity of the killer, but he brings us along as the two geocachers attempt to pin down who it is. We are right along with them in their hunt. The moment when the killer turns on them is the ultimate tense scene, because at that point I am so invested in their story and so completely believing of the killer’s ability that I can only think it will end poorly for Judi and Kurt.

Each character was given full room for development and each was fully made alive. The killer had a larger role than I would expect, but even he was made bare by the end. Gessner was able to give me a well-rounded killer with equally well-rounded motivation, even if it wasn’t fully explained until the end. I absolutely loved the line, “The killer kept himself in good physical condition, and except for an occasional swig of Old Granddad and a recently developed taste for murder, he had no vices” (Page 147).

By the end everything made sense and the puzzle pieces fit together perfectly. I understand why Gessner would give his killer the name “The Killer” until the main characters found out his identity, but I didn’t think it was necessary, since even his name didn’t mean anything until that was later further explained.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book when I was searching online for books about geocaching. I ordered a copy. There's a cold making its way around my household so I settled in to hide in my bedroom with this book from the virus.

At first I didn't care much for it. It was a bit clunky, but then I grew interested in the mystery. I especially was interested in the killer. Using the POV of the killer was an intriguing trick.

Unfortunately, with these kinds of books that depend on technology, the books age quickly. I didn't care much for the sexual elements. I fear that the way the cops work may be entirely too real.

In essence, for me the book was a mixed bag. I'm actually interested enough, though, to seek out other books by this author.

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book since the author was a geocacher and engineer who was laid off when he wrote it. Featured on podcacher.com podcast it sounded interesting. Circled by a psychotic killer, the geocachers uncover a number of pieces to a bigger puzzle, much like a geocache puzzle, but with potentially drastic consequences. The killer was probably the weakest part of the book with little background provided and crossing over into weird. It was a quick read and held my attention pretty well but it would not be for those upset by descriptive gore. The hero in the story was pretty well described as a typical geocacher, intensely looking for those first to finds.

[J. Ewbank · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book about catching or geocatching was a new one on me. The story, though, or plot line was a good one that captured my attending and I was eager to read to the end to find out what would happen. There must be more books coming down the pike because there is a lot of further areas and plots that can be mined.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natual Man, and the Isms" and "Wesley's Wars"

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so excited to have read this book, written by my dear friend! It's an intriguing story about geocaching in Austin back when I was actively part of the scene. I am enjoying this fictional story, though there are hints of non-fiction throughout :-)

[Mrs. Lapacka · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I loved the idea of a murder mystery surrounding geocaching. That said, the story jumped all over the place, the writing was stale, and the characters were two-dimensional.I wanted to like it, I really did.

[Jennifer Larrabee]

Quick read. Not high quality literature, but fun.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked it because he has a good sense of geocaching, which I love.