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brandie_abbie19's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Dementia, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
wordsofclover's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
DI Adam Fawley and the team find their Christmas holidays cut short when a house fire turns from a suspected arson attack to a murder when the bodies of two young children are recovered with no sign of the parents. As the team look into the family and what could have caused such a terrible incident to happen, Adam struggles to keep his home life afloat and keep up with the job.
Having gone into this series slightly backward (I read the fourth book first, and then started from the first), this one is my favourite book following the fourth (Close to Home). I really like this series for the different characters we are following on the team and how with each book and each case, we slowly slowly get to know them all a little better and a few months further on each time - and I also really like the stories for the cases that the team are investigating. I love how in each book the case has separated into a few different tails for different characters to look into, and there's normally a few twists and turns and red herrings before the conclusions.
The conclusions always let me down slightly - they were never bad but I found the first and second book conclusions slightly over the top but thankfully this resolved with No Way Out. I really enjoyed the journey of the investigation as always and I really liked following more of DC Somer who is one of my favourite characters. There were a few red herrings dropped in this book that I thought added a lot to the story and did have me jumping around a bit before the big reveals happened.
One thing I did find odd was the halt of a storyline that I presumed would have carried over from the second book and that is Adam and Alex's fostering of a little boy called Billy. There was no mention of him at all in this book and when they stopped fostering him and how Alex felt about it as we saw her bond with the boy in the second book. I just thought it strange that it didn't go anywhere else.
Having gone into this series slightly backward (I read the fourth book first, and then started from the first), this one is my favourite book following the fourth (Close to Home). I really like this series for the different characters we are following on the team and how with each book and each case, we slowly slowly get to know them all a little better and a few months further on each time - and I also really like the stories for the cases that the team are investigating. I love how in each book the case has separated into a few different tails for different characters to look into, and there's normally a few twists and turns and red herrings before the conclusions.
The conclusions always let me down slightly - they were never bad but I found the first and second book conclusions slightly over the top but thankfully this resolved with No Way Out. I really enjoyed the journey of the investigation as always and I really liked following more of DC Somer who is one of my favourite characters. There were a few red herrings dropped in this book that I thought added a lot to the story and did have me jumping around a bit before the big reveals happened.
One thing I did find odd was the halt of a storyline that I presumed would have carried over from the second book and that is Adam and Alex's fostering of a little boy called Billy. There was no mention of him at all in this book and when they stopped fostering him and how Alex felt about it as we saw her bond with the boy in the second book. I just thought it strange that it didn't go anywhere else.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Child death and Death
Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, and Dementia
dogearedbooks's review
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Suicide, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment
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