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bigsexy's review
3.0
Great mystery set in Maine. Although there are three stories going on at the same time, the author does a great job of wrapping them up at the end leaving you to want more from the heroine, Lizzie Snow.
tarah_'s review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
emma_liz's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
bookworm32's review
3.0
Overall this was a decent book. I'm much more a fan of Sarah Graves' Home Repair is Homicide series. I agree with many other reviewers that the storyline was convoluted. There was a lot going on in this. It felt like the author was trying to pack too much into the first of what will be a series: A past love interest with complicated history, a dead sister, dead sister's missing daughter, five ex-cops who may or may not have committed suicide...And that was just the beginning to try and introduce the larger murder mystery.
It took me forever to really feel invested in the book, but once I sort of accepted that there was never going to be any backstory about the dead sister and why her child was missing the events began unfolding a bit more and it was suspenseful coming to a somewhat predictable end. I'd give the next book a try, hoping that some of the very random feeling details from the book take shape in the coming books.
It took me forever to really feel invested in the book, but once I sort of accepted that there was never going to be any backstory about the dead sister and why her child was missing the events began unfolding a bit more and it was suspenseful coming to a somewhat predictable end. I'd give the next book a try, hoping that some of the very random feeling details from the book take shape in the coming books.
jen_e_fer's review
None of the characters had any depth. I only got 18% in but I had a feeling that the story wasn’t going to get more interesting.
nic_m_hud's review
2.0
This book is all over the place. First of all, Lizzie doesn't have a personality besides having spiky hair and wearing a lot of makeup. She's a cop, yet she calls the cops at least 4 times to save herself in situations. I have no idea how the reader is supposed to believe that Lizzie was a murder detective in Boston prior to her "community liaison" job.
To many characters, no real suspense and a plot that wandered way to much.
To many characters, no real suspense and a plot that wandered way to much.
myrdyr's review
3.0
It was ok. I had two problems with this book. The first was the use of the word "freaking" instead of the actual swear word when characters found themselves in circumstances under extreme stress - it just didn't ring true for me. Graves would have been better off changing the dialogue completely instead of making this weak substitution. I get it that some people don't like to write with swear words, and that is fine. However, Graves does use other obscenities, albeit sparingly, so I assume this isn't the reason. The second problem I had deals with the underlying premise of the book. The main character gives up her entire life to move to Nowheresville because a man she was previously involved with shows her a picture of a nine year old girl in the bush. This girl is possibly her niece whom she hasn't seen in 8 years. There was absolutely no information provided to support the idea that this might be her niece. So there is some girl who might be living in unusual circumstances out in the wilderness. Why would she think this has anything to do with her niece? It seems completely random to me. I could maybe see it if she saw a closeup of the girl and realized she looked EXACTLY like her murdered sister - it would have been a stretch, but I could maybe have suspended disbelief. As it is - hey, there's a blonde-haired, blue-eyed nine year old girl who lives in Florida who doesn't resemble her parents - maybe it's your niece! If you showed me either of my own children at age nine after they had been missing since the age of one, I doubt I could identify them from police lineup, and I am their mother; I can't imagine that an aunt would be able to distinguish between her niece and some unrelated girl. Where is the investigative work Ms. Law Enforcement Lady?
amethyst_hearts_books's review
1.0
I had so, so many problems with this book. I picked it to fulfill a book set in the wilderness category, but I do enjoy thrillers/mysteries, so it's not that it just wasn't my genre.
- The characters were done in a very lazy fashion. Stereotypes all around, especially Spud.
- Did we really need a love triangle? Is it a love triangle when two men are interested in the same woman, but she can't seem to make a decision? And for most of the book, she can't have a scene without one (or both!) of them being present, or her thinking of one of them more than what she's actually doing. There's also at least 3 scenes where Trey just drives by, or looks in a window, or shows up where Lizzie is for no reason.
- The wildnerness scenes were not at all realistic. How was the van so deep in the woods? If there was a road, why didn't the cops take it? Why did they go in just before a storm? What happened to the storm?
- Lizzie is a homicide detective. From Boston. Why on Earth did she hire Spud without a background check?
- Did Rascal really need to be there? After a while, it felt like he was just there so there would be something to break up the dialogue.
- There was so much exposition at the start about who Lizzie is and what she's about, it reminded me of the Sweet Valley High books I read when I was a kid. SVH is mostly about 2 beautiful twin sisters from, I think, California, and every book starts with about 4 pages talking about them and their personalities, and how they're twins but different. It's not a good sign when the opening of a mystery/suspense novel reminds of fluff for teenagers.
- The characters were done in a very lazy fashion. Stereotypes all around, especially Spud.
- Did we really need a love triangle? Is it a love triangle when two men are interested in the same woman, but she can't seem to make a decision? And for most of the book, she can't have a scene without one (or both!) of them being present, or her thinking of one of them more than what she's actually doing. There's also at least 3 scenes where Trey just drives by, or looks in a window, or shows up where Lizzie is for no reason.
- The wildnerness scenes were not at all realistic. How was the van so deep in the woods? If there was a road, why didn't the cops take it? Why did they go in just before a storm? What happened to the storm?
- Lizzie is a homicide detective. From Boston. Why on Earth did she hire Spud without a background check?
- Did Rascal really need to be there? After a while, it felt like he was just there so there would be something to break up the dialogue.
- There was so much exposition at the start about who Lizzie is and what she's about, it reminded me of the Sweet Valley High books I read when I was a kid. SVH is mostly about 2 beautiful twin sisters from, I think, California, and every book starts with about 4 pages talking about them and their personalities, and how they're twins but different. It's not a good sign when the opening of a mystery/suspense novel reminds of fluff for teenagers.