energyrae's review
5.0
May Queen Killers is intense from start to end. Jock is an author who writes mysteries, he's settled in town to work on his newest novel. One of the other boarders, Dylan, is a drunk, but he has a story and Jock is interested in it. Meanwhile, the owner of the Tea shop across the street from where he is staying has caught his eye. Sapphire is fun and flirty, she has a way about her that is drawing Jock in. In the midst of his interest, the town is preparing for the May Day festival, the first they've held in five years. Nothing good comes from being crowned May Queen, yet Sapphire has her eyes set on becoming May Queen, and she will do so at any cost. So when she disappears, Jock must find the will to find her. May Queen Killers has a great supportive cast, many of which carry their own secrets.
As I started out with my review, this book is intense. What kicks off mildly turns into straight out suspense, leaving the reader desperate to learn the various mysteries that Dounaeva has built up in the book. With an engaging plot line and superb twists, May Queen Killers is a one sitting read for any mystery and thriller fans.
As I started out with my review, this book is intense. What kicks off mildly turns into straight out suspense, leaving the reader desperate to learn the various mysteries that Dounaeva has built up in the book. With an engaging plot line and superb twists, May Queen Killers is a one sitting read for any mystery and thriller fans.
b00kr3vi3ws's review
4.0
From the blurb of the book, the protagonist reminded me of Ariadne Oliver. Richard Castle came to my mind as well but being an Agatha Christie fan through and through, I just thought of Ariadne Oliver first.
Fleckford seems to be a quaint and quiet little village until Sapphire goes missing. It seems impossible for someone to simply disappear in the hubbub of May Day celebrations. And since our protagonist, Jock – a mystery writer, was one of the last people to see her, he decides to use his skill set to investigate the disappearance. He soon discovers that there was more to the missing girl than people knew and that this wasn’t the first disappearance either. The further Jock delves into this mystery, the more he learns about the town and its people. Not everything is as it had seemed at the beginning and there are secrets lurking at every corner. Will Jock be able to solve the mystery while avoiding suspicion himself?
The thing that stands out in this book is the plot. The author has put in a great deal of effort in setting it up with a good number of red herrings. The author made me pay attention to every bit of information with the way they were delivered. They all felt to be important bits, when clearly some were just crumbs to lead the readers astray. While this was a good thing as it kept us curious throughout, it also turned out to be bit disappointing since some of the information that we were looking to know more about turned out to be irrelevant and as such we did not get full closure. I like such conundrums as they make me think a little more than usual about whether it was well done or will only cause trouble for the book with the readers. The author certainly has an interesting style of storytelling. I was literally gobbling everything up and the pace at which the plot moves certainly helps quite a bit. While the major characters are all well fleshed out, I really wished for some more development for some of the other characters who seemed interesting. Jock as a protagonist is an interesting character. His character feels well balanced and while he is no Ariadne Oliver or Richard Castle, he is someone you would like to see/read more about.
To round up, this is a book with more pros than cons and certainly provided me with hours of suspense and entertainment. The author does show some promise and will henceforth be on my ‘watch out for’ list.
Fleckford seems to be a quaint and quiet little village until Sapphire goes missing. It seems impossible for someone to simply disappear in the hubbub of May Day celebrations. And since our protagonist, Jock – a mystery writer, was one of the last people to see her, he decides to use his skill set to investigate the disappearance. He soon discovers that there was more to the missing girl than people knew and that this wasn’t the first disappearance either. The further Jock delves into this mystery, the more he learns about the town and its people. Not everything is as it had seemed at the beginning and there are secrets lurking at every corner. Will Jock be able to solve the mystery while avoiding suspicion himself?
The thing that stands out in this book is the plot. The author has put in a great deal of effort in setting it up with a good number of red herrings. The author made me pay attention to every bit of information with the way they were delivered. They all felt to be important bits, when clearly some were just crumbs to lead the readers astray. While this was a good thing as it kept us curious throughout, it also turned out to be bit disappointing since some of the information that we were looking to know more about turned out to be irrelevant and as such we did not get full closure. I like such conundrums as they make me think a little more than usual about whether it was well done or will only cause trouble for the book with the readers. The author certainly has an interesting style of storytelling. I was literally gobbling everything up and the pace at which the plot moves certainly helps quite a bit. While the major characters are all well fleshed out, I really wished for some more development for some of the other characters who seemed interesting. Jock as a protagonist is an interesting character. His character feels well balanced and while he is no Ariadne Oliver or Richard Castle, he is someone you would like to see/read more about.
To round up, this is a book with more pros than cons and certainly provided me with hours of suspense and entertainment. The author does show some promise and will henceforth be on my ‘watch out for’ list.
barney11sg's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
I suffered through 58% of this book and could go no further.
The book has a great plot to it that got me to read as far as I did. Unfortunately, it was a boring uninteresting read with little to no real excitement to make me want to keep reading. Then I got to the point where continuing to read the boring meaningless minutiae, would never be worth the climax no matter how good. If I had to hear about Dylan's drinking problem one more time I was afraid of throwing my reader across the room. For me the period from the disappearance of the last queen early in the book to the 58th percentage held little to no suspense. The main character could not be more dislikeable and the supporting cast held little interest either. The sentence that settled it for me was "Dylan was laughing so hard, there were tears streaming down his face." I had read this sentence in countless love stories to my wife, and it had no right to be anywhere in this book, never mind describing a six & and half foot policeman with a drinking problem.
The book has a great plot to it that got me to read as far as I did. Unfortunately, it was a boring uninteresting read with little to no real excitement to make me want to keep reading. Then I got to the point where continuing to read the boring meaningless minutiae, would never be worth the climax no matter how good. If I had to hear about Dylan's drinking problem one more time I was afraid of throwing my reader across the room. For me the period from the disappearance of the last queen early in the book to the 58th percentage held little to no suspense. The main character could not be more dislikeable and the supporting cast held little interest either. The sentence that settled it for me was "Dylan was laughing so hard, there were tears streaming down his face." I had read this sentence in countless love stories to my wife, and it had no right to be anywhere in this book, never mind describing a six & and half foot policeman with a drinking problem.
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