sinclair7's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.0
Decent plot. Very sexual. Grim lifestyle of characters. Dark. Writing style is of someone who just took a writing course; technical detail is clumsily inserted.,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Drug use, Violence, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Domestic abuse
anetq's review against another edition
4.0
She just keeps pouring them out, one great crime story after another - characters develop, nothing is carbon copied and the mysteries are always new.
audreyintheheadphones's review
3.0
There's an early section of the book where it looks like everything's going to descend into romantic farce ("McNab!" "Rhona!" "Magnus?" "Rhona!") which is unfortunate because ew, and also because both McNab and Magnus are total dickwaffles. They're entirely different kinds of dickwaffles, it's true: McNab is a selfish, self-destructive man-boy and Magnus is so inoffensive that he is, in the words of the great Bonnie Morse, simply proof that Rhona's senses still function.
But it's almost like the author recognizes both these things and, once the triangle's been established as still firmly in place, reminds everyone that there's a creepy-ass serial killer out serial-killing and maybe that should take some precedence.
The thing I found most interesting about this book is that McNab, as a character, has been completely destroyed. Not in his own estimation, clearly, but in the reader's, and let's fucking hope Rhona's as well. He's shown as a wreck of a person and a police officer with so little chance of redemption that actually I was amazed
Anyway. It's a bold move for a series author, to have taken one of the main characters and built him up as an anti-hero, and then just absolutely destroyed him for any further use. I found that fascinating.
Because hopefully now Rhona doesn't have to deal with either of them. Come on, make it interesting. If we have to spend time on Rhona's love life give her someone she doesn't work with, finds irresistible and who can't stand her. Because the actual criminal cases and forensics were so much more interesting when they took center stage in the novels.
But it's almost like the author recognizes both these things and, once the triangle's been established as still firmly in place, reminds everyone that there's a creepy-ass serial killer out serial-killing and maybe that should take some precedence.
The thing I found most interesting about this book is that McNab, as a character, has been completely destroyed. Not in his own estimation, clearly, but in the reader's, and let's fucking hope Rhona's as well. He's shown as a wreck of a person and a police officer with so little chance of redemption that actually I was amazed
Spoiler
he got to keep his job. COME THE FUCK.Anyway. It's a bold move for a series author, to have taken one of the main characters and built him up as an anti-hero, and then just absolutely destroyed him for any further use. I found that fascinating.
Because hopefully now Rhona doesn't have to deal with either of them. Come on, make it interesting. If we have to spend time on Rhona's love life give her someone she doesn't work with, finds irresistible and who can't stand her. Because the actual criminal cases and forensics were so much more interesting when they took center stage in the novels.
More...