Reviews

Invierno y noche by S.J. Rozan

katel1970's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

3.0

yuliyono's review against another edition

3.0

buku ini bikin saia pengen nyari buku karangan penulis ini yang lain, tentunya yang sudah dialihbahasakan ke bahasa Indonesia....:)

mcf's review against another edition

5.0

This series is reliably excellent, and this installment is no exception. The adult, complicated relationship Rozan has built between her main characters is wonderful; that, combined with their complicated, mature internal lives is what makes the series so special.

So yeah: they're great, and she's great. Read them.

reneesmith's review against another edition

5.0

Riveting & heartbreaking! Another worthy episode in an excellent series. This story was told from Bill's point of view & provides insight into Bill's dysfunctional family & hurtful past. The mystery highlights the poignant struggle of outsider kids (creatives, nerds, freaks) in a high school & town that pander to athlete superstars with no moral compass. The tone is dark & moody, like Bill, with touches of humor & support from Lydia. I especially enjoyed the girl reporter, a savvy high school newspaper editor with dreams of winning a pulitzer. I binge-listened & the story went by too soon :)

lian_tanner's review against another edition

4.0

I was a little way into this when I realised I had read it before, under the title of 'Winter and Night'. But it was well worth the reread. I love Rozan's writing, whether it's from the p.o.v. of Bill Smith or Lydia Chan, and this is both a terrific thriller and a deeply relevant look at the adulation of sports stars and what that adulation can do to young people.

nocto's review against another edition

I couldn't wait another year again for the next Rozan so I splashed out on the US hardback. This one is narrated by the male half of the PI team, Bill Smith, and the characters are closer to home investigating in New York City and New Jersey.

I didn't like this as much as other episodes in the series, something about it missed me. I think it was that the setting was mainly concerned with American football and high schools and that Rozan was taking it for granted that I'd know a lot of details that as an Englishwoman who's totally ignorant about American football I missed. I couldn't work out what time of year the book was set, only that it was at the end of the football season. In the UK the football (soccer) season ends in May or thereabouts but taking it to be that didn't seem to make sense with some of the other things in the book.

That isn't to say that I didn't like the book or that I missed the whole point. Just that some of the details went over my head when I'd rather that they hadn't done.

Mostly this book is about young people trying to live up to what adults expect of them and about how lousy some of those adults are. I did feel that some of Rozan's characters were painted in black and white in this book. One of the things I usually like about her characters is that no one is all bad but I thought that a few of the adult characters in this book were painted in pretty dark shades of grey. I think that level of characterisation was used on the adults so that the adolescent characters who were the main focus of the book reflected the adults but I still found it disappointing.

I'm sounding very negative when my main reaction to this book was positive, it's just that I think that Rozan can and has done better.

fauxbot's review against another edition

2.0

This book dates itself pretty hard with a lot of the references and phrases used. It would also be about 1/3 shorter if they pulled all the glorified smoking references.

Overall, it wasn’t a super compelling or satisfying story. Bummer!

gawronma's review against another edition

4.0

Since I couldn't get a copy of the book, I listened to an audio version. The reader was good. The story really held my attention and I liked the complicated characters. I do agree that this book will lead to an interesting discussion.

happy_hiker's review against another edition

3.0

Overall, this book was suspenseful enough to keep me interested and I liked the writing style. I had no idea this book was part of a series when I started, but I don’t think not having read the first seven books was a problem at all. In a pinch, I would grab another book in the series.

margenotbutter's review against another edition

3.0

I liked the characters in this and the dialogue made me laugh several times but I have only rated it 3 stars because I felt the pace dropped off a number of times in the book, most significantly around the beginning of the second third. Also I felt that the ending wasn't a proper conclusion. As this is part of a series of books, it was difficult to grasp Lydia and Bill's relationship without knowing their background, so that was occasionally annoying. However I did like the plot (though it was quite stereotypical the characters made it readable - though there were several "macho men" which were slightly repetitive) and based on the writing style I would read more S.J. Rozan books.