ingypingy2000's review
5.0
Talk about a dark story! There's nothing pretty about this book, but once you pick it up you can't put it down! It's a great suspense mystery. You get to the end and you just sigh because it's done and ended well.
dapperreads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
First - immediately I’m thrown in with a couple of MCs who clearly have a history … and it’s written like we should know what that history is. If we should know, then this shouldn’t be book 1 of a series. It should be a continuation of wherever the backstory came from. But alas, this book is almost as old as I am so here we are. The ‘90’s were something else huh? I mean yeah yeah we get the gist - but it reads like there’s a whole story not just “oh we slept together that one time”…so uh…rest of that story??
My next thing is the straight up judgment about what is found in the MURDER VICTIM’s apartment. Sex toys? You’re mad about sex toys? Hunny - come to my house and I’ll scar you for life. At least she had a nice room for it. Chill out with your judgmental selves.
The story itself was pretty good. If we take out the above mentioned “oh no there are sex toys 😱😱😱” that went into their “investigation” it was a typical crime thriller. But a LONG one. And for no real good reason.
Too much time was spent hashing out the previously mentioned history between the MCs without actually explaining any of it. So we can cut all of that without taking anything away from the story. We can also remove the judgment about lifestyle choices - this book most definitely didn’t age well. There were a few times I noted a rehashing of information we already knew (which yes, that’s criminal justice procedure but it doesn’t need to be in a crime thriller) so if we remove that I think we take this 454 page book down to 275-300 pages and it’s honestly very solid.
I’ll admit I’m on team don’t use 5 words when one will do, so wordy books with no good reason just automatically lose points for me. I don’t need a higher page/word count when shortening it up would tell the story and even add a faster paced environment. I also prefer my books to be fast paced - so basically what do YOU like out of a book? I do not like this overly wordy format so it isn’t a positive aspect for me.
So:
The main characters suck - hella judge-y and for no good reason.
The investigation starts much more concerned with covering up her “lifestyle” than solving her murder. No thanks.
Super freaking wordy for no reason.
Weird relationship between the MCs. Also no thanks.
The story itself (taking out my complaints) was solid. If we break it down, we have a couple military investigators working on the rape and murder of a famous general’s daughter. While I understand wanting to keep the details out of the media, keeping them away from the police to save face felt pretty realistically aggravating. So I can give it that I guess.
Big CW: rape, murder
I hope the movie is better 🤷♀️
⭐️⭐️
nicnactack's review
3.0
An ok thriller, but really nothing special. Felt the humor akward and a bit misplaced at times.
kcb263's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book. Even though I'd seen the movie, it was such a long time ago that I'd forgotten the ending. It wasn't my favorite Nelson DeMille book (and he is my favorite author) since it seemed more like a mystery/detective style than his other books. Still, he writing is so good that it made me feel like I was their witnessing the events first hand.
martyfried's review against another edition
4.0
This book had a lot of humor mixed in with a lot of serious sadness. The humor was mostly in the interaction between characters, and didn't really detract too much from the serious parts, in my opinion.
I thought the two main characters investigating the crime made a great couple. They did a good job handling a lot of difficult situations, and worked well together.
I thought the two main characters investigating the crime made a great couple. They did a good job handling a lot of difficult situations, and worked well together.
cmasson17's review
4.25
DeMille does dialogue better than most. Read the book-skip the movie. 1999 BOY
st4rlight's review
3.0
تبدأ رواية ابنة الجنرال بجريمة قتل ، ونرى منذ البداية أنها ليست مجرد جريمة ضد فرد أو مجتمع بل جريمة ضد المؤسسة العسكرية ..
جريمة ضد النظام والإنضباط، وإهانة لمفاهيم الشرف والولاء والحكمة العسكرية التي تتمثل في :
" كل الأخوة بواسل ، وكل الأخوات فاضلات " ..
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هذه الجملة تلخص هذه الرواية ..
يبحث بول برينير وسينيثيا صنهيل المحققان العسكريان عن المتهم ،
ويكتشفان ان للجريمة أبعاداً أخرى أعمق ..
يختلط فيها الماضي بالحاضر ..
وهناكَ أيضاً خليط آخر ، خليط من التوقيت السيء ، وسوء الحظ وسوء الفهم ـ ..
نعرف من خلال هذه الرواية،
أنَ الجيش يعملُ وفقا لميثاق الشرف العسكري وله أنظمته الداخلية الخاصة به ..
كما ان القانون العسكري يشمل بعض الفضائل العسكرية كلمات مثل الواجب والولاء والشرف ..
وهي مفاهيم كما قال عنها الكاتب في بداية الرواية من النادر أن يتناولها القانون المدني ..
رواية جيدة ونهاية مناسبة ..تستحق /
( 3,8 ) ..
جدير بالذكر أنَ الرواية تحولت لفيلم أنتج عام 1999م
سأبحث عنه وأشاهده :)
alice2000's review against another edition
4.0
I had, of course, seen the movie version of this years ago. A friend recommended DeMille to me as I like action/mystery books. It took me a little while to get into the story and characters. It probably would have been a lot more shocking for me to have read this before 'different' sexual flavoring became more openly talked about, but that aside it was an engrossing read. I look forward to reading more of his work.
annaevans1681's review
4.0
I picked up this book because the author was recommended to me and I love the movie. It’s always interesting reading a book AFTER seeing the movie because you can’t help but have expectations. The gritty details of this book drew me in but some parts were long winded (again…things are more to the point on screen) but I definitely still recommend it!
chemma's review
4.0
Great book! Kept me up some nights wanting to find out the answers and what happened next. A 4 because a couple of chapters towards the end I found myself skipping over irrelevant parts but still somewhat enjoyed the ending