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augustolive's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
lratkinson's review
4.0
Debut crime fiction
Loved the characters. Really loved the setting. Kane’s degree in History of Design and her interest in urban exploration added so much to this novel. After reading, I headed over to https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/witley-wonder-underwater-ballroom
Looking forward to the next in the series.
Loved the characters. Really loved the setting. Kane’s degree in History of Design and her interest in urban exploration added so much to this novel. After reading, I headed over to https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/witley-wonder-underwater-ballroom
Looking forward to the next in the series.
tracyndye67's review
4.0
Read this in basically one day, New Years Day. Lots of characters, lots of stuff going on, would like to read more. Murder mystery. This is a good cop, not a messed up one like so many others. No one annoyingly quirky, but creepy, yes.
lgammon1's review against another edition
3.0
This book had so much potential for a good scare but it really didn't do it. Too many characters and hard to keep all the history straight. Would probably give it 2 and half stars if that was possible.
tinaha083's review against another edition
4.0
I wound up really enjoying this book. I have a great fondness for anything that looks like either a cold case, or a modern day case with deep ties to past crimes. The Bone Jar have me exactly what I wanted.
“Two murders. An abandoned asylum. Will a mysterious former patient help untangle to dark truth?” This tag line hooked me right in. Blackwater Asylum is a building filled with secrets. Soon to be renovated, it’s changed hands more than once over the years but something always goes wrong. This time it’s looking positive. And then an elderly woman is found dead in one of the beds of the derelict buildings. Detective Lee Kirby is called in, and the investigation begins.
This had the feeling of a much older novel. It put me in mind of Ellery Queen’s Wrightsville series or Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey, in that it’s a character study masquerading as a mystery, and it handles both elements really well. Kirby as detective plays a good role, and is a detective I could root for, even when I didn’t necessarily agree with how he chose to handle something. He becomes involved with Connie Darke, urban explorer, and the sister of a girl who died in the grounds some years before.
There are wheels within wheel, and so many ties between the past and the present that sometimes you lose track of the fact that sometimes ties can go beyond place. They can go beyond time. There is a great sense of time in this novel, both the slowness of time spent in an asylum, and of time running out to solve the murder.
Blackwater Asylum itself is a character. I read this book a few weeks before it came out and I can still see the design, beauty, and fading of the building. The author makes it live in both time periods and paints a very disturbing picture of what it would have been like to be in a horrible place like that even 50 years ago. The pacing is excellent and I wound up finishing it in one sitting. If you’re a fan of atmospheric writing and strong Gothic vibes, this is probably a great book for you.
Many thanks to Netgalley, Amazon.com UK, and Thomas & Mercer for this free copy in return for a review.
“Two murders. An abandoned asylum. Will a mysterious former patient help untangle to dark truth?” This tag line hooked me right in. Blackwater Asylum is a building filled with secrets. Soon to be renovated, it’s changed hands more than once over the years but something always goes wrong. This time it’s looking positive. And then an elderly woman is found dead in one of the beds of the derelict buildings. Detective Lee Kirby is called in, and the investigation begins.
This had the feeling of a much older novel. It put me in mind of Ellery Queen’s Wrightsville series or Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey, in that it’s a character study masquerading as a mystery, and it handles both elements really well. Kirby as detective plays a good role, and is a detective I could root for, even when I didn’t necessarily agree with how he chose to handle something. He becomes involved with Connie Darke, urban explorer, and the sister of a girl who died in the grounds some years before.
There are wheels within wheel, and so many ties between the past and the present that sometimes you lose track of the fact that sometimes ties can go beyond place. They can go beyond time. There is a great sense of time in this novel, both the slowness of time spent in an asylum, and of time running out to solve the murder.
Blackwater Asylum itself is a character. I read this book a few weeks before it came out and I can still see the design, beauty, and fading of the building. The author makes it live in both time periods and paints a very disturbing picture of what it would have been like to be in a horrible place like that even 50 years ago. The pacing is excellent and I wound up finishing it in one sitting. If you’re a fan of atmospheric writing and strong Gothic vibes, this is probably a great book for you.
Many thanks to Netgalley, Amazon.com UK, and Thomas & Mercer for this free copy in return for a review.
sydkneelisa's review against another edition
3.0
I liked it. Quick, easy read. An interesting plot line, almost a little confusing. Felt a little flat, could have been fleshed out a bit more. For a first novel, not too bad. I hope she keeps writing and develops her skills.
zoer03's review against another edition
I can’t rate something I haven’t finished. But I don’t think I could anyway am not sure why but the whole plot, characters just felt flat and dull. It didn’t feel real or in anyway creepy. It just felt boring and the characters, I felt nothing for. I also didn’t like the casual swearing especially the c word unless it feels fitting and just throwing swear around a just really irritates me. I am very disappointed in this as I was hoping from the premise it would be good. But I just got bored with it and cannot carry on reading it.
gordonk's review against another edition
4.0
A crime story which begins with a murder in an abandoned asylum. An elderly lady has died, but who would do such a thing to a defenseless old lady? Was she defenseless though? As readers shouldn’t we all know not to judge a book by its cover? There are many suspects but most of them seem to have no motive, the problem is that they are all hiding something, isn’t that always the way? As crime stories go this isn’t the most enthralling one that I’ve ever read, but it’s up there. There aren’t many twists here but when they come they really do bite!
churrocharizard's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5