gsanta1's review against another edition
3.0
Read it for the slow descriptions and backstories.
The first half of the book is a list of interrogations and interviews between characters, and not very compelling. You could almost make a bullet point list.
There’s a a few subplot scenes about Duncan and Taylor, but there’s no arc there and they go nowhere.
As you go, the scenes mostly help fill-in the picture.
Like her other book, there is a second murder, and I wonder if that’s going to be a repeating plot device to complicate and pad the books. I’m not too familiar with this genre: is it common to have more than one murder or crime in one novel? Or rather, how common is it?
It’s still not cleared to me how Perez figured out. Perez tells us about the evidence they found, but it’s not explained why he looked there. And the motive wasn’t very strong but I wonder if Cleeve had made it stronger then it would have been too obvious.
Overall, it was a nice journey and it was fun learning about the characters and I like the slow paced.
I’ve read other detective-crime novels that are slow paced, but they often lose my interest with the abundance of tangents and descriptions.
Somehow Cleves doesn’t lose my interest.
The first half of the book is a list of interrogations and interviews between characters, and not very compelling. You could almost make a bullet point list.
There’s a a few subplot scenes about Duncan and Taylor, but there’s no arc there and they go nowhere.
As you go, the scenes mostly help fill-in the picture.
Like her other book, there is a second murder, and I wonder if that’s going to be a repeating plot device to complicate and pad the books. I’m not too familiar with this genre: is it common to have more than one murder or crime in one novel? Or rather, how common is it?
It’s still not cleared to me how Perez figured out. Perez tells us about the evidence they found, but it’s not explained why he looked there. And the motive wasn’t very strong but I wonder if Cleeve had made it stronger then it would have been too obvious.
Overall, it was a nice journey and it was fun learning about the characters and I like the slow paced.
I’ve read other detective-crime novels that are slow paced, but they often lose my interest with the abundance of tangents and descriptions.
Somehow Cleves doesn’t lose my interest.
dave37's review against another edition
4.0
Very good story. Read most of it in a single day as it was difficult to put down. Looking forward to the next in the series.
hekate24's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. It took me a while to warm to this book. However around the halfway mark I was fully on board. The mystery isn’t terribly compelling on its own and if you were to recite the plot points there are a lot of boiler plate standard mystery tropes. However there’s this sense of unease (even dread) throughout that I found very memorable.
ronanmcd's review against another edition
5.0
Just when you think you know who did it, it all changes once again. Lovely, gripping stuff.
Really enjoyed the wider themes; parental bonds(in particular that between mother and son), the responsibility of family & the pressures of close knit groups, fitting in in shall communities, the construction of heritage. Lots of ideas thrown in, but organically, not at random. For a blockbuster, page turner this book gives a huge amount more than expected.
Really enjoyed the wider themes; parental bonds(in particular that between mother and son), the responsibility of family & the pressures of close knit groups, fitting in in shall communities, the construction of heritage. Lots of ideas thrown in, but organically, not at random. For a blockbuster, page turner this book gives a huge amount more than expected.
zoemaja's review against another edition
5.0
The peril of watching the BBC series before reading the books is that it takes longer to love the characters because you are constantly comparing them to the TV series characters whom you already love. It took me until about halfway through the book before I realized what the TV series had done, and I am only guessing because I haven't read them all yet, but I think they took the life situation of the main characters as it exists in the later books and just dropped the plots into that - making the shows more about the mysteries and less about the characters' journeys.
But now I am completely hooked and will certainly go on to read all the rest of the books just as soon as I can so I will hopefully be able to confirm if I am right soon.
audio
But now I am completely hooked and will certainly go on to read all the rest of the books just as soon as I can so I will hopefully be able to confirm if I am right soon.
audio
skateanddonate's review against another edition
5.0
Great read. In the top 10 this year. Captivating.
didactylos's review against another edition
4.0
Atmospheric and cleverly plotted. Well worth the read. Ending came as a shock, not what I was expecting.
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
4.0
Recommended by Sonia. Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sraven%20black%20cleeves__Orightresult__U?lang=eng