Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

De schaduwman by Helen Sarah Fields

2 reviews

silver_lining125's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

2.5

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leahsbooks's review against another edition

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dark tense 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? Yes

4.0

 After reading all the books in the DI Callanach series, I felt pretty well prepared for what this standalone story was going to bring. While there were some similarities, there were also some significant differences. 
 
Fields continues to create incredibly compelling law enforcement characters, and the close connection between them develops quickly without feeling forced. DI Baarda and Dr. Connie Woolwine are both intriguing and I loved their chemistry. However, I did feel like Connie’s portrayal as an American didn’t feel accurate (I can say that fully as an American). Her patterns of speech frequently included phrases that just aren’t used in American English, and it felt like it relied on her use of profanity to enforce that she was indeed American. But not all Americans curse freely, and even those who do tend to hold back while working in a professional capacity. 
 
I haven’t managed to find an author who can set such an incredibly creepy tone in just a couple of pages the way Helen Fields can. In her DI Callanach books, I seriously never learned my lesson, starting a book in the late afternoon or evening, and scaring the wits out of myself until I couldn’t even think of trying to sleep until I had finished the book. But with this book, it just stayed as creepy without crossing the line into terrifying. 
 
Since the story is set in Scotland, I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of familiar characters reappear in this book. I was thrilled to realize that Dr. Ailsa Lambert plays a role in this story, as does DS Overbeck, who hasn’t changed much at all. Fields also sticks with her usual level of gore and violence, but with a whole never level of psychiatric weirdness added in. There’s some disability representation, and some seriously horrific psychiatric care thrown into the mix. But it all works out to make a compelling story that I couldn’t put down. Not because I was too scared to stop reading, but because I just wanted to find out what happened to the characters. Helen Fields has a magic touch even without the incredibly sexy DI Callanach between her pages. 
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