kimham_bookstagram's review against another edition
3.0
#TheDevilYouKnow is a well-written, slow-paced, entertaining, crime mystery set in Hollywood. It is the third in a series based on LAPD Homicide Detective, Margaret Nolan. The author did not provide enough back story from the first two in the series, so I found myself a bit lost. I also felt the character development was lacking a bit, so I had trouble getting into the narrative.
Thank you to #NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and P. J. Tracy for the digital ARC. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
Thank you to #NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and P. J. Tracy for the digital ARC. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
kristin54's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
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? No
1.0
reader_cheryl's review against another edition
4.0
The Devil You Know
By P.J. Tracy
Book 3 in The Detective Margaret Nolan series
When the body of an actor is revealed after an earthquake, Detective Margaret Nolan
finds herself thrust into the world of Hollywood royalty.
(Disclaimer: I haven’t read the other two books in the series, but it didn’t matter because this can be read as a standalone novel.)
The body of popular Disney actor Evan Hobbes, accused via social media of child molesting, is found after an earthquake shakes him loose and dumps his body on the Pacific Coast Highway. Detective Margaret Nolan and her partner Al Crawford are assigned to the high-profile case. As they investigate, Detective Nolan is forced to deal with all sorts of characters-agents without souls, jilted lovers, and Hollywood royalty. Before the initial murder is solved, more bodies are discovered, and more murders are committed. Is one person responsible for all the murders or is it just Essie Baum is extremely unfortunate to be in the middle of it all? Are the murders even related to one another or just eerie timing? Nolan’s skills are put to the test as the body count continues to grow.
The Devil You Know is fast-paced murder mystery, full of twists and turns. The first five chapters are spend introducing the reader to the key players in the novel and that threw me for a bit because it wasn’t clear how they fit into the book overall. It also made it more difficult to remember who they were when re-introduced as the story unfolded. Once Hobbes’ appeared (Chapter 10) the links between the characters clarified and the reading became easier.
P.J. Tracy’s way of writing is what really drew me into the book, though, and is what kept me reading. Tracy uses dark humor and cutting observations to reveal her characters, while also writing a mystery that was difficult to solve. I enjoyed reading The Devil You Know.
Thanks to #NetGally for providing a copy of the book.
By P.J. Tracy
Book 3 in The Detective Margaret Nolan series
When the body of an actor is revealed after an earthquake, Detective Margaret Nolan
finds herself thrust into the world of Hollywood royalty.
(Disclaimer: I haven’t read the other two books in the series, but it didn’t matter because this can be read as a standalone novel.)
The body of popular Disney actor Evan Hobbes, accused via social media of child molesting, is found after an earthquake shakes him loose and dumps his body on the Pacific Coast Highway. Detective Margaret Nolan and her partner Al Crawford are assigned to the high-profile case. As they investigate, Detective Nolan is forced to deal with all sorts of characters-agents without souls, jilted lovers, and Hollywood royalty. Before the initial murder is solved, more bodies are discovered, and more murders are committed. Is one person responsible for all the murders or is it just Essie Baum is extremely unfortunate to be in the middle of it all? Are the murders even related to one another or just eerie timing? Nolan’s skills are put to the test as the body count continues to grow.
The Devil You Know is fast-paced murder mystery, full of twists and turns. The first five chapters are spend introducing the reader to the key players in the novel and that threw me for a bit because it wasn’t clear how they fit into the book overall. It also made it more difficult to remember who they were when re-introduced as the story unfolded. Once Hobbes’ appeared (Chapter 10) the links between the characters clarified and the reading became easier.
P.J. Tracy’s way of writing is what really drew me into the book, though, and is what kept me reading. Tracy uses dark humor and cutting observations to reveal her characters, while also writing a mystery that was difficult to solve. I enjoyed reading The Devil You Know.
Thanks to #NetGally for providing a copy of the book.
caitkom's review against another edition
4.0
This is the third in the series. Somehow I missed the second one, but I feel like I was able to pick up with the third. It was a fast paced story with lots of twists and turns that I really didn't see coming. Maggie Nolan, LAPD detective takes the lead in this story, and Sam only pops in here and there.
Maggie and her part has caught the case of a beloved movie star, Evan Hobbes is found dead after a tumble down a cliff, the first point of business is to find out if it was, in fact a murder. Maggie starts unraveling the case and just when she thinks she has a bead on what's going on, someone else ends up dead.
Even though Sam is only in the story sporadically, there is a separate story line involving him, which I am looking forward to finding out more about. There was a lot of relationship growth for both Maggie and Sam.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this novel . All thoughts are my own.
Maggie and her part has caught the case of a beloved movie star, Evan Hobbes is found dead after a tumble down a cliff, the first point of business is to find out if it was, in fact a murder. Maggie starts unraveling the case and just when she thinks she has a bead on what's going on, someone else ends up dead.
Even though Sam is only in the story sporadically, there is a separate story line involving him, which I am looking forward to finding out more about. There was a lot of relationship growth for both Maggie and Sam.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this novel . All thoughts are my own.
memull17's review against another edition
3.0
The Devil You Know is the third book in the Detective Maggie Nolan series and while each book is a stand-alone and can be read as such but in my opinion it’s better to start a series from the beginning. There was references back to what happened in the previous books so I understood where things were but you definitely miss the small thing’s when you jump into the middle of a series.
There’s a lot of moving parts in this story with the multiple murders and the personal side stories of Maggie and Sam. This book is a well written police procedural once you figure out who all the players are and I think if I had read the previous books it wouldn’t have taken me as long to get entrenched in the story.
I usually try to start series from the beginning so I will probably go back and read the previous books (definitely interested in one of the stories based off the callback references) and then reread this one to better appreciate it.
Thank you @minotaurbooks and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.
lauranicholereads's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen and review this audiobook.
To be transparent I did not realize this was the third book in a series. I may have enjoyed it more had I read/listened to the first two. I didn’t feel like the characters were developed enough. Even though this is the third book in the series it would have been nice if there was some recap or descriptions of the existing characters. I listened to the audiobook version and while I liked the narrator, some of the voices were too similar to distinguish at times. I did enjoy the plot and the pacing of it. There were some good twists and turns (even if they were predictable).
To be transparent I did not realize this was the third book in a series. I may have enjoyed it more had I read/listened to the first two. I didn’t feel like the characters were developed enough. Even though this is the third book in the series it would have been nice if there was some recap or descriptions of the existing characters. I listened to the audiobook version and while I liked the narrator, some of the voices were too similar to distinguish at times. I did enjoy the plot and the pacing of it. There were some good twists and turns (even if they were predictable).
theseatedview's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? No
2.0