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A review by extremelysoundyoungpotato
The Day of the Dead by Nicci French
3.0
It's always so hard to end a mystery series. I appreciate many of the choices that the author made to finish the series, but two things really took this one down for me:
Thoughts on the Frieda Klein series as a whole:
Highly enjoyable and well-written. Mysteries are well-plotted. Frieda often has a get out of jail card, literally and figuratively (because most mysteries are solved on an intuition or very specific psychological inference), but it's not utterly unrealistic. Characters have to deal with consequences of their actions, including Frieda. Nicci French also does not hesitate to depict characters struggling mentally/emotionally, and characters who have undergone some kind of trauma are never unscathed. Even though a mystery may be solved, that doesn't mean everyone lives happily ever after. Many readers criticize Frieda's character as too cold, too aloof, and question why all her friends constantly rally round her when it doesn't seem like she does anything to reciprocate. Yeah, I get it, but I found other elements of these stories interesting enough to continue. No gratuitous or graphic sex scenes, lots of cursing (including f-word and the Lord's name in vain). Ultimately, a good time, but not edifying or particularly memorable.
Spoiler
1. I completely understand the need for a new character to act as 'Watson' while Frieda is in hiding, but Lola was too annoying to rouse my empathy. She took away from a story that should have been hyper-fixated on Frieda and Dean. 2. Yes, Josef has been with Frieda since the beginning, but the final battle should have been done with Karlsson, the 'love interest'. This is what I expected from the beginning of the series and was disappointed enough to dock a star.Thoughts on the Frieda Klein series as a whole:
Highly enjoyable and well-written. Mysteries are well-plotted. Frieda often has a get out of jail card, literally and figuratively (because most mysteries are solved on an intuition or very specific psychological inference), but it's not utterly unrealistic. Characters have to deal with consequences of their actions, including Frieda. Nicci French also does not hesitate to depict characters struggling mentally/emotionally, and characters who have undergone some kind of trauma are never unscathed. Even though a mystery may be solved, that doesn't mean everyone lives happily ever after. Many readers criticize Frieda's character as too cold, too aloof, and question why all her friends constantly rally round her when it doesn't seem like she does anything to reciprocate. Yeah, I get it, but I found other elements of these stories interesting enough to continue. No gratuitous or graphic sex scenes, lots of cursing (including f-word and the Lord's name in vain). Ultimately, a good time, but not edifying or particularly memorable.