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A review by marilynw
The Devil You Know by P.J. Tracy
4.0
The Devil You Know by P.J. Tracy
(Detective Margaret Nolan #3)
I listened to the first two books in this series and read this third offering. There are so many characters in this story and we get deep into the head of not just the regulars but characters that we'll probably (or for sure) just see in this book. Even little used side characters can be given some character development, which I like, but it can add a lot of information to wrap one's mind around. Detective Nolan is the person this series is named after but she shares the starring role with a wounded veteran, Sam, who Margaret befriended in an earlier book.
The Hollywood movers and shakers are a pretentious, snooty, snotty, conniving, stab you in the back, spit on your grave, best caviar and champagne for breakfast bunch. A few of them can have their endearing moments and a couple are deadly vipers with the venom they spew without much provocation. I could barely get through the overly wordy thoughts of some of these people. They make my thoughts seem like a first grade primer but I think I'm happier than this lot. I connect much better with the working class law enforcement types, especially since a few of them can be pretty simple and funny, such as Margaret's partner, Detective Crawford.
The story starts with a body and then more bodies pile up. This is a tangled tale and the farther the detectives go in their investigations the more the same names seem to appear in the trails that are left behind. How many more people are going to be snuffed out almost under the detectives' noses? There are a lot of people that I suspect until some of them are "eliminated" from my suspect list in a very permanent way. The story starts very slowly for me since there is almost too much wordy building of character for the Hollywood types. But once Margaret gets on the job of solving crime, I think the story gets good. You might want to take notes if you want to keep this tangled web from scrambling your brain.
Publication: January 17, 2023
Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC.
(Detective Margaret Nolan #3)
I listened to the first two books in this series and read this third offering. There are so many characters in this story and we get deep into the head of not just the regulars but characters that we'll probably (or for sure) just see in this book. Even little used side characters can be given some character development, which I like, but it can add a lot of information to wrap one's mind around. Detective Nolan is the person this series is named after but she shares the starring role with a wounded veteran, Sam, who Margaret befriended in an earlier book.
The Hollywood movers and shakers are a pretentious, snooty, snotty, conniving, stab you in the back, spit on your grave, best caviar and champagne for breakfast bunch. A few of them can have their endearing moments and a couple are deadly vipers with the venom they spew without much provocation. I could barely get through the overly wordy thoughts of some of these people. They make my thoughts seem like a first grade primer but I think I'm happier than this lot. I connect much better with the working class law enforcement types, especially since a few of them can be pretty simple and funny, such as Margaret's partner, Detective Crawford.
The story starts with a body and then more bodies pile up. This is a tangled tale and the farther the detectives go in their investigations the more the same names seem to appear in the trails that are left behind. How many more people are going to be snuffed out almost under the detectives' noses? There are a lot of people that I suspect until some of them are "eliminated" from my suspect list in a very permanent way. The story starts very slowly for me since there is almost too much wordy building of character for the Hollywood types. But once Margaret gets on the job of solving crime, I think the story gets good. You might want to take notes if you want to keep this tangled web from scrambling your brain.
Publication: January 17, 2023
Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC.