A review by keetumol
The Murder Pit by Mick Finlay
2.0
Private Detective Arrowood and his assistant Barnett are hired by the Barclays to find out why their mentally-challenged daughter (who is married to a pig farmer) hasn't contacted them since her wedding. The detectives soon find out that things aren't what they seem to be at the farm and then another person goes missing.
It was pretty hard to care about the story since nearly every character is unlikable, especially the protagonists. Barnett pities himself for his poverty-ridden childhood and losing his wife to a fever. I get that stuff like this can be traumatizing, but I couldn't bring myself to care because of his constant whining and self pity.
Arrowood is even worse with his persistent nagging about Sherlock Holmes and how he himself is a much more competent detective, which, after reading this book, I can confirm he isn't. Plus, he pulls a dick move on a poor doggo for his own benefit, which was highly frustrating. Maybe these character "flaws" were added to make them more human or something, but it's just annoying.
I guess the mystery itself is pretty solid, though the ending was dragged out waaaay too long and the story lost all its momentum.
All in all, I think this book was better than The Cuckoo's Calling (at least the culprit didn't monologue in this one
It was pretty hard to care about the story since nearly every character is unlikable, especially the protagonists. Barnett pities himself for his poverty-ridden childhood and losing his wife to a fever. I get that stuff like this can be traumatizing, but I couldn't bring myself to care because of his constant whining and self pity.
Arrowood is even worse with his persistent nagging about Sherlock Holmes and how he himself is a much more competent detective, which, after reading this book, I can confirm he isn't. Plus, he pulls a dick move on a poor doggo for his own benefit, which was highly frustrating. Maybe these character "flaws" were added to make them more human or something, but it's just annoying.
I guess the mystery itself is pretty solid, though the ending was dragged out waaaay too long and the story lost all its momentum.
All in all, I think this book was better than The Cuckoo's Calling (at least the culprit didn't monologue in this one