A review by iainkelly_writing
Auld Acquaintance by Sofia Slater

fast-paced

2.0

If you're going to use the plot and plot twist of a classic Agatha Christie (the author at least acknowledges her influence, and Josephine Tey), you better have some exceptional writing skills to justify your book. Unfortunately this falls short. Very derivative of 'And Then There Were None', but not in the same league. The characters are all shallow and unlikeable (a romantic interest good guy who is also a drug dealer, anyone?). For once, I can genuinely say I saw the twist and knew the killer halfway through, and anyone who has read Christie will too. The dialogue is achingly trying to be modern (and yes, we have social media influences in our cast). A lot of annoying discrepancies - ch.4 ' oh dear, the whisky hasn't arrived, there is only sherry' - rest of the book everyone drinking copious amounts of whisky... Perhaps the biggest miss is the setting of a fictional island in the Outer Hebrides, but the author fails to give any sense of atmosphere or mood that the setting would lend itself to. I wish the author all the best with their future books, but I'm afraid this didn't do it for me. At least it was a fast read.