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A review by queens_flame
Spectacle by Jodie Lynn Zdrok
3.0
I was really excited about this one, because it reminded me of the Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco, which is one of my favorite books.
For the most part, I did enjoy the novel. As stated above, I’m a sucker for mysteries and trying to get to the bottom of who was the culprit. I love the hunt for clues, and the big reveals in all that. However, this book fell a little short for me with the reveals. Because, I guess, I was expecting the killer to be someone the character knew – someone we didn’t expect or see coming. But, it was someone completely random, that we didn’t really know at all and it was out of nowhere, and in a way I felt disconnected to that plot line of the story. The book also got extremely confusing as more and more information was revealed about the killer? Every time you thought the plot was resolved, something else happened and threw the storyline in a different direction. I felt like I was in a revolving door and it didn’t really help me understand the flow. So, I was a little disappointed with the murder mystery, because it felt confusing.
What I REALLY liked was the fantasy / science fiction that was incorporated into the story. It gave me The Diviners feels, which is a fav story of mine. The character finds out that she has powers, the ability to see how the victims of the murderer died. She is then told that her parents had blood transfusions when they were younger, where this scientist essentially gave people magical abilities, through science. She realizes she’s not the only one with these powers, that there are others and even with people she knows. The character struggles with dealing with learning how to use these abilities, while revealing truths about her family’s past. This was all very interesting and I LOVED this part of the plot, but I felt it didn’t fit very well with the murder mystery. In a way, it felt like two totally different stories.
The book ends on a cliffhanger, almost in the middle of a sentence/thought. I’m not sure if this was the author being tricky and messing with us, or if there will be more books to this where we get to explore the main characters abilities. While I felt the end was very confusing, I would love to still read more in this world, and hear more about our main character’s journey.
If you like complex murder mysteries with a bit of fantasy in it; like books similar to The Diviners with a Stalking Jack the Ripper-esque feel – pick up Spectacle which came out this week!
For the most part, I did enjoy the novel. As stated above, I’m a sucker for mysteries and trying to get to the bottom of who was the culprit. I love the hunt for clues, and the big reveals in all that. However, this book fell a little short for me with the reveals. Because, I guess, I was expecting the killer to be someone the character knew – someone we didn’t expect or see coming. But, it was someone completely random, that we didn’t really know at all and it was out of nowhere, and in a way I felt disconnected to that plot line of the story. The book also got extremely confusing as more and more information was revealed about the killer? Every time you thought the plot was resolved, something else happened and threw the storyline in a different direction. I felt like I was in a revolving door and it didn’t really help me understand the flow. So, I was a little disappointed with the murder mystery, because it felt confusing.
What I REALLY liked was the fantasy / science fiction that was incorporated into the story. It gave me The Diviners feels, which is a fav story of mine. The character finds out that she has powers, the ability to see how the victims of the murderer died. She is then told that her parents had blood transfusions when they were younger, where this scientist essentially gave people magical abilities, through science. She realizes she’s not the only one with these powers, that there are others and even with people she knows. The character struggles with dealing with learning how to use these abilities, while revealing truths about her family’s past. This was all very interesting and I LOVED this part of the plot, but I felt it didn’t fit very well with the murder mystery. In a way, it felt like two totally different stories.
The book ends on a cliffhanger, almost in the middle of a sentence/thought. I’m not sure if this was the author being tricky and messing with us, or if there will be more books to this where we get to explore the main characters abilities. While I felt the end was very confusing, I would love to still read more in this world, and hear more about our main character’s journey.
If you like complex murder mysteries with a bit of fantasy in it; like books similar to The Diviners with a Stalking Jack the Ripper-esque feel – pick up Spectacle which came out this week!