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A review by usbsticky
The Body on the Shore by Nick Louth
4.0
Another good entry in this series. I wish authors would stop with these generic titles which makes it hard to keep track of which story is which. Spoilers ahead.
The book starts off with two plots:
A young architect is shot in his office. Investigation reveals he has a history. What I don't get is the over reach and the amount of extra work on the flimsiest of hunches, like taking the whole bus stop roof off with grinders when even a casual look shows that no one has stood on it. Do the British police really have that much resources to devote to marginal leads?
Two young adopted children from a rich family have been threatened and finally abducted. Why did the abductor even warn the kids? And why did the police look into the neighbor's history in so much detail? This is another part that doesn't make sense. In both books so far, the police have been so intrusive into anything that has even a very remote connection, such full forensic investigations on people only peripherally associated with the case. Do they have that much time? And it's a wonder people volunteer anything, in fear that they get dragged into such intrusive digging into their lives.
Finally an unknown male is found shot on the beach miles away, and later on they link that with the cases as well.
Anyway, all the leads seem to have Albania in common. The architect and the two children being Albanian refugees. So Craig ends up going to Albania where he finds that centuries old blood feuds are common and that the subjects in the cases all appear to be victims of it. The rest of the book is more of an action book rather than a mystery whodunit book.
The section on Albania is definitely very interesting, from the part history to the culture and geography. Craig is partnered with an Albanian detective sergeant who is very helpful and puts his life on the line to help the case. And as usual, the characters and their interactions with each other is what I like about this book. The plot line that linked everyone together was also good.
The book starts off with two plots:
A young architect is shot in his office. Investigation reveals he has a history. What I don't get is the over reach and the amount of extra work on the flimsiest of hunches, like taking the whole bus stop roof off with grinders when even a casual look shows that no one has stood on it. Do the British police really have that much resources to devote to marginal leads?
Two young adopted children from a rich family have been threatened and finally abducted. Why did the abductor even warn the kids? And why did the police look into the neighbor's history in so much detail? This is another part that doesn't make sense. In both books so far, the police have been so intrusive into anything that has even a very remote connection, such full forensic investigations on people only peripherally associated with the case. Do they have that much time? And it's a wonder people volunteer anything, in fear that they get dragged into such intrusive digging into their lives.
Finally an unknown male is found shot on the beach miles away, and later on they link that with the cases as well.
Anyway, all the leads seem to have Albania in common. The architect and the two children being Albanian refugees. So Craig ends up going to Albania where he finds that centuries old blood feuds are common and that the subjects in the cases all appear to be victims of it. The rest of the book is more of an action book rather than a mystery whodunit book.
The section on Albania is definitely very interesting, from the part history to the culture and geography. Craig is partnered with an Albanian detective sergeant who is very helpful and puts his life on the line to help the case. And as usual, the characters and their interactions with each other is what I like about this book. The plot line that linked everyone together was also good.