A review by ashleylm
Careless Love by Peter Robinson
3.0
Very readable, page-turnable book, but ultimately unsatisfying compared to some of his other ones. A very limited pool of suspects lessened any opportunity to surprise, and there were no plot twists to speak of once the book was well underway, no surprising revelations, etc. I also didn't care for the ongoing, serial nature of the subplot, or the introduction of Zelda (far too unlikely in all sorts of ways)—I want my mysteries to march straight ahead, solving the crime, and anything "personal" should be of the by-the-way nature, not several chapters' worth.
So this was ultimately a disappointment—it's really a two star book, but I can't bring myself to give it that since I enjoyed (save for the subplot) most of the moments of the actual reading. It was just ultimately unfulfilling (the journey was better than the destination, or the parts were better than the sum, some such cliché), and I think most of it would prefer it if Robinson stopped throwing female characters at Banks.
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)
So this was ultimately a disappointment—it's really a two star book, but I can't bring myself to give it that since I enjoyed (save for the subplot) most of the moments of the actual reading. It was just ultimately unfulfilling (the journey was better than the destination, or the parts were better than the sum, some such cliché), and I think most of it would prefer it if Robinson stopped throwing female characters at Banks.
(5* = amazing, terrific book, one of my all-time favourites, 4* = very good book, 3* = good book, but nothing to particularly rave about, 2* = disappointing book, and 1* = awful, just awful. As a statistician I know most books are 3s, but I am biased in my selection and end up mostly with 4s, thank goodness.)