Scan barcode
A review by kirkw1972
Deadly Dance by Hilary Bonner
3.0
I have mixed feelings from this first book in the Vogel series. I really enjoyed Vogel as a character. He’s quite stoic and unusual for a police detective doesn’t have any addictions or horrid relationships. Very unique! I also liked his sub plot. He’s a secular Jew and has denounced all religion but has to re-assess his entire thinking after getting some shocking news (spoiler free). I’m not religious but religion interests me and I would pick up book 2 just to see where he goes with this.
The secondary police characters & his wife almost don’t exist. I think a lot more could have been done with them. What we do get is 3 extra voices. All link to the murder but Vogel doesn’t know how. The voices are quite similar for 3 men that have very different issues. We have the paedophile, the gay man going to extreme lengths to keep his sexuality separate from his life and the impotent man trying to find a wife online. They should sound wildly different but don’t. I think the author tries to drop clues as she goes along as to who the killer is but they’re more anvils and it becomes obvious very quickly to everyone but the police
Back to positives. It is a fast read. I sat up until 1.30am to finish it and see when Vogel would click as to who the bad guy was. The reasoning behind the murderer has been done a lot but a subject I personally find interesting (again no spoilers). As mentioned above I’m intrigued where the Jewish/faith story will go. Overall I think a thumb firmly in the middle for this one
The secondary police characters & his wife almost don’t exist. I think a lot more could have been done with them. What we do get is 3 extra voices. All link to the murder but Vogel doesn’t know how. The voices are quite similar for 3 men that have very different issues. We have the paedophile, the gay man going to extreme lengths to keep his sexuality separate from his life and the impotent man trying to find a wife online. They should sound wildly different but don’t. I think the author tries to drop clues as she goes along as to who the killer is but they’re more anvils and it becomes obvious very quickly to everyone but the police
Back to positives. It is a fast read. I sat up until 1.30am to finish it and see when Vogel would click as to who the bad guy was. The reasoning behind the murderer has been done a lot but a subject I personally find interesting (again no spoilers). As mentioned above I’m intrigued where the Jewish/faith story will go. Overall I think a thumb firmly in the middle for this one