A review by ginaparrish
The Mountains Wild: A Mystery by Sarah Stewart Taylor

3.0

This was a solid middle-of-the-road read for me. I wanted to like it more than I did, as it had some good things going for it.

Pros:

—Wonderful setting, a treat if you have been to Ireland and visited some of the places mentioned.

—Good clean writing. Nothing particularly amazing, but it’s solid.

—It was a mystery and I like mysteries, though police procedurals aren’t my first choice.

Cons:

—It’s too long and drags in the middle. The romantic plot felt like an unnecessary time-waster and I didn’t root for it.

—The mystery is not fair play. You’re not given many clues to be able to solve the mystery yourself, so you just have to wait for the detectives to figure it out. The ultimate reveal made me think, “Really? That’s weird. Why?” As opposed to “Ohhh I should have known all along!”

—I had trouble rooting for any of the characters, including the narrator and her cousin. None of them were very lovable or relatable.