A review by jfbfsf
Field of Blood by Denise Mina
2.0
It was fine. I'm not a big mystery/thriller whodunit reader, but when I read a good one, I appreciate it. I went looking for a good one... but this wasn't really it.
For the first third I wasn't all that engaged, and didn't rush to pick it back up. Then I got more engrossed in the story and was interested in finding out exactly what happened... but I was still frustrated by some of the writing, and some of the actions taken by the characters. (Does every crime story involve characters going to check something out by themselves, without telling anyone, when clearly it's a stupid mistake that will get them in trouble?)
The author has an annoying habit of talking about characters without enough background as to who they are... I guess it's assumed that we'll figure it out eventually, but in the male dominated newsroom, I had trouble keeping track of who was friendly, who was nasty, and what their roles in the story were. And all that thinking about who the characters are tends to take me away from the story a bit.
I also had some trouble deciphering some of the British/Scottish expressions and phrases... which could be just the nature of reading something from another culture... except that I read a lot of books from other cultures, including this one, and it's not always as offputting as it was here.
For the first third I wasn't all that engaged, and didn't rush to pick it back up. Then I got more engrossed in the story and was interested in finding out exactly what happened... but I was still frustrated by some of the writing, and some of the actions taken by the characters. (Does every crime story involve characters going to check something out by themselves, without telling anyone, when clearly it's a stupid mistake that will get them in trouble?)
The author has an annoying habit of talking about characters without enough background as to who they are... I guess it's assumed that we'll figure it out eventually, but in the male dominated newsroom, I had trouble keeping track of who was friendly, who was nasty, and what their roles in the story were. And all that thinking about who the characters are tends to take me away from the story a bit.
I also had some trouble deciphering some of the British/Scottish expressions and phrases... which could be just the nature of reading something from another culture... except that I read a lot of books from other cultures, including this one, and it's not always as offputting as it was here.