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A review by robertod2004
Dear Little Corpses by Nicola Upson
3.0
With thanks to the author, Faber and Faber publishers, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC in exchanged for my honest and unbiased review.
A mass evacuation of children from London to avoid the expected Nazi bombings leads to the arrival in Polstead of several bus loads of little ones looking for temporary homes with the village residents. In the ensuing chaos a local girl goes missing, while tensions rise and secrets threaten to be revealed as the search for the girl goes on!
This was my first book by this author, and I was not aware that it was the latest in a long series when I read it. Perhaps if I had read some of those previous instalments I would have cared a bit more about the characters, but as it was I found myself growing a little indifferent to their various plights as the story unfolded. And there were a lot of characters, especially at the beginning, so I did find it a little difficult to keep track of them all. I also struggled to see what real value some of them (e.g. Noah) brought to the story.
The ending, where the culprit and his crimes are eventually revealed, was dark and quite disturbing. Not a bad thing it itself but for me it felt a little bit rushed. Certainly no happy ending here, but that seems to be a pattern for this series from what I have read subsequently. However, the writer's writing style and use of language is a joy to read, and I felt that she captured and conveyed the mood of the village very well throughout.
A mass evacuation of children from London to avoid the expected Nazi bombings leads to the arrival in Polstead of several bus loads of little ones looking for temporary homes with the village residents. In the ensuing chaos a local girl goes missing, while tensions rise and secrets threaten to be revealed as the search for the girl goes on!
This was my first book by this author, and I was not aware that it was the latest in a long series when I read it. Perhaps if I had read some of those previous instalments I would have cared a bit more about the characters, but as it was I found myself growing a little indifferent to their various plights as the story unfolded. And there were a lot of characters, especially at the beginning, so I did find it a little difficult to keep track of them all. I also struggled to see what real value some of them (e.g. Noah) brought to the story.
The ending, where the culprit and his crimes are eventually revealed, was dark and quite disturbing. Not a bad thing it itself but for me it felt a little bit rushed. Certainly no happy ending here, but that seems to be a pattern for this series from what I have read subsequently. However, the writer's writing style and use of language is a joy to read, and I felt that she captured and conveyed the mood of the village very well throughout.