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A review by pgchuis
Lying and Dying by Graham Brack
3.0
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.
Police detective Josef Slonsky investigates the murder of a young woman, while at the same time mentoring (or is it corrupting?) new recruit Navratil. The first two thirds of this story are excellent; the tone is light, there are lots of funny lines, and the plot moves along swiftly. Slonsky's methods are reprehensible, but achieve results, and he cleverly gets away with things and manipulates his superiors. There are passages touching on Prague's recent history which were interesting.
However, I was less enamoured of the last third of the narrative, which was filled with lengthy speeches and argument. Both the motive and method of the murderer seemed dubious to me. Would his plan really have achieved what he sought? (I don't think so). I was very disappointed indeed with how the story ended.
Police detective Josef Slonsky investigates the murder of a young woman, while at the same time mentoring (or is it corrupting?) new recruit Navratil. The first two thirds of this story are excellent; the tone is light, there are lots of funny lines, and the plot moves along swiftly. Slonsky's methods are reprehensible, but achieve results, and he cleverly gets away with things and manipulates his superiors. There are passages touching on Prague's recent history which were interesting.
However, I was less enamoured of the last third of the narrative, which was filled with lengthy speeches and argument. Both the motive and method of the murderer seemed dubious to me. Would his plan really have achieved what he sought? (I don't think so). I was very disappointed indeed with how the story ended.