Reviews - The Moth Catcher

145 reviews for:

The Moth Catcher

Ann Cleeves

3.82 AVERAGE

soracine's review against another edition

1.0

DNF at 28%. Never heard of this series, picked it up randomly thinking it would be okay as a stand alone. Boring as hell. Idk. Did not enjoy.

chaifanatic18's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

burrowsi1's review against another edition

3.75

mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

helms's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

deeclancy's review against another edition

5.0

The deaths of P.D. James and Ruth Rendell have left a slight void in my need for an occasional crime fiction fix (of the non-hard-boiled type), which is being filled to an extent for me by Ann Cleeves. The Moth Catcher is the latest in her Vera Stanhope series, the only series I have sampled so far, and it is quite a complex plot, with many well-drawn characters from different strata of society. It is difficult to review a crime writer's work in any detail without inserting spoilers. Suffice to say that The Moth Catcher will satisfy those who like their murder mysteries to be more than jigsaw puzzles. Acute social commentary and observations on human nature are a part and parcel of Ann Cleeves' work, and she is an extremely skilled writer. In this novel, some critical observations about the criminal justice system in the UK are included, which we can assume are based on the author's previous experiences working as a probation officer.

If you are bereft at the loss of P.D. James and Ruth Rendell, you could do a lot worse than to check out this writer. I have just bought a couple of books from her Shetland series (there are three series on the go), and am looking forward to sampling her other detectives (fond and all as I am of Vera Stanhope, I sometimes wish she would find a life beyond her job and memories of her dead taxidermist father).

smemmott's review against another edition

3.0

Enjoyed listening but the resolution of the mystery wasn’t as strong as in most Vera novels. Also, this one seemed to have more frequent descriptions of Vera as fat. I’m not complaining about having a smart, competent, interesting and fat main character. But it gets tedious when her size is the main thing other characters notice about her, and in a negative way.