Reviews

I am quite mad at myself for completely missing who the murder was. I let myself be pulled in with the red herring. The dude is odd and it’s so coincidental so he must be the killer, right? Unfortunately, that’s also why the Italian police thought Amanda Knox was the killer: She was acting odd. Malcolm Gladwell’s book had a chapter about that.

Anyway, I did enjoy the book, but am a bit miffed by the killer. I am however committed to this series until the third and next book in the series. I heard Red Bones was amazing, but per my rules, I must read a series in order to enjoy the third book.

I also want to watch the BBC series too. But unless the third book wows me, I may just have to give it up.

marsha1268's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

claudia_mary's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

sandin954's review against another edition

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3.0

An enjoyable read but not quite as good as the previous book in the series [b:Raven Black|644655|Raven Black |Ann Cleeves|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311987250s/644655.jpg|2327400]. The highlights of this book for me were the Shetland Island setting and the author's insight into how insular communities work and are affected by crime. I found the ending to be a bit abrupt though and perhaps not in keeping with the pace of the rest of the book.

carolineroche's review against another edition

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5.0

I listened to this as an audiobook. It was very atmospheric, and quite unusually for me, I didn't guess who the murderer was, which adds a deep level of satisfaction for me!

jrdbrook's review against another edition

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4.0

I very much enjoyed this book, as I did the first one in the series. I'm a prolific knitter and the culture and history of the knitting and wool in the Shetland Islands is of great interest to me; so the setting probably makes me biased to like the book before I even start.

I would love to visit and it gives a delightful taste of what the islands are like ( not so much the murders) but the erudite descriptions of the scenery and the differing lifestyles. It felt like a solid yet easy read. The narrative moved along well yet set a detailed and interesting atmosphere.

I liked the spattering of Shetland/Scottish words e.g. neeps, tatties, Peerie, simmer dim, ken etc.

The plot wasn't half bad either. Left me guessing for quite awhile. Everything felt authentic, not a fantastical description of an imagined circumstance. The investigation was well paced - detailed enough to get you invested in the case but not long winded enough to bore. As with the nature of the close community on the islands, it made it different to other detective stories, since Jimmy Perez already knew a lot of the back story of the people.

It didn't quite get 5 stars because it just didn't have that wow factor, nor was it an unputdownable book. Nevertheless, an enjoyable read.

devlee6's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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