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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
Alex Grecian's first two novels of Scotland Yard's "Murder Squad" have been fun semi-Victorian romps through the London of the late 19th century. Inspector Walter Day and his ally Dr. Bernard Kingsley, an expert in the brand-new field of forensic pathology, use their brains to puzzle out clues and bring to heel those who would prey on the good -- and not-so-good -- folks of Great Britain's capital city.
Unfortunately Grecian dumps the mystery in his third Murder Squad outing, The Devil's Workshop, to try his hand at a ticking clock psychological thriller. A secret society in London has arrogated to itself the right to punish the city's worst criminals in a manner they feel is more fitting than simple incarceration. They plan a prison break to collect a few more inmates for their dungeon, but things go wrong and some of the worst offenders are now out and free. What's more, one of the dungeon's current inmates has found a way out -- and since Saucy Jack the Ripper was the reason the Murder Squad was invented, his return to the scene after a mysterious disappearance bodes ill for many.
The replacement of a mystery with a gore-splattered cat-and-mouse game between Day, Jack and the other escaped killers makes Workshop the weakest outing of the series by far. Its setup for an obvious sequel doesn't help, and the limited look at the London of HRH Victoria Regina drains it of one of the series' chief charms to date. That obvious sequel may be better than this outing or it may not, but even if it is that won't help Workshop be much better than just average.
Original available here.
Unfortunately Grecian dumps the mystery in his third Murder Squad outing, The Devil's Workshop, to try his hand at a ticking clock psychological thriller. A secret society in London has arrogated to itself the right to punish the city's worst criminals in a manner they feel is more fitting than simple incarceration. They plan a prison break to collect a few more inmates for their dungeon, but things go wrong and some of the worst offenders are now out and free. What's more, one of the dungeon's current inmates has found a way out -- and since Saucy Jack the Ripper was the reason the Murder Squad was invented, his return to the scene after a mysterious disappearance bodes ill for many.
The replacement of a mystery with a gore-splattered cat-and-mouse game between Day, Jack and the other escaped killers makes Workshop the weakest outing of the series by far. Its setup for an obvious sequel doesn't help, and the limited look at the London of HRH Victoria Regina drains it of one of the series' chief charms to date. That obvious sequel may be better than this outing or it may not, but even if it is that won't help Workshop be much better than just average.
Original available here.
This book is most enjoyable when you distance yourself from the previous books. There isn't as much character interaction - everyone gets separated.
But I did really like the book. Lots of suspense, and I had just watched several movies on Jack the Ripper, so this book came to me at a good time. The action kept the book moving and I looked forward to reading from it every night, not wanting to have it end.
The ending was a little disappointing, though I am curious about how it will tie into the next book (hopefully there is a next one). The action slowed right when it should have been crescendoing, and I think that mostly had to do with the characters' reactions to the situation.
But I did really like the book. Lots of suspense, and I had just watched several movies on Jack the Ripper, so this book came to me at a good time. The action kept the book moving and I looked forward to reading from it every night, not wanting to have it end.
The ending was a little disappointing, though I am curious about how it will tie into the next book (hopefully there is a next one). The action slowed right when it should have been crescendoing, and I think that mostly had to do with the characters' reactions to the situation.
this wasn't the best in the series to date, maybe was a minor blip but hoping the next in the series will be much better though.
I loved the previous two in this series, but this was just 400 pages of torture porn and very little else. Not for me.