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joy12's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
susanhenry's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
christym's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
valerie87's review against another edition
3.0
Although it was a good idea for a murder mystery, too much of the book followed the lives of the characters. Usually I like to read about the characters, but not when it takes over the majority of the book.
Even so, I will continue to read this series!
Even so, I will continue to read this series!
tlt19's review
4.0
I switched to print from audio for this one and I actually prefer the series in print. I love the characters in this series and the murder mystery is not intense but enough to get you wondering who did it. I had my suspicions about the culprit but it wasn't too obvious.
rebeccajanereads's review against another edition
Didn't like the end of this one much but I still love her writing
tracey_stewart's review
2.0
I've said it often: if I make a lot of notes on Goodreads or my Kindle about a book, it means one of two things: either it's very good, or it's very bad. There were eight notes on this one as I listened; lately, that's a lot. And this book was not "very good".
First off, though, the narration, by Steven Pacey, is excellent. He's the reason this isn't one star; he's very good indeed, and I will happily listen to anything he narrates.
Except more of this series.
Because at about 90% I said that if Serrailler's sister was attacked, I was done with the series. And - spoiler - she was. So I am.
It's been coming for a couple of books now. It's a damn shame - they're very well written, in terms of language and characterization and setting. I like the characters. The village is believable and well thought out, and almost qualifies as another character. Bits and scenes are very enjoyable.
But - wait, did I say the village is believable? I take it back - because while the descriptions are quite nice and it feels like a fleshed-out location, any village that has ... what is the series up to now, three? Four? Serial killers, particularly in the space of a very few years, is a village out of which everyone would have moved, and which would probably have been razed to the ground. I understand the attraction of setting mystery series in villages - they're interesting, and manageable, and it's relatively easy to make the place up out of whole cloth and have utter control over where things are and such, rather than having to contend with the finite reality of a real place. But come on. This isn't a series of cozy mysteries, where a lot of leeway is granted. The body count in this place is absurd, and the inhabitants who aren't fleeing should be launching an investigation into their police department.
And "well-written" doesn't extend to plot. These books are fairly predictable in a lot of ways, including one that isn't unique to this series, but which should still be avoided: a character is introduced for the first time, fleshed out, given a voice and a past and hopes for the future, and then snuffed out. I guess it's supposed to point up the fact that when a killer strikes the victims are real people, people like the reader, with lives and occupations and preoccupations, not just phantoms, stand-ins filling the role of "victim". But the result is that when, as in this book, a character unique to this book who has a difficult life, suddenly expresses hope for the future and begins to plan for a better life, I immediately say "she's next". And lo, so it came to pass.
My main problem with the series is that absurd police force. It's a common problem in fiction - and reality, I suppose, but it should be something avoided in fiction: every single case I can think of has been solved by pure chance, or by the killer doing something dumb. It's not the hard graft of scouring CCTV tapes and doing door-to-doors and posting officers in danger zones that does it - and in fact in this one those officers posted at the most dangerous place were as useful as a bicycle to a fish. I need to say it: there was a murder literally yards away from a van full of cops. And no one noticed. *slow clap*
Somehow nobody seems to be paying for that little lapse of attention. And that was a "respectable woman", as the book description has it, not a mere sex worker.
The main thing that baffled me about the "investigation" was the questioning of the victim who survived. She had been strangled, and could not speak. "We'll ask you yes or no questions and you raise your finger or nod or shake your head", they say confusingly, and then proceed to ask questions requiring more than a yes or a no. And it takes two sessions with her for someone to finally think of handing the poor woman a pad and a pen. She. Can't. Speak. I ... it was remarkably stupid.
What the force DID manage do was bring in a man for questioning, a man who made a habit of bringing out sandwiches and tea to the sex workers in what became the kill zone, for no other reason than because he saw a need and filled it. And perhaps because he was a lonely introvert and this was the way he found to reach out. And nobody - not the cops, not the sex workers - believed he didn't have some ulterior motive. What that says about humanity ... I mean, I hate people on the whole, but even I believe that now and then someone actually does have decent humane impulses and genuinely want to help. But not these folks. Nope. They brought him in - even after they were pretty sure he had nothing to do with anything, because he was all they had - and interrogated him for hours, seems like - held him overnight the first time - and then were disgruntled when the poor man had a heart attack. A man with a frail mother and a job that had to seem like it was dangling by a thread that got thinner the more attention the police paid him, and a reputation that was shredding and blowing away in the wind ... It's a wonder more innocent suspects don't have heart attacks.
OH - And then the other main suspect, a brutal and violent man, they just let loose on an unsuspecting world, and no one seems particularly bothered when he beats up a woman. *shrug*
Another note that I made in the read was about how very boring it is to have to sit through yet another scene of oh-bother-the-press-is-haranguing-us-for-not-making-an-arrest-yet. It's stupid, and annoying. It's accurate to reality, I'm sure - and I don't care. It's done to death. It's an unreasonable stance for the press to take, in most cases, as it's not like in most cases the police don't care if they catch the killer - and it's a great way to end up with innocent people being railroaded. Or, you know, interrogated into heart attacks.
The secondary reason I made the vow that if Serrailer's sister Kat was attacked I was done with the series was that this man who turned out to be the killer was ... pretty much out of the blue. But I suspected him shortly before he was revealed because if the killer was going to turn out to be a named character, he was pretty much the only choice left. I beat Kat to it by a few minutes. And he was a bit too good to be true in other scenes; I suspected something, but not that he was the murderer, until he showed up at Kat's home and suddenly frightened her. And that was just ... dumb. Why would he arrive, late at night, at the home of the chief superintendent's sister, when he should have been able to expect three children upstairs, and when all of his other kills were done out in the open? What, his pickings were too slim outside, so he rang a doorbell where he knew a woman lived? Or he had devolved to being really dumb? I don't buy it.
The main reason I made the vow, though, goes back to something I read in someone else's review. This family has been beaten up too much. Sudden deaths, deaths that weren't quite so sudden but still brutal ... I'm not going to try to list all of the horrors that have been visited on this family since the start of the series, but this was just one more that seemed unnecessary and over the top. Great - brutalize a woman who just lost her husband, and her mother shortly before that. And her young son, who is having enough trouble. Great idea.
I got a chuckle out of one line from the Goodreads book description: "Serrailler is in the greatest danger of his life." As a GR librarian, I'm tempted to edit that out, because it's absurd. Probably the safest person in the place is Serrailler, unless that Ruth person decided to try to oust him from his apartment - and she was murdered, so that's ok.
I will probably feel some small temptation to go on to the next book one day, especially as they're currently free with my Audible membership. I must resist. As I said, they're easy to listen to, if I turn parts of my brain off (like the reasoning center). As character studies - vignettes about family life when a husband has lost his job and can't find a new one; glimpses into the lives of sex workers fighting to do the best they can for their kids; the despair of finding yourself trapped in a marriage to someone who isn't who you thought they were, and never will be, and who will require more from you than you believe you can give, and the point of view from the other side of that - they're good. As murder mysteries?
Nope.
First off, though, the narration, by Steven Pacey, is excellent. He's the reason this isn't one star; he's very good indeed, and I will happily listen to anything he narrates.
Except more of this series.
Because at about 90% I said that if Serrailler's sister was attacked, I was done with the series. And - spoiler - she was. So I am.
It's been coming for a couple of books now. It's a damn shame - they're very well written, in terms of language and characterization and setting. I like the characters. The village is believable and well thought out, and almost qualifies as another character. Bits and scenes are very enjoyable.
But - wait, did I say the village is believable? I take it back - because while the descriptions are quite nice and it feels like a fleshed-out location, any village that has ... what is the series up to now, three? Four? Serial killers, particularly in the space of a very few years, is a village out of which everyone would have moved, and which would probably have been razed to the ground. I understand the attraction of setting mystery series in villages - they're interesting, and manageable, and it's relatively easy to make the place up out of whole cloth and have utter control over where things are and such, rather than having to contend with the finite reality of a real place. But come on. This isn't a series of cozy mysteries, where a lot of leeway is granted. The body count in this place is absurd, and the inhabitants who aren't fleeing should be launching an investigation into their police department.
And "well-written" doesn't extend to plot. These books are fairly predictable in a lot of ways, including one that isn't unique to this series, but which should still be avoided: a character is introduced for the first time, fleshed out, given a voice and a past and hopes for the future, and then snuffed out. I guess it's supposed to point up the fact that when a killer strikes the victims are real people, people like the reader, with lives and occupations and preoccupations, not just phantoms, stand-ins filling the role of "victim". But the result is that when, as in this book, a character unique to this book who has a difficult life, suddenly expresses hope for the future and begins to plan for a better life, I immediately say "she's next". And lo, so it came to pass.
My main problem with the series is that absurd police force. It's a common problem in fiction - and reality, I suppose, but it should be something avoided in fiction: every single case I can think of has been solved by pure chance, or by the killer doing something dumb. It's not the hard graft of scouring CCTV tapes and doing door-to-doors and posting officers in danger zones that does it - and in fact in this one those officers posted at the most dangerous place were as useful as a bicycle to a fish. I need to say it: there was a murder literally yards away from a van full of cops. And no one noticed. *slow clap*
Somehow nobody seems to be paying for that little lapse of attention. And that was a "respectable woman", as the book description has it, not a mere sex worker.
The main thing that baffled me about the "investigation" was the questioning of the victim who survived. She had been strangled, and could not speak. "We'll ask you yes or no questions and you raise your finger or nod or shake your head", they say confusingly, and then proceed to ask questions requiring more than a yes or a no. And it takes two sessions with her for someone to finally think of handing the poor woman a pad and a pen. She. Can't. Speak. I ... it was remarkably stupid.
What the force DID manage do was bring in a man for questioning, a man who made a habit of bringing out sandwiches and tea to the sex workers in what became the kill zone, for no other reason than because he saw a need and filled it. And perhaps because he was a lonely introvert and this was the way he found to reach out. And nobody - not the cops, not the sex workers - believed he didn't have some ulterior motive. What that says about humanity ... I mean, I hate people on the whole, but even I believe that now and then someone actually does have decent humane impulses and genuinely want to help. But not these folks. Nope. They brought him in - even after they were pretty sure he had nothing to do with anything, because he was all they had - and interrogated him for hours, seems like - held him overnight the first time - and then were disgruntled when the poor man had a heart attack. A man with a frail mother and a job that had to seem like it was dangling by a thread that got thinner the more attention the police paid him, and a reputation that was shredding and blowing away in the wind ... It's a wonder more innocent suspects don't have heart attacks.
OH - And then the other main suspect, a brutal and violent man, they just let loose on an unsuspecting world, and no one seems particularly bothered when he beats up a woman. *shrug*
Another note that I made in the read was about how very boring it is to have to sit through yet another scene of oh-bother-the-press-is-haranguing-us-for-not-making-an-arrest-yet. It's stupid, and annoying. It's accurate to reality, I'm sure - and I don't care. It's done to death. It's an unreasonable stance for the press to take, in most cases, as it's not like in most cases the police don't care if they catch the killer - and it's a great way to end up with innocent people being railroaded. Or, you know, interrogated into heart attacks.
The secondary reason I made the vow that if Serrailer's sister Kat was attacked I was done with the series was that this man who turned out to be the killer was ... pretty much out of the blue. But I suspected him shortly before he was revealed because if the killer was going to turn out to be a named character, he was pretty much the only choice left. I beat Kat to it by a few minutes. And he was a bit too good to be true in other scenes; I suspected something, but not that he was the murderer, until he showed up at Kat's home and suddenly frightened her. And that was just ... dumb. Why would he arrive, late at night, at the home of the chief superintendent's sister, when he should have been able to expect three children upstairs, and when all of his other kills were done out in the open? What, his pickings were too slim outside, so he rang a doorbell where he knew a woman lived? Or he had devolved to being really dumb? I don't buy it.
The main reason I made the vow, though, goes back to something I read in someone else's review. This family has been beaten up too much. Sudden deaths, deaths that weren't quite so sudden but still brutal ... I'm not going to try to list all of the horrors that have been visited on this family since the start of the series, but this was just one more that seemed unnecessary and over the top. Great - brutalize a woman who just lost her husband, and her mother shortly before that. And her young son, who is having enough trouble. Great idea.
I got a chuckle out of one line from the Goodreads book description: "Serrailler is in the greatest danger of his life." As a GR librarian, I'm tempted to edit that out, because it's absurd. Probably the safest person in the place is Serrailler, unless that Ruth person decided to try to oust him from his apartment - and she was murdered, so that's ok.
I will probably feel some small temptation to go on to the next book one day, especially as they're currently free with my Audible membership. I must resist. As I said, they're easy to listen to, if I turn parts of my brain off (like the reasoning center). As character studies - vignettes about family life when a husband has lost his job and can't find a new one; glimpses into the lives of sex workers fighting to do the best they can for their kids; the despair of finding yourself trapped in a marriage to someone who isn't who you thought they were, and never will be, and who will require more from you than you believe you can give, and the point of view from the other side of that - they're good. As murder mysteries?
Nope.
tracey78's review
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
hooksforeverything's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Nothing actually wrong with the plot but one will remember the book as a set of character studies.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Murder, Addiction, Grief, and Misogyny
Moderate: Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Chronic illness, Drug use, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Emotional abuse