Reviews

Une Affaire Tres Personnelle by Deborah Crombie

pr727's review against another edition

3.0

Awfully long. The characters were difficult to keep straight, especially in the first half of the book. The Duncan-Gemma relationship progresses (finally!). Quite a twist with the introduction of Kit, Duncan's ex-wife's son - to be continued in the next book I assume.

nixieknox's review against another edition

3.0

Usually I don't like the dual timeline but this time, I did. Helped that it was not so far in the past that the same people were involved. Another satisfying mystery.

kit_moonstar's review against another edition

4.0

This one was really slow to start. I think part of it was the fact that we spend a lot of time in the first half of the book in Vic’s point of view, and while she’s an interesting character, she wasn’t what I was there for. That portion does set a number of things up, though I definitely guessed on of the plot twists from the start. I did like the fact that we get to see Duncan and Gemma have a conflict and resolve it in that part where they both acted like adults. I also liked the fact that Gemma and Vic weren’t pitted against one another. It did work well as a catalyst for Gemma and Duncan to think about their relationship slightly longer term. Once the death happens though, things started moving more quickly. Bad decisions are made, and part of the pull of the story is seeing how everything falls out. It’s nice to see Vic as a person rather than the memories in Duncan’s head, and I like the fact that she was a fully fleshed out person with flaws and strengths of her own even if it was frustrating being stuck in her point of view at times.

Spoilers ahead. Vic is the person who dies, and Duncan does not take it well. Especially since he and her son are the only ones who believe it wasn’t natural causes at first. He takes evidence from the crime scene and then takes a leave of absence so he can look into things, despite the fact that it might harm his career. Gemma is concerned by the whole thing and does her best to be the voice of reason, though she also thinks that it was murder. There is also the matter of Kit, Vic’s son, who as it turns out is Duncan’s biological child, though Kit doesn’t know about that. I do really love the fact that all the characters feel very real in the way that they react to things and make bad choices. I was definitely more pulled into the story by the emotions of the characters than actually caring about the murder plot.

I’m not sure how I feel about the author constantly changing the status quo for the main characters every book. On the one hand, it does keep things from getting repetitive or boring, but the characters don’t really get time to explore how a change effects things before another change is thrown at them. I’m hoping that the next book at least lets Duncan take the time to settle into and figure out his relationship with Kit without throwing too much of another huge change at him. Becoming a parent is hard enough, but becoming a parent to a grieving child you never knew existed is a whole other ball of worms, especially since Duncan doesn’t seem to have much experience with children. There’s also the fact that Kit doesn’t know that Duncan is his biological father yet. The situation is also going to change his relationship with Gemma, maybe for the better, since he’s also now a single parent even if he doesn’t have custody of Kit. We’ll have to see how all that develops in the next book. Four out of five stars.

themaritimereader14's review against another edition

4.0

Another great book in this series with some VERY major character developments! Enjoyed the dual timelines!!

kel_pru's review against another edition

4.0

My favorite one so far. Probably.

louise56637's review against another edition

4.0

I found the literary jumping about hard to follow at first. I really liked the resolution and ending.

3timesjoy's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

hollydoesstuff's review against another edition

4.0

Wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this one as much as it felt like too many characters were being introduced in the beginning. But once it got rolling and then things started to come together it all made sense and worked out and was a very intricate mystery.

paige1947_'s review against another edition

4.0

This is number five in this very good series. For me it had a slow -a long slow- start but than bam! It got very good. I am glad I have about 10 more to read before I am up to date on the series.

lindseycrouch's review against another edition

mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

The actual mystery is kind of secondary to how much I like Duncan and Gemma. But I did like the mystery in this one. There were several reveals that I gasped out loud about.