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alexandramilne's review
4.0
Read my other book reviews at booksibled.wordpress.com
You may or may not be aware that the little town I went to university in Aberystwyth, has it’s own TV show Hinterland. But before we had that gritty crime drama we had another noir series. We had Aberystwyth Noir in fact and this was the second in that series. I’ve read the very first, Aberystwyth Mon Amor, and the Christmas edition in which a man dressed as Santa is murdered (because that’s what happens in any crime drama at Christmas, just ask, all three CSI’s, Bones and Castle, and that’s just the ones I can remember off the top of my head).
Sadly I found the second in this series to be a little trying. I maybe wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it and my reading time was sporadic as I wasn’t carrying it to work because it was my partner’s signed copy and I didn’t want to damage it. I think maybe if I’d sat down and read it in large chunks I might have had a touch more hope but with our sudden move half way through, reading took a back burner,
The book follows Aberystwyth detective Louie Knight as he attempts to find the missing Dean of the Faculty of Undertaking. We follow Knight through an Aberystwyth both starkly different and strange and yet somehow oddly familiar to people who have known the town and the dark story takes him to every corner from the sleazy hotels and toffee apple dens to the wild hinterlands and ancient university.
It’s certainly a wild ride with plenty of characters both new and returning. I can also say that I had no real handle on how the book would end but once it did the story made so much sense. I was however a touch confused by some of the sub plots and I think perhaps that’s where this book fell down for min in contrast to the first. Debuts don’t often have complicated sub plots and this one took a while to get my head around.
What is always a treat though is the world Pryce has built from a wonderful, but not exactly buzzing with activity, town. Aberystwyth was my home for four year before I finally had to say goodbye and return to London and I sometimes think I wish I’d seen it in such a unique and humour filled way. But I often return to that funny old town by the sea and every time it gets a little easier to sit on the castle, or the monument or one of the benches and watch the town turn darker and I almost expect to hear Myfanwy Montez’ voice carry on the wind.
P.S. I’m going to keep loving this series but I think I may have picked up this book at the wrong time. You really need to throw yourself into this world head long and take the time to enjoy it. Also you should all visit Aberystwyth because it’s gorgeous and full on intrigue. If you know where to look.
You may or may not be aware that the little town I went to university in Aberystwyth, has it’s own TV show Hinterland. But before we had that gritty crime drama we had another noir series. We had Aberystwyth Noir in fact and this was the second in that series. I’ve read the very first, Aberystwyth Mon Amor, and the Christmas edition in which a man dressed as Santa is murdered (because that’s what happens in any crime drama at Christmas, just ask, all three CSI’s, Bones and Castle, and that’s just the ones I can remember off the top of my head).
Sadly I found the second in this series to be a little trying. I maybe wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it and my reading time was sporadic as I wasn’t carrying it to work because it was my partner’s signed copy and I didn’t want to damage it. I think maybe if I’d sat down and read it in large chunks I might have had a touch more hope but with our sudden move half way through, reading took a back burner,
The book follows Aberystwyth detective Louie Knight as he attempts to find the missing Dean of the Faculty of Undertaking. We follow Knight through an Aberystwyth both starkly different and strange and yet somehow oddly familiar to people who have known the town and the dark story takes him to every corner from the sleazy hotels and toffee apple dens to the wild hinterlands and ancient university.
It’s certainly a wild ride with plenty of characters both new and returning. I can also say that I had no real handle on how the book would end but once it did the story made so much sense. I was however a touch confused by some of the sub plots and I think perhaps that’s where this book fell down for min in contrast to the first. Debuts don’t often have complicated sub plots and this one took a while to get my head around.
What is always a treat though is the world Pryce has built from a wonderful, but not exactly buzzing with activity, town. Aberystwyth was my home for four year before I finally had to say goodbye and return to London and I sometimes think I wish I’d seen it in such a unique and humour filled way. But I often return to that funny old town by the sea and every time it gets a little easier to sit on the castle, or the monument or one of the benches and watch the town turn darker and I almost expect to hear Myfanwy Montez’ voice carry on the wind.
P.S. I’m going to keep loving this series but I think I may have picked up this book at the wrong time. You really need to throw yourself into this world head long and take the time to enjoy it. Also you should all visit Aberystwyth because it’s gorgeous and full on intrigue. If you know where to look.
stephend81d5's review
4.0
dark and funny and its like dick tracey on the mean streets of aberystwyth but really enjoyed the adventures of louie knight searching for the dean who has gone missing and louie hired to find him as he go on the clown ghetto and mets custard pie the evil clown but well woth reading if you like tongue in cheek humour with a undertone of a detective story
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