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pintsizedhelen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
lotties_booked's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
melolivia17's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
davidb71's review against another edition
3.5
I enjoyed this. I thought the setting, the time period, the overall story was interesting - it's a crime mystery set against the backdrop of the slave trade, and I found this in itself interesting, reading about British involvement in the slave trade.
The story involves Captain Harry Corsham, a war hero starting out in his political career, investigating the death of his friend Tad Archer, a campaigner against slavery. This leads Corsham to Deptford, into the inner workings of the slave trade, as he tries to figure out what had got his friend killed, and who was responsible for it.
I thought the novel moved at a brisk pace, the details of the time period were nicely evoked, there was a large and interesting cast of characters, and I found the central mystery engaging.
Even though there's a large cast of characters in the book, as I was reading it I could easily follow who was who and what was going on - but what I never really got a a handle on was what was going on with the central mystery - who had killed Tad, and why? As the book progresses, more crimes are committed, more murders of people associated with Tad, threats against Corsham, there's political involvement from a group representing the slave trade, there's acts of 'obeah', a type of Caribbean voodoo, there are rumours of a massacre of hundreds of slaves aboard one of the slave ships - and there's lots more besides. I could follow all of this easily enough, but what I couldn't do was start to piece together how all of this was going to ultimately coalesce into a single unifying story - because there were so many disparate elements to it, I never really got as much of a handle on the central mystery as I wanted to.
And I'm going to go into spoiler-ish territory here, so be careful about reading on if you haven't read the book.
Although the way this book resolved did make sense, there was too much going on for me. The reason I hadn't been able to get a handle on the central mystery was because there wasn't one central mystery. Sure, Tad had been killed, other people had been killed too, threats had been made, multiple people had been lying about all sorts of things - but it turns out there are multiple stories overlapping, multiple perpetrators, each with their own different motives. It turns out there are several different crimes, or attempted crimes, for all sorts of different reasons. It was all bit too much for me - I could follow it, but I wasn't as invested in it as I wanted to be. I felt like the author was trying a little too hard, and it all became a little too convoluted for my taste. In the case of this book, less would have been more.
But there's still a lot to admire here, and I did enjoy the book. I enjoyed the overall tone and atmosphere, and I felt like I learnt something about the slave trade and British history from it, too. I believe this was the author's first novel, and the only criticism I have is that I think she was trying a little too hard to create an intricate plot, and the book became a little too convoluted for its own good - for my taste it did, anyway; others may disagree. But there's enough here for me to want to read more by this author, and I will certainly be reading the next book in this series - and I'm looking forward to it!
The story involves Captain Harry Corsham, a war hero starting out in his political career, investigating the death of his friend Tad Archer, a campaigner against slavery. This leads Corsham to Deptford, into the inner workings of the slave trade, as he tries to figure out what had got his friend killed, and who was responsible for it.
I thought the novel moved at a brisk pace, the details of the time period were nicely evoked, there was a large and interesting cast of characters, and I found the central mystery engaging.
Even though there's a large cast of characters in the book, as I was reading it I could easily follow who was who and what was going on - but what I never really got a a handle on was what was going on with the central mystery - who had killed Tad, and why? As the book progresses, more crimes are committed, more murders of people associated with Tad, threats against Corsham, there's political involvement from a group representing the slave trade, there's acts of 'obeah', a type of Caribbean voodoo, there are rumours of a massacre of hundreds of slaves aboard one of the slave ships - and there's lots more besides. I could follow all of this easily enough, but what I couldn't do was start to piece together how all of this was going to ultimately coalesce into a single unifying story - because there were so many disparate elements to it, I never really got as much of a handle on the central mystery as I wanted to.
And I'm going to go into spoiler-ish territory here, so be careful about reading on if you haven't read the book.
Although the way this book resolved did make sense, there was too much going on for me. The reason I hadn't been able to get a handle on the central mystery was because there wasn't one central mystery. Sure, Tad had been killed, other people had been killed too, threats had been made, multiple people had been lying about all sorts of things - but it turns out there are multiple stories overlapping, multiple perpetrators, each with their own different motives. It turns out there are several different crimes, or attempted crimes, for all sorts of different reasons. It was all bit too much for me - I could follow it, but I wasn't as invested in it as I wanted to be. I felt like the author was trying a little too hard, and it all became a little too convoluted for my taste. In the case of this book, less would have been more.
But there's still a lot to admire here, and I did enjoy the book. I enjoyed the overall tone and atmosphere, and I felt like I learnt something about the slave trade and British history from it, too. I believe this was the author's first novel, and the only criticism I have is that I think she was trying a little too hard to create an intricate plot, and the book became a little too convoluted for its own good - for my taste it did, anyway; others may disagree. But there's enough here for me to want to read more by this author, and I will certainly be reading the next book in this series - and I'm looking forward to it!
wietse111's review against another edition
4.0
Leuke historische detective! Speelt zich af in eind 18e eeuw London/Deptford, en dan vooral de slavenhandel. Qua detective was het gewoon een goed boek. Spannend, prima geschreven, prima pacing. Het slavernij gedeelte van het historische aspect was vrij goed gedaan, de andere sociale aspecten kwamen niet goed uit de verf.
Hoofdpersoon was leuk, andere karakters niet heel memorabel maar hadden af en toe nog best een beetje diepgang voor een detective. Al met al met plezier gelezen!
Hoofdpersoon was leuk, andere karakters niet heel memorabel maar hadden af en toe nog best een beetje diepgang voor een detective. Al met al met plezier gelezen!
emreads8's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.75
meedlepea's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
ldsreadinglife's review against another edition
It did not hook me and I found the audio book narrator irritating
testaroscia's review against another edition
4.0
The ugliness of the Slave Trade in the US is very adequately discussed. The same for the UK is less well so. It did not occur on British soil, hence the less we say about it the better. But the English were just as complicit in the horrors, and just because it happened "in the colonies" is no reason for it being glossed over. This is a book of Historical Fiction, but like all good historical fiction that i love it helps educate and inform me of things I did not know, and will spur me to learn more.
trin's review against another edition
2.0
Fairly pedestrian historical crime thriller, in the mode of The Alienist, in which a white man learns that Slavery Is Bad.
There are some interesting side characters, but I found the narrator's voice -- and, frankly, almost everything about him -- rather bland. The book exposes some of the horrors of the 18th Century British slave trade, but the mystery plot is convoluted and more than a little bloated.
And then, rather to my disgust, the murderer turns out to be
uh...
That's a...choice.
A shitty choice.
And then Boring White Narrator kills him by strangling him with a chain.
Gross. That's pretty fucking gross, author! Did no one think about this for even two seconds?
The overall message of the book--Slavery Is Bad and Evil White Men Go Unpunished--is a hard one to argue with, but I have to take issue with the grace and thoughtfulness with which it is conveyed here.
There are some interesting side characters, but I found the narrator's voice -- and, frankly, almost everything about him -- rather bland. The book exposes some of the horrors of the 18th Century British slave trade, but the mystery plot is convoluted and more than a little bloated.
And then, rather to my disgust, the murderer turns out to be
Spoiler
one of the few black characters. Because his experiences of slavery "broke him."uh...
That's a...choice.
A shitty choice.
And then Boring White Narrator kills him by strangling him with a chain.
Gross. That's pretty fucking gross, author! Did no one think about this for even two seconds?
The overall message of the book--Slavery Is Bad and Evil White Men Go Unpunished--is a hard one to argue with, but I have to take issue with the grace and thoughtfulness with which it is conveyed here.