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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
Really good. I hope it’s made into a film. Vera is my favorite detective after Miss Marple!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I love this series. It’s one of my fav brit lit series. This one is book 11 and DI Vera Stanhope is investigating the disappearance of fourteen-year-old Chloe Spence.
It’s well written and fast paced! Love the characters. It's a really entertaining mystery series.
Highly recommend - 4 stars
It’s well written and fast paced! Love the characters. It's a really entertaining mystery series.
Highly recommend - 4 stars
I loved it. I came to this book through the tv-series. And it delivered. The same grumpy Vera, the stunning landscapes, the mystery expertly solved by the team.
I have been a fan of Vera Stanhope for years, and will continue to be one, but this, unforetunately, is not one of the stronger entries in the series. A young counselor at a home for troubled youth is found murdered, and one of the residents has gone missing, leading to suspicion falling on her. Other crimes follow, yet most of the time is spent getting to know Rosie, newest member of Vera's murder squad. I suspect Cleeves put the focus on her as she didn't seem to be able to come up with a way to drop clues, or even red herrings, for the reader to follow. In the end, she commits what I consider to be the worst offense of a mystery writer: having the detective learn things and develop theories which are not shared with the reader and cannot be deduced by what has been read. Even once "all is revealed", I was left feeling dissatisfied with the explanation (which I couldn't quite buy). Not that it will stop me from buying the next entry because I do enjoy my time spent with Vera.
Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
"The Dark Wives" takes place a few weeks (I think, don't want to go back and look) after the murder/death of Holly. Vera is determined to be a better boss and when she gets assigned a new woman named Rosie. Rosie is unlike Holly, but Vera and even Joe are unsure if she has enough to stick with the team. A murder takes place and a young girl flees and Vera and her team are unsure if the young girl is the killer or if she is hiding from someone else.
This was very uneven. I don't know if it was the new character of Rosie or what. But nothing really fit well as I was reading through the pages. I thought that the murder of Josh was initially okay, but then it felt like the book is floundering. And I have to say, that I was beyond annoyed that apparently Vera realizes who did it and there's zero clue to this and we just get an exposition dump in the end. I think Cleeves's wanted to say something about children's homes in England (good) but the the storytelling wasn't top notch and honestly wasn't believable. And I didn't really like Vera or Joe much in this one. And Rosie was a little too all over the place for me.
"The Dark Wives" takes place a few weeks (I think, don't want to go back and look) after the murder/death of Holly. Vera is determined to be a better boss and when she gets assigned a new woman named Rosie. Rosie is unlike Holly, but Vera and even Joe are unsure if she has enough to stick with the team. A murder takes place and a young girl flees and Vera and her team are unsure if the young girl is the killer or if she is hiding from someone else.
This was very uneven. I don't know if it was the new character of Rosie or what. But nothing really fit well as I was reading through the pages. I thought that the murder of Josh was initially okay, but then it felt like the book is floundering. And I have to say, that I was beyond annoyed that apparently Vera realizes who did it and there's zero clue to this and we just get an exposition dump in the end. I think Cleeves's wanted to say something about children's homes in England (good) but the the storytelling wasn't top notch and honestly wasn't believable. And I didn't really like Vera or Joe much in this one. And Rosie was a little too all over the place for me.
Definitely not my favorite Vera case, it was just all over the place with an information dump at the end to explain it. There was no real tension or seemingly much concern over a missing teenager. Very odd.
fast-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
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No