Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
This book is all about the ending. I am still not the biggest fan of this slow trickle plot where small tidbits of information are revealed to the reader but don't really help us figure out a motive until it's explained in the end.
Let's just say I'm glad there are more books in the series and it doesn't just end there.
Let's just say I'm glad there are more books in the series and it doesn't just end there.
Again an excellent murder mystery from Ann Cleeves. The imagery of the places and people of the Shetland Islands bring colour and life to the story. No spoilers here, but I didn't see that coming ...
Oof, and what a finish to this book. One of the best Shetlands so far...but going home is tough for Jimmy Perez.
I hate this book! It's the fourth in the Shetland quartet and I had grown fond of some of the characters, one of which the author finds suitable to have killed at the end. This cheap trick, much favoured by crime writers, of getting their detectives personally involved in cases, is one I abhor. Of course as the first murder takes place on Fair Isle, the home island of detective Jimmy Perez, it is personal from the start. A woman running some sort of bird center from a light house is found stabbed, some feathers artfully arranged over her. The island is cut off because of a storm, so Perez has to begin the investigation by himself. If you care anything about him and the other main characters, just do not bother to read this book! If you intend to read only one book of the Shetland series, be my guest, have a god at this one. It's not all bad and what happens will not matter so much to you.
I loved this book up until the last fifth or so. Cleeves was in her element with the birdwatching centre including the cook at the centre of the action on Fair Isle, where detective Jimmy Perez comes from. I loved the evolving relationship between Jimmy and Fran (now engaged) and the realistic meet-the-parents side plot. Of course murder at the lighthouse/birdwatcher's headquarters interupts their plans. Though very late to the party, having watched the series, but intrigued by travelling to Lerwick this summer, I've been enjoying the books even more than the series as I liked reading Jimmy and Fran's relationship from the start. In the series of course, Fran has already died from cancer and we know him as a single dad to Fran's daughter, co-parenting with his frenemy Duncan. There must be reasons why Fran was murdered at the end of this book. Was Cleeves running out of ideas to make the couple interesting? I guess it is (was) still new to have men who cared about fatherhood to a non-biological child as Jimmy does with Cassie so Cleeves wanted to explore that more. In any case, I'll be sad about Fran as if she was a real person, and sad for Jimmy whose job cost him this particular future. I will finish the series but I'm less enthusiastic now.
I have been thoroughly enjoying this Shetland series. The recurring characters are becoming well-rounded with recognisable, consistent traits and behaviours. This is why I have reluctantly awarded just two stars for this, the fourth in the series.
There are several moments where Jimmy Perez in particular but also others (spoilers won't allow me to say who!) act in ways counter to the way they have acted in previous books.
This is all a great shame as the story is quite a compelling one. If you felt Shetland was a small and isolated then Jimmy's home island – Fair Isle – will seem almost claustrophobic. In fact the sense of isolation is one of the novel's strengths.
I enjoyed the scene-setting, I liked the location and the bird-watching theme was integrated nicely too. My advice would still be to read this as it advances the storylines of Jimmy and co. quite a lot but I am looking forward to the rest of the series in the hope that they rise back the standards set in the earlier books.
There are several moments where Jimmy Perez in particular but also others (spoilers won't allow me to say who!) act in ways counter to the way they have acted in previous books.
This is all a great shame as the story is quite a compelling one. If you felt Shetland was a small and isolated then Jimmy's home island – Fair Isle – will seem almost claustrophobic. In fact the sense of isolation is one of the novel's strengths.
I enjoyed the scene-setting, I liked the location and the bird-watching theme was integrated nicely too. My advice would still be to read this as it advances the storylines of Jimmy and co. quite a lot but I am looking forward to the rest of the series in the hope that they rise back the standards set in the earlier books.
Unlike Vera, I watched Shetland before I read the books. There are lots of things in the series that differ from the books but I kind of thought certain things about Perez's personal life would line up eventually. Color me shocked by the events of this book. Still shaken this morning.
Jimmy Perez, police inspector in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. A scientist is murdrred. His fiancee is involved to a bad end.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced