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patchworkbunny's review
3.0
In the spring of 1994, a body was found on the island of Inchmahome in the middle of the Lake of Menteith, following one of the coldest winters in living memory. The case was never solved yet nearly 20 years later DS Rachel Narey is determined to close this one cold case. It was her father’s; the one he never forgot and now he is losing his memory. Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s he has moved himself into a care home and she feels the one thing she can do for him now is solve his case. He won’t let it be the thing that lingers in his memory. Keeping the investigation off the books, she ropes in photographer Tony Winter and his uncle to work back through the evidence.
The wintery setting of Scotland in the grip of snow is something quite different to all the Scandinavian fiction you may be used to. Whilst snow is not uncommon it’s still a thing to be celebrated whilst being an annoyance. Something that no one is ever quite prepared for so I really enjoyed the setting which also moves away from urban Glasgow to the more rural area around Callander and Stirling. It’s a little bit odd having a place associated with my childhood memories as a setting in a crime novel and I do wonder if it’s described enough for those not familiar (I imagine that’s most the people reading this).
It’s a much slower paced novel than its predecessor, Snapshot. There are some touching moments where Narey deals with her father’s illness and struggles with her reasons for digging around in the case. However I didn’t really care for any of the victims enough for it to be gripping. The main characters’ motives are pretty selfish and there isn’t really much time given to develop those that aren’t going to live beyond the pages of this instalment. I felt a little sorry for the girl from the lake, no one really wanted to know what her story was. It was a little too fact based for my liking and not enough emotion. I didn’t mind so much that Winter takes a backseat to Narey in the investigation, it’s probably a bit more realistic anyway. He does get a few chances to indulge in his morbid fascination with death photography but it doesn’t take over.
What Robertson excels at is his wonderfully descriptive portrayal of crime scenes. Seen through Winter’s photographer’s eye, both the details and the aesthetic qualities can be captured. This might make for some gory reading at times but it paints a vivid picture in your mind.
The wintery setting of Scotland in the grip of snow is something quite different to all the Scandinavian fiction you may be used to. Whilst snow is not uncommon it’s still a thing to be celebrated whilst being an annoyance. Something that no one is ever quite prepared for so I really enjoyed the setting which also moves away from urban Glasgow to the more rural area around Callander and Stirling. It’s a little bit odd having a place associated with my childhood memories as a setting in a crime novel and I do wonder if it’s described enough for those not familiar (I imagine that’s most the people reading this).
It’s a much slower paced novel than its predecessor, Snapshot. There are some touching moments where Narey deals with her father’s illness and struggles with her reasons for digging around in the case. However I didn’t really care for any of the victims enough for it to be gripping. The main characters’ motives are pretty selfish and there isn’t really much time given to develop those that aren’t going to live beyond the pages of this instalment. I felt a little sorry for the girl from the lake, no one really wanted to know what her story was. It was a little too fact based for my liking and not enough emotion. I didn’t mind so much that Winter takes a backseat to Narey in the investigation, it’s probably a bit more realistic anyway. He does get a few chances to indulge in his morbid fascination with death photography but it doesn’t take over.
What Robertson excels at is his wonderfully descriptive portrayal of crime scenes. Seen through Winter’s photographer’s eye, both the details and the aesthetic qualities can be captured. This might make for some gory reading at times but it paints a vivid picture in your mind.
daniel1501's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
emimclarty's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
toellandback's review
5.0
DS Rachel Narey and photographer Tony Winter return as they try and crack a cold case that haunts Narey's father after his retirement from the police force. The case centres around the unidentified remains of a young girl on a remote Scottish island and with little to start with, Narey is forced to go out on a limb to get answers.
It's an unusual slow burner from this author as the clues build up and the case starts to form and its also a race against time with Narey senior suffering from Alzheimer's which in itself is sensitively handled.
A really enjoyable whodunnit and a great addition to the series.
It's an unusual slow burner from this author as the clues build up and the case starts to form and its also a race against time with Narey senior suffering from Alzheimer's which in itself is sensitively handled.
A really enjoyable whodunnit and a great addition to the series.
neilsb's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
jesikasbookshelf's review
2.0
I cannot comprehend the amount of fantastic reviews for this book - I think a lot of people must have had the pleasure of reading a different version of this book than I did. This book was overly cliche, riddled with painful similes and forced character 'depth', laced with a terrifying seemingly sexual attraction to brutal crime scenes, was roughly 150 pages too long for its plot and - and I cannot stress this enough - was painful to read.
Tony Winter is the main problem - stop explaining the guy is constantly too warm (as he can deal with the cold as his namesake suggests) and then on the next page have him pacing around trying to get warm. JUST STOP THAT. It was really annoying. Next, stop over explaining cameras to people. We get it, he is a crime scene photographer. 99% of your reading audience in the selfie-obsessed world understands a) how to take a fucking photo and b) that they can't do it very well. Ugh. Then, this guy has a perverse attraction to getting photos of the victims of the crime scenes he visits. Look, I get weird things can fuel a persons career but I really don't think having this guy keep his favourite photos on a wall of favourites and have his 'shutter finger itch for the next shot' did anything other than make him MORE CREEPY than the MURDERER keeping actual mementos of his kills. For God's sake.
Literally all the other characters were cardboard cut outs.
The writing was painful as well - granted this is an editing problem, but I got really sick of having to insert words into sentences for them to make sense. And, no, I'm not talking about those scenes with an accent in them, I'm talking about the bog standard, bad fan fiction-esque overly descriptive paragraphs. There wasn't even a consistent take on swearing - one scene it was 'fuck this, bollocks that, you're a dick' and the next it was 'pain in the bum' as though the editors were worried about bothering readers with the word arse.
This book should have been so much better. The blurb looked amazing, the reviews were great and there are several in the series. A guy at work was reading this book and complaining it was so bad - wanting praise when he came in saying he'd read 'another couple of paragraphs last night' as he was determined to finish it. I laughed, told him it couldn't be that bad. So, when he was done he left it on my desk. The only thing that made me finish this book was not wanting to give my teammate the satisfaction of knowing he had been so right I didn't even finish it. (AGAIN with the weird murder books from my team lending library - I am genuinely worried about them a a group).
I think the only saving grace of this book - the only bit that seems written with any truth or warmth - was the scenes regarding Alan Narey's Alzheimers. His daughter's reopening of his last remaining unsolved case, her heartbreak as he flitted in and out of the present time and her desperation to give him some peace by solving it were the only parts of this novel that seemed to have been written with any real thought.
And, for the love of all that is holy, you DO NOT need to constantly change whether you are referring to someone in the first name or surname in the same conversation in order to try and underline how cool you think your character's surname is. WE GET IT - his name is Winter, like the season, ahahahaha.
Tony Winter is the main problem - stop explaining the guy is constantly too warm (as he can deal with the cold as his namesake suggests) and then on the next page have him pacing around trying to get warm. JUST STOP THAT. It was really annoying. Next, stop over explaining cameras to people. We get it, he is a crime scene photographer. 99% of your reading audience in the selfie-obsessed world understands a) how to take a fucking photo and b) that they can't do it very well. Ugh. Then, this guy has a perverse attraction to getting photos of the victims of the crime scenes he visits. Look, I get weird things can fuel a persons career but I really don't think having this guy keep his favourite photos on a wall of favourites and have his 'shutter finger itch for the next shot' did anything other than make him MORE CREEPY than the MURDERER keeping actual mementos of his kills. For God's sake.
Literally all the other characters were cardboard cut outs.
The writing was painful as well - granted this is an editing problem, but I got really sick of having to insert words into sentences for them to make sense. And, no, I'm not talking about those scenes with an accent in them, I'm talking about the bog standard, bad fan fiction-esque overly descriptive paragraphs. There wasn't even a consistent take on swearing - one scene it was 'fuck this, bollocks that, you're a dick' and the next it was 'pain in the bum' as though the editors were worried about bothering readers with the word arse.
This book should have been so much better. The blurb looked amazing, the reviews were great and there are several in the series. A guy at work was reading this book and complaining it was so bad - wanting praise when he came in saying he'd read 'another couple of paragraphs last night' as he was determined to finish it. I laughed, told him it couldn't be that bad. So, when he was done he left it on my desk. The only thing that made me finish this book was not wanting to give my teammate the satisfaction of knowing he had been so right I didn't even finish it. (AGAIN with the weird murder books from my team lending library - I am genuinely worried about them a a group).
I think the only saving grace of this book - the only bit that seems written with any truth or warmth - was the scenes regarding Alan Narey's Alzheimers. His daughter's reopening of his last remaining unsolved case, her heartbreak as he flitted in and out of the present time and her desperation to give him some peace by solving it were the only parts of this novel that seemed to have been written with any real thought.
And, for the love of all that is holy, you DO NOT need to constantly change whether you are referring to someone in the first name or surname in the same conversation in order to try and underline how cool you think your character's surname is. WE GET IT - his name is Winter, like the season, ahahahaha.
raven88's review
4.0
After the intensely hard-hitting novel ‘Random’ featuring a serial killer in Glasgow, Craig Robertson is compounding his place in the Scottish fiction crime genre with this second novel (the follow-up to ‘Snapshot) featuring the police scene of crimes photographer Tony Winter. In this novel there is a subtle shift slightly away from Tony to the main police protagonist D.S. Rachel Narey who has her own particular relationship with Tony but is characterised as an exceptionally focused and, for the most part, by the book police officer. However, what Robertson captures brilliantly in this book is the impact of her father’s (himself a former police officer) Alzheimer’s which colours her actions throughout, both as a police officer and a daughter, being emotionally wrought by the deterioration of her father but with a single-minded determination to bring his last unsolved murder case to a conclusion which has always been the chagrin of his life post-police. This unsolved murder case forms the basis of the book, leading Rachel to operate outside her usual moral and professional boundaries to attain justice for the victim and to put to bed this case that has so haunted her father and to what extent this case impacts on her other personal relationships. It’s emotional stuff and despite my usual scepticism of a male author being able to effectively characterise women, Robertson accomplishes this with aplomb. This story is balanced effectively with the Tony and Uncle Danny show as they become involved in a connecting story line involving a community of travellers with a nicely balanced injection of humour amongst the bloodletting and counterbalanced again by Tony’s dark preoccupation with the photographs he takes for his day-job and that pervade his psyche. You certainly get a full quota of human experience in this one!
I will finish by saying that as a reader and a bookseller, the delight about Robertson is the way he slots in so neatly between the more visceral and blackly funny Stuart Mac Bride and the generally safer confines of Rankin’s ‘Rebus’, so what you get is a good solid police procedural underpinned by a more adept feeling for the realm of human relationships and the darker recesses of the human psyche.
I will finish by saying that as a reader and a bookseller, the delight about Robertson is the way he slots in so neatly between the more visceral and blackly funny Stuart Mac Bride and the generally safer confines of Rankin’s ‘Rebus’, so what you get is a good solid police procedural underpinned by a more adept feeling for the realm of human relationships and the darker recesses of the human psyche.
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