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samstillreading's review against another edition
3.0
Naked Cruelty is the third in a series starring Captain Carmine Delmonico, detective in the Holloman police in the 1960s. The first book was the excellent On, Off, a truly creepy thriller, followed by Too Many Murders that had me throwing my hands up in the air in despair at the conclusion. (It was good, don’t get me wrong, but I felt really sorry for Carmine).
Naked Cruelty doesn’t continue with the murder theme from Too Many Murders. It starts with a series of rapes (described rather graphically) on women in Carew, a suburb of Holloman. One of the ways to combat the rapist is a walking club, the Gentlemen Walkers, walking the streets at night to protect the women from the ‘Dodo’ rapist. Are they hiding a rapist in their midst?
Add in a giant glass teddy bear, a pair of strangely acting twins, a kidnapping and guns found at the local school and you think Carmine must be in over his head. On top of that, he has a lot of bureaucracy to deal with – Helen, the wayward new recruit and others that are trying desperately to swim against the tide.
As always, Colleen McCullough writes a gripping crime story with many threads. Some seemed to be better ‘fleshed out’ than others (eg. the guns in the school doesn’t rate much of a mention and is tied up very quickly) but it’s easy to follow. Once again, the conclusion had me throwing my hands in the air – such an ending! I won’t give it away for you, but poor Carmine. He never seems to get a break.
This is very different from The Thorn Birds and also The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (thank goodness). This series does not need to be read in order, but I’d suggest On, Off as the first book to read, as it’s the strongest.
Read it if: you like fast paced crime set in the past.
Naked Cruelty doesn’t continue with the murder theme from Too Many Murders. It starts with a series of rapes (described rather graphically) on women in Carew, a suburb of Holloman. One of the ways to combat the rapist is a walking club, the Gentlemen Walkers, walking the streets at night to protect the women from the ‘Dodo’ rapist. Are they hiding a rapist in their midst?
Add in a giant glass teddy bear, a pair of strangely acting twins, a kidnapping and guns found at the local school and you think Carmine must be in over his head. On top of that, he has a lot of bureaucracy to deal with – Helen, the wayward new recruit and others that are trying desperately to swim against the tide.
As always, Colleen McCullough writes a gripping crime story with many threads. Some seemed to be better ‘fleshed out’ than others (eg. the guns in the school doesn’t rate much of a mention and is tied up very quickly) but it’s easy to follow. Once again, the conclusion had me throwing my hands in the air – such an ending! I won’t give it away for you, but poor Carmine. He never seems to get a break.
This is very different from The Thorn Birds and also The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (thank goodness). This series does not need to be read in order, but I’d suggest On, Off as the first book to read, as it’s the strongest.
Read it if: you like fast paced crime set in the past.
michellel123's review against another edition
2.0
Set in 1968, Carmine investigates a series of brutal rapes that turn into murders, the first seven of which go unreported for months. Alongside the rapes, by a person who calls himself the 'Dodo' is a series of bank robberies, a kidnapping, and personnel issues with a drunk cop, arrogant lieutenant and ambitious 'trainee' detective. Good but perhaps a bit too much going on?
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
2.0
‘It had been an upsetting day, and the only cure was sleep’
This novel is set in America in 1968, in the Connecticut town of Holloman. In the suburb of Carew, a number of women have fallen victim to a vicious and systematic rapist, but each of them has been too afraid to involve the police. When the latest victim finds the courage to speak out, the next victim is murdered. For Captain Carmine Delmonico, this case has come at a difficult time. The Holloman Police Department has its own problems, including an ambitious new trainee – Helen McIntosh – who just happens to be the daughter of the president of the Chubb University. The killer is escalating, and Delmonico and his team draw on every resource available to them: including the group of locals known as the Gentlemen Walkers.
This is the third of a series to feature Captain Carmine Delmonico. I enjoyed the first in the series, somehow missed the second, and did not enjoy this one. Why? The style of speech, for many of the characters, seemed incongruent to me and the frequent use of exclamation marks irritated. This would have mattered less if the story kept my attention but generally it didn’t. For me, the characters overwhelmed the plot and the moments of high drama appeared close to farce.
By the end of the story, I wasn’t sure whether I’d taken it too seriously, or perhaps not seriously enough. There’s humour here, but somehow it didn’t work for me this time round.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
This novel is set in America in 1968, in the Connecticut town of Holloman. In the suburb of Carew, a number of women have fallen victim to a vicious and systematic rapist, but each of them has been too afraid to involve the police. When the latest victim finds the courage to speak out, the next victim is murdered. For Captain Carmine Delmonico, this case has come at a difficult time. The Holloman Police Department has its own problems, including an ambitious new trainee – Helen McIntosh – who just happens to be the daughter of the president of the Chubb University. The killer is escalating, and Delmonico and his team draw on every resource available to them: including the group of locals known as the Gentlemen Walkers.
This is the third of a series to feature Captain Carmine Delmonico. I enjoyed the first in the series, somehow missed the second, and did not enjoy this one. Why? The style of speech, for many of the characters, seemed incongruent to me and the frequent use of exclamation marks irritated. This would have mattered less if the story kept my attention but generally it didn’t. For me, the characters overwhelmed the plot and the moments of high drama appeared close to farce.
By the end of the story, I wasn’t sure whether I’d taken it too seriously, or perhaps not seriously enough. There’s humour here, but somehow it didn’t work for me this time round.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
nyxshadow's review against another edition
4.0
http://nyx-shadow.blogspot.fr/2012/09/carmine-delmonico-t3-fleurs-sanglantes.html
xanabertolo's review against another edition
2.0
A forma como começou deixou-me com a expectativa que ia ser um óptimo livro, mas tal não chegou a acontecer... Muitas histórias em simultâneo, um assassino "fraco" e uma resolução em 3 ou 4 páginas!!!
Não me convenceu :\
Não me convenceu :\
inajennifer's review against another edition
3.0
Well written. I cannot say that its one of my favorites but it left an inprint on me, I keep reflecting over different parts of the book. I havent read any other books of the serie, and that probably affected my rating but I do feel that it didnt stop me from understanding the plot or the characters (and their relations).
leapais's review against another edition
3.0
Décimo sexto livro a contar para o bookbingo 2019, correspondente a:
8. Pede a uma pessoa que viva contigo para escolher um livro para leres
Vamos hoje testar uma nova forma de dar a minha opinião sobre um livro (não que a vá seguir religiosamente mas parece-me que, neste caso, faz sentido).
Ora bem...
Pontos negativos: demasiado confuso, demasiadas histórias cruzadas (sem que, na realidade, se cruzassem assim tanto), muitas personagens em simultâneo, um caso principal que se desenrola ao longo das páginas para ser resolvido nas últimas páginas e um caso secundário que fica sem solução. Personagens com nomes semelhantes que acabam por tornar difícil perceber quem diz o quê. Um pouco previsível, pelo menos em relação ao caso principal.
Pontos positivos: a proximidade com a vida real (vá lá, ninguém acredita que uma esquadra de polícia tenha apenas um crime para investigar de cada vez, pois não?), a escrita que nos envolve, a exploração da importância das chefias perceberem o que se passa à sua volta e os dramas a que os próprios policias estão sujeitos. A última página, onde se percebe o titulo, com uma reviravolta extraordinária.
No geral, Crueldade a Nu não é um mau livro. Lê-se relativamente bem (algumas partes são mais aborrecidas mas não são a maioria) mas esperava mais e melhor, confesso.
8. Pede a uma pessoa que viva contigo para escolher um livro para leres
Vamos hoje testar uma nova forma de dar a minha opinião sobre um livro (não que a vá seguir religiosamente mas parece-me que, neste caso, faz sentido).
Ora bem...
Pontos negativos: demasiado confuso, demasiadas histórias cruzadas (sem que, na realidade, se cruzassem assim tanto), muitas personagens em simultâneo, um caso principal que se desenrola ao longo das páginas para ser resolvido nas últimas páginas e um caso secundário que fica sem solução. Personagens com nomes semelhantes que acabam por tornar difícil perceber quem diz o quê. Um pouco previsível, pelo menos em relação ao caso principal.
Pontos positivos: a proximidade com a vida real (vá lá, ninguém acredita que uma esquadra de polícia tenha apenas um crime para investigar de cada vez, pois não?), a escrita que nos envolve, a exploração da importância das chefias perceberem o que se passa à sua volta e os dramas a que os próprios policias estão sujeitos. A última página, onde se percebe o titulo, com uma reviravolta extraordinária.
No geral, Crueldade a Nu não é um mau livro. Lê-se relativamente bem (algumas partes são mais aborrecidas mas não são a maioria) mas esperava mais e melhor, confesso.
samstillreading's review against another edition
3.0
Naked Cruelty is the third in a series starring Captain Carmine Delmonico, detective in the Holloman police in the 1960s. The first book was the excellent On, Off, a truly creepy thriller, followed by Too Many Murders that had me throwing my hands up in the air in despair at the conclusion. (It was good, don’t get me wrong, but I felt really sorry for Carmine).
Naked Cruelty doesn’t continue with the murder theme from Too Many Murders. It starts with a series of rapes (described rather graphically) on women in Carew, a suburb of Holloman. One of the ways to combat the rapist is a walking club, the Gentlemen Walkers, walking the streets at night to protect the women from the ‘Dodo’ rapist. Are they hiding a rapist in their midst?
Add in a giant glass teddy bear, a pair of strangely acting twins, a kidnapping and guns found at the local school and you think Carmine must be in over his head. On top of that, he has a lot of bureaucracy to deal with – Helen, the wayward new recruit and others that are trying desperately to swim against the tide.
As always, Colleen McCullough writes a gripping crime story with many threads. Some seemed to be better ‘fleshed out’ than others (eg. the guns in the school doesn’t rate much of a mention and is tied up very quickly) but it’s easy to follow. Once again, the conclusion had me throwing my hands in the air – such an ending! I won’t give it away for you, but poor Carmine. He never seems to get a break.
This is very different from The Thorn Birds and also The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (thank goodness). This series does not need to be read in order, but I’d suggest On, Off as the first book to read, as it’s the strongest.
Read it if: you like fast paced crime set in the past.
Naked Cruelty doesn’t continue with the murder theme from Too Many Murders. It starts with a series of rapes (described rather graphically) on women in Carew, a suburb of Holloman. One of the ways to combat the rapist is a walking club, the Gentlemen Walkers, walking the streets at night to protect the women from the ‘Dodo’ rapist. Are they hiding a rapist in their midst?
Add in a giant glass teddy bear, a pair of strangely acting twins, a kidnapping and guns found at the local school and you think Carmine must be in over his head. On top of that, he has a lot of bureaucracy to deal with – Helen, the wayward new recruit and others that are trying desperately to swim against the tide.
As always, Colleen McCullough writes a gripping crime story with many threads. Some seemed to be better ‘fleshed out’ than others (eg. the guns in the school doesn’t rate much of a mention and is tied up very quickly) but it’s easy to follow. Once again, the conclusion had me throwing my hands in the air – such an ending! I won’t give it away for you, but poor Carmine. He never seems to get a break.
This is very different from The Thorn Birds and also The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (thank goodness). This series does not need to be read in order, but I’d suggest On, Off as the first book to read, as it’s the strongest.
Read it if: you like fast paced crime set in the past.
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