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saroreen's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Murder, and Blood
Minor: Child abuse
rogue_runner's review against another edition
2.0
Okay, this book. It was good, but I think my taste in crime fiction has been ruined by Chris Carter- especially when I only read his previous book like, 2 weeks ago. So, this probably should rank higher than it actually does for me.
First off, I don't think this is the first book of this author/series/whatever. In fact, I am pretty 100% certain it's not. This was okay; things got explained, there weren't any parts of the plot which I was all "wtf is happening, I must have missed something". However, there's a couple of pretty obvious plot points that are carried on from the previous couple of books that, felt like I was missing something. But (and this was my major issue), although there was plot development and movement throughout the book, nothing really happened.
Let me explain, because that sounds weird in a sentence on its own. This book had plenty of plot, it plodded along and came to a conclusion, there were events- but from one event to another (Death A, Death B, etc), there was an awful lot of slowness. Investigations into the murders didn't get anywhere; investigations were mentioned, but there was no development or clues or movements. So a clue was identified as a clue, but nothing ever really came of that. The plot didn't go anywhere until, BOOM! Next murder. And so on.
This wasn't helped by the fact that there were a lot of characters. This made it kinda hard for me to follow, especially when none of them had particular personalities; the only one that really stuck in my head was Maria. The same problem was with the setting; it was supposed to be Hamburg, but I got absolutely no hint of this past the 'generic city setting with streets, cyclists and pedestrians around'. There was nothing really to settle it in Hamburg, nothing to distinguish it from anywhere else. It left me with little taste of the characters or setting. It was as if the author had picked a city that sounded good, but hadn't done any research or visited to actually capture the flavour of the place.
It was a good premise, but kinda let down by the colourlessness of the writing.
First off, I don't think this is the first book of this author/series/whatever. In fact, I am pretty 100% certain it's not. This was okay; things got explained, there weren't any parts of the plot which I was all "wtf is happening, I must have missed something". However, there's a couple of pretty obvious plot points that are carried on from the previous couple of books that, felt like I was missing something. But (and this was my major issue), although there was plot development and movement throughout the book, nothing really happened.
Let me explain, because that sounds weird in a sentence on its own. This book had plenty of plot, it plodded along and came to a conclusion, there were events- but from one event to another (Death A, Death B, etc), there was an awful lot of slowness. Investigations into the murders didn't get anywhere; investigations were mentioned, but there was no development or clues or movements. So a clue
Spoiler
a red hairThis wasn't helped by the fact that there were a lot of characters. This made it kinda hard for me to follow, especially when none of them had particular personalities; the only one that really stuck in my head was Maria. The same problem was with the setting; it was supposed to be Hamburg, but I got absolutely no hint of this past the 'generic city setting with streets, cyclists and pedestrians around'. There was nothing really to settle it in Hamburg, nothing to distinguish it from anywhere else. It left me with little taste of the characters or setting. It was as if the author had picked a city that sounded good, but hadn't done any research or visited to actually capture the flavour of the place.
It was a good premise, but kinda let down by the colourlessness of the writing.
epictetsocrate's review against another edition
3.0
Fabel nu putu să nu remarce ironia faptului că stația Nordenham era punctul terminus al căii ferate. Acesta era locul în care se sfârșea călătoria lor, din mai multe privințe. Ajunseseră într-un punct mort și nu mai aveau încotro s-o apuce de-aici.
Farurile mașinilor de poliție înșiruite de cealaltă parte a căii ferate luminau peronul de parcă era o scenă de teatru. Imaginea avea ceva straniu: îți dădea senzația de duritate și limpezime deopotrivă. Până și fațada tencuită a gării părea oarecum decolorată: marginile sale erau de-o claritate nefirească, asemenea unei schițe arhitecturale sau unei scene de teatru, pe care se profilau umbrele gigantice ale celor două siluete de pe peron, una stând în picioare, iar cealaltă în genunchi.
Lumina cea mai intensă, mai pătrunzătoare venea de la cuțitul ce scânteia în mâna siluetei aflate în picioare, înconjurată de o aură luminoasă, în spatele bărbatului îngenuncheat.
Mintea lui Fabel începu să analizeze febril multiplele deznodăminte posibile ale acestei situații. Orice avea să zică, orice avea să întreprindă, consecințele erau inevitabile; urma să se declanșeze un șir întreg de evenimente. Iar unul dintre acestea avea să fie, probabil, moartea mai multor persoane.
Farurile mașinilor de poliție înșiruite de cealaltă parte a căii ferate luminau peronul de parcă era o scenă de teatru. Imaginea avea ceva straniu: îți dădea senzația de duritate și limpezime deopotrivă. Până și fațada tencuită a gării părea oarecum decolorată: marginile sale erau de-o claritate nefirească, asemenea unei schițe arhitecturale sau unei scene de teatru, pe care se profilau umbrele gigantice ale celor două siluete de pe peron, una stând în picioare, iar cealaltă în genunchi.
Lumina cea mai intensă, mai pătrunzătoare venea de la cuțitul ce scânteia în mâna siluetei aflate în picioare, înconjurată de o aură luminoasă, în spatele bărbatului îngenuncheat.
Mintea lui Fabel începu să analizeze febril multiplele deznodăminte posibile ale acestei situații. Orice avea să zică, orice avea să întreprindă, consecințele erau inevitabile; urma să se declanșeze un șir întreg de evenimente. Iar unul dintre acestea avea să fie, probabil, moartea mai multor persoane.
emmamme's review against another edition
3.0
The truth is I got a little bored with this one. The last 100 pages were really interesting. The plot was good, especially the way with which that psychopath was killing his victims. The worst thing about this book is that there is nothing interesting about the main character Jan Fabel. It's like he has no personality at all!
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