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timinbc's review against another edition
2.0
Nah, sorry, you lost me with this one. It looks as if this series is over, and I reckon it's not only not a moment too soon, but perhaps a little too late. This book could have been half the length without loss.
The plot is so absurd as to be almost a satire, a poke at all those mystery writers who do the old "you see, what you didn't realize is that A is B's half-sister and C has an identical twin who looks different, and A was pretending to be D while D was in Ghent pretending to be E." Why not? It worked for Shakespeare.
At the end, it took (character's name withheld) THIRTEEN PAGES to explain everything and sweep up the trail of red herrings. Too much!
And I cannot forgive the appalling character of Molly. Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing include "7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly." And I'm sure it never occurred to Leonard that any published author would be enough of a hack to try this "doesntn't not never" stuff that was overdone the second time it was used but appears hundreds of times in this book, and is more annoying each time. Even with her malapropisms and Amelia Bedelia misunderstandings she would have been over the top.
Hand then we 'ave Heasterly, with 'is haffected style, which I gather has appeared more in books than it ever did in real life. Han Hauthor 'oo hinsists hon husing this silliness must limit it to ha character 'oo happears honly hinfrequently. (Annoying, hisn't it?)
Grice's annoying habits are well established after three books, and I have fourteen reasons for saying that in the first half of this one there's far too much more of the same - I shan't specify the other thirteen. To be fair, after that it settled down a bit.
Inspector Pound. Bah. Too feeble for March to care about. Adds nothing to plot.
Someone's memories/dreams in italics. I know it's in "101 Techniques for Authors" but I just don't like it. I'll accept that this one is just me.
Cherry is every unreasonable client ever written, except when she is just all tee-hee and fluff. Bah.
Then we come to the various familial relationships. I'll just say that if I say anything about that it will be too much. See second paragraph.
Despite the vast excess of detail, I will give credit to Kasasian for creating a mess that only a Grice-level mind could figure out, and making it believable that he DID actually reason it out.
Worst of all, in the end I didn't much care what happened to any of them.
I dunno, maybe without Molly and Easterly - whose absence would have shortened the book satisfactorily - I could have liked this book.
I applaud books 1-3; this one, not so much. It's time to end it.
I look forward to Kasasian's next series, especially if it has a tough editor.
The plot is so absurd as to be almost a satire, a poke at all those mystery writers who do the old "you see, what you didn't realize is that A is B's half-sister and C has an identical twin who looks different, and A was pretending to be D while D was in Ghent pretending to be E." Why not? It worked for Shakespeare.
At the end, it took (character's name withheld) THIRTEEN PAGES to explain everything and sweep up the trail of red herrings. Too much!
And I cannot forgive the appalling character of Molly. Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing include "7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly." And I'm sure it never occurred to Leonard that any published author would be enough of a hack to try this "doesntn't not never" stuff that was overdone the second time it was used but appears hundreds of times in this book, and is more annoying each time. Even with her malapropisms and Amelia Bedelia misunderstandings she would have been over the top.
Hand then we 'ave Heasterly, with 'is haffected style, which I gather has appeared more in books than it ever did in real life. Han Hauthor 'oo hinsists hon husing this silliness must limit it to ha character 'oo happears honly hinfrequently. (Annoying, hisn't it?)
Grice's annoying habits are well established after three books, and I have fourteen reasons for saying that in the first half of this one there's far too much more of the same - I shan't specify the other thirteen. To be fair, after that it settled down a bit.
Inspector Pound. Bah. Too feeble for March to care about. Adds nothing to plot.
Someone's memories/dreams in italics. I know it's in "101 Techniques for Authors" but I just don't like it. I'll accept that this one is just me.
Cherry is every unreasonable client ever written, except when she is just all tee-hee and fluff. Bah.
Then we come to the various familial relationships. I'll just say that if I say anything about that it will be too much. See second paragraph.
Despite the vast excess of detail, I will give credit to Kasasian for creating a mess that only a Grice-level mind could figure out, and making it believable that he DID actually reason it out.
Worst of all, in the end I didn't much care what happened to any of them.
I dunno, maybe without Molly and Easterly - whose absence would have shortened the book satisfactorily - I could have liked this book.
I applaud books 1-3; this one, not so much. It's time to end it.
I look forward to Kasasian's next series, especially if it has a tough editor.
meswauncyc's review
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
owenreads's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
4.0
My favourite of the bunch, so far. I've seen some reviews that complain that it's got a pretty sarcastic tone and there's quite a lot of Molly, but they might have been my favourite parts.
Although it's certainly true that the book is a little absurd to sections, and the reveal goes on way too long.
I'm looking forward to listening to Dark Dawn over Steep House, and finding out how the series concludes. Maybe, Sidney Grices heart grows three sizes, or something?
Although it's certainly true that the book is a little absurd to sections, and the reveal goes on way too long.
I'm looking forward to listening to Dark Dawn over Steep House, and finding out how the series concludes. Maybe, Sidney Grices heart grows three sizes, or something?
teveritt's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
mrose21's review
4.0
While this was good. I do find this series hard to get into at the start.
The murders and mysteries are always interesting and intriguing enough to get me interested but then it never really kicks off and the book sort of ebbs along for a few hundred pages before we get into the actual interesting parts.
The murders and mysteries are always interesting and intriguing enough to get me interested but then it never really kicks off and the book sort of ebbs along for a few hundred pages before we get into the actual interesting parts.
kim3100's review against another edition
4.0
I received the ebook in exchange for an honest review.
I was allowed to read this book before release and I appreciate this very much. This tells the story of a 'couple' detectives which are hired by a girl. She wants to know who murdered her father. This caused a thrillerfilled, quick paced story which I really enjoyed reading.
I was allowed to read this book before release and I appreciate this very much. This tells the story of a 'couple' detectives which are hired by a girl. She wants to know who murdered her father. This caused a thrillerfilled, quick paced story which I really enjoyed reading.
marilynsaul's review against another edition
4.0
Not my favorite but not my least favorite, either. I'm getting weary of Grice's OCD, quite frankly. This book has an elaborate plot that leaves one with two valid suspects for two inter-connected grisly massacres/murders. And now that I've finished the book and pondering the final disposition, I think I understand what happened. I also think that Grice actually blew this one, but March has it right.
hammychop's review against another edition
4.0
A bit slower than the previous book but still entertaining!