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cpalisa's review against another edition
3.0
This is one of my new favorite series and I was excited for this 3rd book. I liked it (3.5 stars) but didn't LOVE it. I still love the author and the characters...and the setting (Victorian era London), but this one lacked (for me) the interplay between the characters that made the first two so fun to read. This one also seemed to be a little more gruesome than the others (given that Jack the Ripper is a main character it is to be expected, I suppose). It will take a long time for me to forget "Tasty, salty eyeballs." I'll definitely keep reading these books but I'm hoping that I'll like the next one a little better, though, given how this one ends I'm not sure I'll like the next storyline. We'll see!
liedora's review against another edition
2.0
I thought this was going to be a gripping historical police procedure, but the only thing gripping about it were my hands on the cover to stop me throwing across the room unfinished. Yes, I was disappointed in this, and have read far better thriller/mysteries from Authors who are releasing their works to the reading public for the first time. This really isn’t one book as there is the main story that centres around the Scotland Yard Murder Squad shortly after the Ripper killings, and then there is the secondary, and in my mind much more enjoyable story, about the criminals the squad are pursuing.
The main character was not at all likeable, and in fact came across as a bit of a wimp at times. The Author apparently wanted him to appear as a stalwart of Scotland Yard but in the end he appeared to be nothing more than a self righteous man. He was very much in awe of his mentor, even though this man had left the force under a cloud, and deferred to him at every turn even when he had made it clear it was not the right thing to do. His indecisiveness was definitely at odds to the character I had expected when embarking on this book. On the flip side, I found his ‘sidekick’ to be a lot more interesting and likeable, and found myself wanting to read more about him than his Inspector. He was full of energy and stuck to a single course once his mind was made up, even if this meant going against the wishes of his superiors; the Author gifted this character will the kind of mind I had expected in the main protagonist and, rather than it being annoying to find in a secondary player, I found it one of two things that kept me reading to the end. As to the villains their story made the hair on the back of my neck stand up in places. Through a great deal of imagination and maybe some psychological research, the Author was able to bring these criminals to life in all their shocking and violent glory, while at the same time showing that you can never truly spot evil when it walks among us. It was the tale of the criminals that produced the second reason I kept reading.
From an historical point of view there was obviously a great deal of research done into the time period in which the novel is set, although at times the descriptiveness of locations did have a tendency to take over the page, and pull my attention away from what was actually happening. I’m not sure if it is just me, and there may be readers out there who enjoy this, but I do like sentences in a novel to be more than a few words long, and flow in a manner that does not make me feel as if I were on a tiny boat on a choppy see. Not all the sentences were written in this way, and it was a relief to come across those that had a nice flow and rhythm to them; only to have this taken away shortly after and be back in my storm tossed boat.
I now know this is the third book in the Murder Squad series, but to be quite honest that doesn’t really matter to me as I doubt that I will read anymore by this Author. I’m hesitant in recommending this book to anyone, but if you do like a police procedural mixed in with some history you might want to take a look at this book.
Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/07/11/review-the-devils-workshop-the-murder-squad-3-alex-grecian/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
The main character was not at all likeable, and in fact came across as a bit of a wimp at times. The Author apparently wanted him to appear as a stalwart of Scotland Yard but in the end he appeared to be nothing more than a self righteous man. He was very much in awe of his mentor, even though this man had left the force under a cloud, and deferred to him at every turn even when he had made it clear it was not the right thing to do. His indecisiveness was definitely at odds to the character I had expected when embarking on this book. On the flip side, I found his ‘sidekick’ to be a lot more interesting and likeable, and found myself wanting to read more about him than his Inspector. He was full of energy and stuck to a single course once his mind was made up, even if this meant going against the wishes of his superiors; the Author gifted this character will the kind of mind I had expected in the main protagonist and, rather than it being annoying to find in a secondary player, I found it one of two things that kept me reading to the end. As to the villains their story made the hair on the back of my neck stand up in places. Through a great deal of imagination and maybe some psychological research, the Author was able to bring these criminals to life in all their shocking and violent glory, while at the same time showing that you can never truly spot evil when it walks among us. It was the tale of the criminals that produced the second reason I kept reading.
From an historical point of view there was obviously a great deal of research done into the time period in which the novel is set, although at times the descriptiveness of locations did have a tendency to take over the page, and pull my attention away from what was actually happening. I’m not sure if it is just me, and there may be readers out there who enjoy this, but I do like sentences in a novel to be more than a few words long, and flow in a manner that does not make me feel as if I were on a tiny boat on a choppy see. Not all the sentences were written in this way, and it was a relief to come across those that had a nice flow and rhythm to them; only to have this taken away shortly after and be back in my storm tossed boat.
I now know this is the third book in the Murder Squad series, but to be quite honest that doesn’t really matter to me as I doubt that I will read anymore by this Author. I’m hesitant in recommending this book to anyone, but if you do like a police procedural mixed in with some history you might want to take a look at this book.
Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/07/11/review-the-devils-workshop-the-murder-squad-3-alex-grecian/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
fluffyturtle's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
glassmd's review against another edition
2.0
I loved the first two and a half books in this series. This book felt, shall I say, tired? Predictable? It felt like a chore to get through, unfortunately.
eclipsee's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I was unaware of this book being part of a series - partly the reason of my rating, at no fault of the book. Having said that, it did not move me enough to want to pick up the rest of the series.
chenoadallen's review against another edition
1.0
OK, this series has gone off the rails. Super disappointing, because in book 1 I liked the characters a lot (especially Claire). But now the characters are flat and one-dimensional.
If your whole plot depends on your ~brilliant inspector~ main character being to effing stupid to notice that, for example, people he's supposed to be working with go missing (or notices and doesn't think it's a problem), then you have a problem. And Hammersmith, oh jeeze. I've been known to put my pants on inside out just like anyone else, but can you hammer (heh) home enough times that oh, he's just so dedicated to his work, he can't button his own darn shirt up right?
Also, way too much gratuitous violence for me in this one. Literally made me sick to my stomach.
If your whole plot depends on your ~brilliant inspector~ main character being to effing stupid to notice that, for example, people he's supposed to be working with go missing (or notices and doesn't think it's a problem), then you have a problem. And Hammersmith, oh jeeze. I've been known to put my pants on inside out just like anyone else, but can you hammer (heh) home enough times that oh, he's just so dedicated to his work, he can't button his own darn shirt up right?
Also, way too much gratuitous violence for me in this one. Literally made me sick to my stomach.
apriltwilights's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ndiganci's review against another edition
2.0
I've liked the previous two Murder Squad books, but this left a LOT to be desired.
The story finds Detective Inspector Walter Day embroiled in a search for fugitive prisoners of the local prison after a train went off its tracks and crashed into the prison, destroying the wall and allowing 4 prisoners to escape, at the same time as his wife Claire is in the final weeks of her first pregnancy. We the readers also learn that Jack the Ripper (or Saucy Jack, as they keep referring to him as, which grated my teeth each time I read it) is alive and not-well, having been captured by a vigilante group hell-bent on bringing justice to criminals in their own way and kept in underground catacombs for a year.
This book was just...ugh. I'm not squeamish of violence, but here, the violence was just for the sake of violence, for shock value rather than contributing to the story. There was a several-page spread of Jack killing a stray dog that I had to flip through as I hate reading about unnecessary violence towards animals. There was very little character development, although I guess since this is the third book it's not as expected. Just the whining of Walter about becoming a father, the whining of Walter when he realizes his mentor is part of the aforementioned vigilante group, the whining of Walter...oh, there did seem to be a lot more whining by Walter in this book. In the first two, he seemed much more stalwart and level-headed, so this was a turn of character for him, and not really in a good way.
And speaking of Jack -- look, I know we still don't know much about the man and probably never will. But the way Grecian has characterized him here seemed SO ludicrously evil, SO over the top that I found myself rolling my eyes at Jack's scenes rather than being drawn into his story. All his talk of "transforming" people, how he's "transcended humanity and is now a god" just...blurgh. Grecian had a real chance to bring in Jack, the man who terrorized London, and instead we get a one-dimensional villain. He even gives his monologue to Walter after Walter was trapped in the catacombs! Too cliche, too OTT.
And the climax...it was just all too much all at once. Too many people in Walter and Claire's house, too many people killed. It was just a mess of storytelling and I didn't care one whit about who was killed (except Hammersmith. His character I was rooting for to pull through).
I have The Harvest Man and I'll read it eventually since I have it, but if the quality on that one is the same as Devil's Workshop, I do believe I'll be abandoning this series.
The story finds Detective Inspector Walter Day embroiled in a search for fugitive prisoners of the local prison after a train went off its tracks and crashed into the prison, destroying the wall and allowing 4 prisoners to escape, at the same time as his wife Claire is in the final weeks of her first pregnancy. We the readers also learn that Jack the Ripper (or Saucy Jack, as they keep referring to him as, which grated my teeth each time I read it) is alive and not-well, having been captured by a vigilante group hell-bent on bringing justice to criminals in their own way and kept in underground catacombs for a year.
This book was just...ugh. I'm not squeamish of violence, but here, the violence was just for the sake of violence, for shock value rather than contributing to the story. There was a several-page spread of Jack killing a stray dog that I had to flip through as I hate reading about unnecessary violence towards animals. There was very little character development, although I guess since this is the third book it's not as expected. Just the whining of Walter about becoming a father, the whining of Walter when he realizes his mentor is part of the aforementioned vigilante group, the whining of Walter...oh, there did seem to be a lot more whining by Walter in this book. In the first two, he seemed much more stalwart and level-headed, so this was a turn of character for him, and not really in a good way.
And speaking of Jack -- look, I know we still don't know much about the man and probably never will. But the way Grecian has characterized him here seemed SO ludicrously evil, SO over the top that I found myself rolling my eyes at Jack's scenes rather than being drawn into his story. All his talk of "transforming" people, how he's "transcended humanity and is now a god" just...blurgh. Grecian had a real chance to bring in Jack, the man who terrorized London, and instead we get a one-dimensional villain. He even gives his monologue to Walter after Walter was trapped in the catacombs! Too cliche, too OTT.
And the climax...it was just all too much all at once. Too many people in Walter and Claire's house, too many people killed. It was just a mess of storytelling and I didn't care one whit about who was killed (except Hammersmith. His character I was rooting for to pull through).
I have The Harvest Man and I'll read it eventually since I have it, but if the quality on that one is the same as Devil's Workshop, I do believe I'll be abandoning this series.
csdaley's review against another edition
3.0
Oh man I am worried. This was more like a 2.5 star for me. I hated the Jack the Ripper story line and felt most of the plot ridiculous. I loved the first two books of the series but if this is the way the series is going I might be out. I still love Day and Hammersmith but that was about it.