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tsquare345's review against another edition
3.0
I've enjoyed the tv adaptation of the Shetland Island series. This is the first novel from Ms Cleeves that I've read. I found that there were just too many characters (point of views, self-talk, with heavy self-doubts) to keep track of. I'm on the fence on whether to continue with this series or not.
Part of the Kindle Unlimited catalog.
Part of the Kindle Unlimited catalog.
beeley10's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
maryyyyyyy's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
mg_in_md_'s review against another edition
4.0
Having read and loved two other series by this author (Shetland Island and Vera Stanhope), I was excited to hear that a new series was in the works and even more so when I was given a chance to read an advanced reader's copy of the first book in the series. This introduction to the Two Rivers series drew me in immediately with its lush writing, as is the case any time I've picked up one of the Shetland or Vera books. The author's ability to create realistic settings and three dimensional characters, as well as complex mysteries that often blend past and present, is one of the reasons I love her work, and this novel did not disappoint.
I connected with Detective Matthew Venn from the opening pages. He is complex, thoughtful, and compassionate. I felt like I knew and understood him, and that he was the type of character I would enjoy spending time with in the future. I was also intrigued by Venn's co-workers (particularly Jen Rafferty) and his husband, Jonathan. I am eager to learn more about their backstories and look forward to getting to know them even better as the series progresses. The secondary characters were thoughtfully portrayed and felt as fully developed as the main characters.
While I have never visited a town like North Devon, I felt like I had been transported there and was fully immersed in that world. The sense of place was strong and provided another layer to the story. If you enjoyed the Shetland Island series for its strong sense of place, I think you'll be equally drawn to the world of Two Rivers.
The mystery begins when Venn is assigned to investigate an apparent homicide. He soon discovers that the dead man found on a local beach has a connection to the community center where his husband works. The investigation grows more complicated when two women with Down's Syndrome--one of whom has a connection to the dead man--are abducted from the center. More than once, Venn offers to step back from the investigation as the ties to the center grow. However, it is clear that he will follow the investigation wherever it needs to go to uncover the truth. His past also factors into the mystery, as does his tense relationship with his family. I loved the complexity of the story and how the investigation unfolded.
I look forward to returning to North Devon soon, and am thrilled to have a new series by Ann Cleeves to add to my "must read" list. This review is based on an advanced reader edition that I received courtesy of NetGalley and Minotaur Books (thank you!).
I connected with Detective Matthew Venn from the opening pages. He is complex, thoughtful, and compassionate. I felt like I knew and understood him, and that he was the type of character I would enjoy spending time with in the future. I was also intrigued by Venn's co-workers (particularly Jen Rafferty) and his husband, Jonathan. I am eager to learn more about their backstories and look forward to getting to know them even better as the series progresses. The secondary characters were thoughtfully portrayed and felt as fully developed as the main characters.
While I have never visited a town like North Devon, I felt like I had been transported there and was fully immersed in that world. The sense of place was strong and provided another layer to the story. If you enjoyed the Shetland Island series for its strong sense of place, I think you'll be equally drawn to the world of Two Rivers.
The mystery begins when Venn is assigned to investigate an apparent homicide. He soon discovers that the dead man found on a local beach has a connection to the community center where his husband works. The investigation grows more complicated when two women with Down's Syndrome--one of whom has a connection to the dead man--are abducted from the center. More than once, Venn offers to step back from the investigation as the ties to the center grow. However, it is clear that he will follow the investigation wherever it needs to go to uncover the truth. His past also factors into the mystery, as does his tense relationship with his family. I loved the complexity of the story and how the investigation unfolded.
I look forward to returning to North Devon soon, and am thrilled to have a new series by Ann Cleeves to add to my "must read" list. This review is based on an advanced reader edition that I received courtesy of NetGalley and Minotaur Books (thank you!).
pewterwolf's review against another edition
4.0
I think 4.5ish. I'm surprised how much I liked and enjoyed this. Very tempted to buy hardback edition of this as listened to this via library audiobook.
Review Taken from The Pewter Wolf
***eProof given by publisher, Pan Macmillan, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction, even though I borrowed and listened to audiobook from local library via BorrowBox***
The Long Call is the first book in Ann Cleeves new series, Two Rivers. We know Ann Cleeves for writing the Shetland series (starting with [b:Raven Black|27861138|Raven Black (Shetland Island, #1)|Ann Cleeves|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1447952613l/27861138._SY75_.jpg|2327400] - which I do own, I think) and the Vera Stanhope series (starting with [b:The Crow Trap|29093542|The Crow Trap (Vera Stanhope #1)|Ann Cleeves|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1455461565l/29093542._SY75_.jpg|94057]). Both series adapted to television (Vera on ITV and Shetland on BBC) and The Long Call has already been bought for TV adaptation before the book was published. So, a new series is both exciting and scary for Cleeves fans.
In North Devon, where the river Taw meets the river Torridge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn is standing outside a church. It’s his father’s funeral, but he can’t attend. His family are members of a strict evangelical community, the Barum Brethren, and, when he was younger, he turned his back on the faith, his family disowned him and when he met and married a man… well, you can guess the rest...
But it’s on this day that Matthew is thrown into his first major case. A body has been found on the beach, very close to Matthew’s house. A man who was stabbed with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck.
Slowly, Matthew and his team are pulled into the case, with connections not only to the family and religious friends who turned their backs on Matthew but to the Woodyard Centre, a safe place for disabled and mentally impaired people and a community centre that provides counselling serves, classes, charity services. The centre is managed by Matthew’s husband, Jonathan, and Matthew can’t help but wonder if he’s far too close to the investigation to solve it.
So, this is my first Ann Cleeves’s novel and I enjoyed it far more than I expected.
As you know if you’ve followed the Pewter Wolf for a while, I tend to like my crime novels to move at quite a pace. But this is a much slow burn of a read. Ann Cleeves makes this a slow burn so we get to know the characters, but investigating and those involved in the crime. And because it’s slower, we see how complex the characters and the case is. It’s not a simple murder, there are layers and you need the pacing to be a tad slow to let the characters and story breath.
Matthew Venn isn’t a typical lead. He’s quiet, thoughtful, very unsure of himself as a person, husband and a Police officer, and compassionate. The two other officers - Jen Refferty and Ross May - are a nice counter point to Matthew. Jen is smart, fierce and straightforward with a heartbreaking backstory while Ross is competitive, a show-off but who needs to learn how to be a team player and patience (and Matthew, who rarely speaks ill of officers in his evening meetings, does have to scolded him).
This book tackles some dark issues - murder, abuse of power, sexual assault, mental health, religious convictions and blind faith, among others - and we have a look at how people look and treat people with addiction or mentally impaired as one of the character witness is a woman with Down Syndrome.
This might not be for everyone and I totally get that. I listened to this via audiobook and I do think the narrator can make or break an audiobook. I’be had worse narrators, but I did find some of the character voices merged together so you have to be on the ball. Plus, with this being a slow-burn mystery, people might not like the pacing.
But this weirdly worked for me and I am now making plans to read more Ann Cleeves. Like I said earlier I do have Raven Black on my kindle so hope to read that before the next book in this series comes out as I want to continue this series.
Review Taken from The Pewter Wolf
***eProof given by publisher, Pan Macmillan, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction, even though I borrowed and listened to audiobook from local library via BorrowBox***
The Long Call is the first book in Ann Cleeves new series, Two Rivers. We know Ann Cleeves for writing the Shetland series (starting with [b:Raven Black|27861138|Raven Black (Shetland Island, #1)|Ann Cleeves|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1447952613l/27861138._SY75_.jpg|2327400] - which I do own, I think) and the Vera Stanhope series (starting with [b:The Crow Trap|29093542|The Crow Trap (Vera Stanhope #1)|Ann Cleeves|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1455461565l/29093542._SY75_.jpg|94057]). Both series adapted to television (Vera on ITV and Shetland on BBC) and The Long Call has already been bought for TV adaptation before the book was published. So, a new series is both exciting and scary for Cleeves fans.
In North Devon, where the river Taw meets the river Torridge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn is standing outside a church. It’s his father’s funeral, but he can’t attend. His family are members of a strict evangelical community, the Barum Brethren, and, when he was younger, he turned his back on the faith, his family disowned him and when he met and married a man… well, you can guess the rest...
But it’s on this day that Matthew is thrown into his first major case. A body has been found on the beach, very close to Matthew’s house. A man who was stabbed with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck.
Slowly, Matthew and his team are pulled into the case, with connections not only to the family and religious friends who turned their backs on Matthew but to the Woodyard Centre, a safe place for disabled and mentally impaired people and a community centre that provides counselling serves, classes, charity services. The centre is managed by Matthew’s husband, Jonathan, and Matthew can’t help but wonder if he’s far too close to the investigation to solve it.
So, this is my first Ann Cleeves’s novel and I enjoyed it far more than I expected.
As you know if you’ve followed the Pewter Wolf for a while, I tend to like my crime novels to move at quite a pace. But this is a much slow burn of a read. Ann Cleeves makes this a slow burn so we get to know the characters, but investigating and those involved in the crime. And because it’s slower, we see how complex the characters and the case is. It’s not a simple murder, there are layers and you need the pacing to be a tad slow to let the characters and story breath.
Matthew Venn isn’t a typical lead. He’s quiet, thoughtful, very unsure of himself as a person, husband and a Police officer, and compassionate. The two other officers - Jen Refferty and Ross May - are a nice counter point to Matthew. Jen is smart, fierce and straightforward with a heartbreaking backstory while Ross is competitive, a show-off but who needs to learn how to be a team player and patience (and Matthew, who rarely speaks ill of officers in his evening meetings, does have to scolded him).
This book tackles some dark issues - murder, abuse of power, sexual assault, mental health, religious convictions and blind faith, among others - and we have a look at how people look and treat people with addiction or mentally impaired as one of the character witness is a woman with Down Syndrome.
This might not be for everyone and I totally get that. I listened to this via audiobook and I do think the narrator can make or break an audiobook. I’be had worse narrators, but I did find some of the character voices merged together so you have to be on the ball. Plus, with this being a slow-burn mystery, people might not like the pacing.
But this weirdly worked for me and I am now making plans to read more Ann Cleeves. Like I said earlier I do have Raven Black on my kindle so hope to read that before the next book in this series comes out as I want to continue this series.
jigsawgirl's review against another edition
3.0
This would be 2.5 stars. It took forever to finish this book. It never takes me this long to read a book. I have never read anything by this author before, and based on this book, I am not sure I will read anything else.
I enjoy a good mystery. This moved so slowly and the characters seemed so wooden that I had a hard time connecting with any of them. I think Lucy was the most interesting. She had the most personality.
The other characters didn't illicit much emotion from me one way or another. They didn't have much personality, or were kind of creepy. When they mentioned one of the characters later in the book, I had to go back and find out who she was and what her role in the story had been.
I found it off putting that the person in charge of the investigation seemed unsure of his position, his relationship, and his ability to solve the case. I didn't care about Matthew and Jonathan being a couple, and thought their relationship seemed more like they were needy and desperate to hang on to each other than actually being in love.
There were so many characters in this book that trying to keep up with them and there connection to the other characters became almost unwieldy. I thought the mystery itself was decent.
At times, reading this book was like wading through a mud pit with heavy, wet clothes on. The best part of the book, which also had the best pacing, was toward the end, when the disjoint pieces were being pulled together. Had the rest of the book been paced the same, I'm sure I could give it a higher rating.
The Long Call was not terrible. I would recommend you read it and judge for yourself. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book received from the publisher via NetGalley.
I enjoy a good mystery. This moved so slowly and the characters seemed so wooden that I had a hard time connecting with any of them. I think Lucy was the most interesting. She had the most personality.
The other characters didn't illicit much emotion from me one way or another. They didn't have much personality, or were kind of creepy. When they mentioned one of the characters later in the book, I had to go back and find out who she was and what her role in the story had been.
I found it off putting that the person in charge of the investigation seemed unsure of his position, his relationship, and his ability to solve the case. I didn't care about Matthew and Jonathan being a couple, and thought their relationship seemed more like they were needy and desperate to hang on to each other than actually being in love.
There were so many characters in this book that trying to keep up with them and there connection to the other characters became almost unwieldy. I thought the mystery itself was decent.
At times, reading this book was like wading through a mud pit with heavy, wet clothes on. The best part of the book, which also had the best pacing, was toward the end, when the disjoint pieces were being pulled together. Had the rest of the book been paced the same, I'm sure I could give it a higher rating.
The Long Call was not terrible. I would recommend you read it and judge for yourself. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book received from the publisher via NetGalley.
rubyrobin's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5