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chava_in_oz's review
4.0
I listened to the audiobook, it was very enjoyable. Great storyline and great twists and turns.
stinajohanns's review
4.0
This was a really enjoyable read although the final plot was a bit predictable. But the book still managed to keep me excited, not knowing what would come next. The main characters are interesting and this book we get to know a little bit more about their backstory but the author still mostly keep their personal lives mostly out of the book. Basically we just get a peak into their lives, just enough to remind us that they are not just cops. I've now read the first two of the Carrigan and Miller books and I really look forward to reading the next one.
andrew61's review
4.0
This is the second story in the Carrigan /Miller series and it was a definite page turner. stav Sherez is a cracking writer who elevates police procedurals into something special as he keeps all the usual classic features but adds something other with well informed journeys into the unusual. In the first book it was politics in Uganda but in this one we are immersed into the world of the Catholic church and Peruvian politics and missionaries.
I won't say anymore suffice to say that if you like Crime fiction I heartily recommend this series.
I won't say anymore suffice to say that if you like Crime fiction I heartily recommend this series.
fictionfan's review
4.0
Grim and grey but still very readable...
When a fire engulfs a convent in London, the ten nuns who make up the Order are all killed. But there is another body too, and it’s up to Detectives Jack Carrigan and Geneva Miller to find out who she was and why she was there. This is a complex, somewhat sprawling thriller that looks not just at the underbelly of crime in London but also at politics within the Roman Catholic church, and across the world to the impact of big business on the peasants of Peru.
Although this is the second in the Carrigan and Miller series, it works well as a standalone. I haven’t read the first in the series but didn’t find that affected my understanding of this one. The characterisation of both the detectives is well done, as we see the strain of the investigation telling on them. Both detectives come with a fair amount of personal baggage – Carrigan still recovering from the death of his wife, while Miller is dealing with the after-effects of the breakdown of her marriage. The reader can see an attraction forming between them which they themselves haven’t yet admitted to, which adds an interesting edge to their relationship.
There’s a fair amount of violence in the book with some particularly gruesome descriptions of torture at one point, and the overall tone of the book is pretty grim, unleavened by humour or hope. Carrigan in particular takes a bleak view of the world around him and the reader spends much of the book looking through his eyes. Not quite noir, but certainly a pretty dark grey.
The quality of the writing is high, especially in the descriptive passages, and, while the violence is a bit graphic at times for my taste, it is written very effectively. At times the dialogue comes across as unconvincing – the phraseology is too formal and well-turned to sound quite like the spoken word.
While I found the book very readable, the plot does veer between the predictable and the implausible and crosses both those lines at several points. As always, the Catholic church is portrayed as close to evil in the way it manipulates and controls people – a very overused theme. The Peruvian strand is interesting and clearly well researched, with some hard-hitting descriptions of the brutality that was used on both sides during the era of the Shining Path guerrilla movement. However, again the link to the current investigation stretches belief uncomfortably thin. Throw in some Eastern European drug barons and a bit of people-trafficking and it all becomes just a bit too much – sometimes less really is more. And unfortunately the end relies on one of the most overused twists of all time, no more credible in this book than in any of the countless others it has appeared in. In fact, had the book finished before the final twist, I would have found it much more satisfying and believable.
In the end, I feel the strengths of the book – the descriptive writing and the characterisation of the detectives – just about outweigh the weaknesses of the over-complexity and lack of credibility of the plot. Despite the problems, I would recommend this as an enjoyable read overall and I will be interested to see how the series develops in the future.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Faber & Faber.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
When a fire engulfs a convent in London, the ten nuns who make up the Order are all killed. But there is another body too, and it’s up to Detectives Jack Carrigan and Geneva Miller to find out who she was and why she was there. This is a complex, somewhat sprawling thriller that looks not just at the underbelly of crime in London but also at politics within the Roman Catholic church, and across the world to the impact of big business on the peasants of Peru.
Although this is the second in the Carrigan and Miller series, it works well as a standalone. I haven’t read the first in the series but didn’t find that affected my understanding of this one. The characterisation of both the detectives is well done, as we see the strain of the investigation telling on them. Both detectives come with a fair amount of personal baggage – Carrigan still recovering from the death of his wife, while Miller is dealing with the after-effects of the breakdown of her marriage. The reader can see an attraction forming between them which they themselves haven’t yet admitted to, which adds an interesting edge to their relationship.
There’s a fair amount of violence in the book with some particularly gruesome descriptions of torture at one point, and the overall tone of the book is pretty grim, unleavened by humour or hope. Carrigan in particular takes a bleak view of the world around him and the reader spends much of the book looking through his eyes. Not quite noir, but certainly a pretty dark grey.
The quality of the writing is high, especially in the descriptive passages, and, while the violence is a bit graphic at times for my taste, it is written very effectively. At times the dialogue comes across as unconvincing – the phraseology is too formal and well-turned to sound quite like the spoken word.
While I found the book very readable, the plot does veer between the predictable and the implausible and crosses both those lines at several points. As always, the Catholic church is portrayed as close to evil in the way it manipulates and controls people – a very overused theme. The Peruvian strand is interesting and clearly well researched, with some hard-hitting descriptions of the brutality that was used on both sides during the era of the Shining Path guerrilla movement. However, again the link to the current investigation stretches belief uncomfortably thin. Throw in some Eastern European drug barons and a bit of people-trafficking and it all becomes just a bit too much – sometimes less really is more. And unfortunately the end relies on one of the most overused twists of all time, no more credible in this book than in any of the countless others it has appeared in. In fact, had the book finished before the final twist, I would have found it much more satisfying and believable.
In the end, I feel the strengths of the book – the descriptive writing and the characterisation of the detectives – just about outweigh the weaknesses of the over-complexity and lack of credibility of the plot. Despite the problems, I would recommend this as an enjoyable read overall and I will be interested to see how the series develops in the future.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Faber & Faber.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
bgg616's review against another edition
5.0
This is the second in the Carrigan & Miller series crime novels set in London. Sherez creates complicated stories that continue to gain depth as the stories progresses. The story opens with a fire in a wealthy neighborhood that completely destroy a house. The house turns out to be the residence of 10 nuns, a convent. Of course, as this is a crime novel, the fire is not accidental. Who would want to set a fire that kills nuns?
Of course, the Catholic Church us not cooperative when Carrigan and Miller come looking for answers. There are financial secrets, the nuns' neighborhood activism against drug dealers, as well as international ties that throw up question after question.
American readers may, like me, be puzzled by the fact that many of the detectives in the story go out to face really bad guys without guns. The neighboring state of Virginia has "open carry" laws so soneone can walk into Starbucks or Chuckie Cheese, with a gun on their hip. This just boggles the mind. Also, you will learn more about some really awful criminal organizations that we don't have - yet- in the US. If you are a fan of British crime, and complex plots, this is for you.
Of course, the Catholic Church us not cooperative when Carrigan and Miller come looking for answers. There are financial secrets, the nuns' neighborhood activism against drug dealers, as well as international ties that throw up question after question.
American readers may, like me, be puzzled by the fact that many of the detectives in the story go out to face really bad guys without guns. The neighboring state of Virginia has "open carry" laws so soneone can walk into Starbucks or Chuckie Cheese, with a gun on their hip. This just boggles the mind. Also, you will learn more about some really awful criminal organizations that we don't have - yet- in the US. If you are a fan of British crime, and complex plots, this is for you.
stacialithub's review against another edition
4.0
I totally got sucked into this story & read the book in one sitting, staying up way, way too late. It's nice to find a book like that! This is the second in a crime/world noir series by Stav Sherez. I rarely read series, yet I am so enjoying this one. I guess now I'm going to have to wait until the author writes the next one! Both books are gritty crime dramas with international/political overtones. They're really well-written & I've so enjoyed both of them. They've been smart, page-turning escapist reading for me. Definitely recommended.
bethnellvaccaro's review against another edition
4.0
Although I preferred the first installment in this series, I was not disappointed. I hope there are many more to come.
kaz_loves_books's review
5.0
A brilliant book with an interesting storyline and an intriguing twist at the end. Brilliant read
yowlyy's review
5.0
C'est magnifique! Stav Sherez never, ever disappoints...it's the fourth book I read by him, and the second in the Carrigan-Miller series, and wow...you don't see it coming, you really don't. Won't spoil it and leave you to discover what happens (we have the usual gruesome parts that we all have learnt to love in his books, and the mix with religion in the story which is peculiar for the way it is woven in), but will say that much that the cliffhanger we're left with makes me wish I could have the next book in the series right now on my bedside table to continue reading.
I guess I will have to be a bit patient there...
I guess I will have to be a bit patient there...