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3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
I'm a big consumer of British Police Procedurals. This is one of the better of the modern ilk. Its a mashup of the Brit Police Procedural and British Conspiracy Thriller.
Writing is good. Its very straight-forward. Dialog is better than descriptive prose. I felt the descriptive prose was a bit too lush. Brit class polemics were a little shrill. Continuity was also good. I only found two minor errors. It was obvious professional-grade copyediting and review were performed. on the text.
Characters are good. They were well-within trope. The Erika Foster protagonist is most fleshed-out. Erika is reminiscent of an immigrant DCI Jane Tennison. I could detect her as being a woman character written by a male author. However, this was only in the details. Erika was a tad too masculine. The coppers at the nick are a new Millennium version of the trope's staples. The victim was well done too. Although her family was undercooked. The perp could have used some work. The expository chapters describing their motivation felt weak.
Plot is a slow burn between murder mystery, British class-struggle, and MI-5 related conspiracy. The author managed to obscure the whodunnit longer than most I've read. This is despite a limited cast of characters. The plot element of the 'politics of the Met' was unoriginal. Pace-wise, the plot unrolled smoothly throughout, but was too far over the speed limit at the end for my liking.
This is a well-written story, solidly within the genre. If you read Brit police procedurals, you'll be at home here. I liked it, despite it operating within the current fad of female DCI procedurals. (Female and near retirement age male DCIs are overly popular now.). If I have a criticism, its not original enough to be really good.
When I find the time, I'm likely to read the next book in the series [b:The Night Stalker|29073628|The Night Stalker (Detective Erika Foster, #2)|Robert Bryndza|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1458146909s/29073628.jpg|49303666].
Readers who like this type of story may be interested in reading [b:The Last Detective|815595|The Last Detective (Peter Diamond, #1)|Peter Lovesey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356154821s/815595.jpg|618777]. This is the 'old skool' version of this novel.
Writing is good. Its very straight-forward. Dialog is better than descriptive prose. I felt the descriptive prose was a bit too lush. Brit class polemics were a little shrill. Continuity was also good. I only found two minor errors. It was obvious professional-grade copyediting and review were performed. on the text.
Characters are good. They were well-within trope. The Erika Foster protagonist is most fleshed-out. Erika is reminiscent of an immigrant DCI Jane Tennison. I could detect her as being a woman character written by a male author. However, this was only in the details. Erika was a tad too masculine. The coppers at the nick are a new Millennium version of the trope's staples. The victim was well done too. Although her family was undercooked. The perp could have used some work. The expository chapters describing their motivation felt weak.
Plot is a slow burn between murder mystery, British class-struggle, and MI-5 related conspiracy. The author managed to obscure the whodunnit longer than most I've read. This is despite a limited cast of characters. The plot element of the 'politics of the Met' was unoriginal. Pace-wise, the plot unrolled smoothly throughout, but was too far over the speed limit at the end for my liking.
This is a well-written story, solidly within the genre. If you read Brit police procedurals, you'll be at home here. I liked it, despite it operating within the current fad of female DCI procedurals. (Female and near retirement age male DCIs are overly popular now.). If I have a criticism, its not original enough to be really good.
When I find the time, I'm likely to read the next book in the series [b:The Night Stalker|29073628|The Night Stalker (Detective Erika Foster, #2)|Robert Bryndza|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1458146909s/29073628.jpg|49303666].
Readers who like this type of story may be interested in reading [b:The Last Detective|815595|The Last Detective (Peter Diamond, #1)|Peter Lovesey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356154821s/815595.jpg|618777]. This is the 'old skool' version of this novel.
This was a great read from the start, really punchy and gritty, keeping the pages turning and me up to the wee hours!! The book introduces Dectective Erika Foster, on the hunt for a killer of a young socialite who may not have been the first victim. You get a real of sense of the streets of London and a female lead who evokes the legend of DI Tennison. Overall this is a strong, well developed character that bodes well for future books in the series. The only downside for me was towards the last quarter of the book which felt a little less developed. Characters and situations were suddenly introduced that, for me, jarred the story a little bit. Also when the protagonist was revealed it was a bit 'ah ha it was you'. Perhaps more context could have been built into the story at an earlier point, setting the scene for playing all suspects off each other a little more and being able to build on the suspense. So a bit more thread weaving all the way through would be my recommendation. All in all, a great new crime series to watch out for, 3 1/2 to 4 stars.
Many thanks to NetGallery for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Many thanks to NetGallery for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
I really enjoyed this book, even when I wasn't the biggest fan of Erika Foster, she is the kind of person you'd want investigating if you've been the victim of a crime. I loved the sweet moments with her father in law and the road towards forgiveness. The plot itself was alright, not really my cup of tea, but well written (granted, it took me a bit to get used to the writing style) even though most of the characters involved were horrible people. I look forward to reading more of the series, and hope that the plot will be more to my liking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Violence, Murder
Very nice start for a series!
DCI Forster is just coming back on the job after a tragic accident. A wealthy socialite has been found dead and it's a complicated case. Met with opposition at every turn, more dead girls, and a killer with their sites on her, her plate is beyond full. This was a very fast paced read and I really enjoyed the character development. I hope we get to know them better as the series progresses. I will be starting the 2nd in the series pretty much immediately.
DCI Forster is just coming back on the job after a tragic accident. A wealthy socialite has been found dead and it's a complicated case. Met with opposition at every turn, more dead girls, and a killer with their sites on her, her plate is beyond full. This was a very fast paced read and I really enjoyed the character development. I hope we get to know them better as the series progresses. I will be starting the 2nd in the series pretty much immediately.
You can see my full review here: https://youtu.be/vg_L13UNKpM
dark
slow-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
Honestly, I didn't like anything about this book. The main detective was problematic. The other characters were unlikable. It also felt like a long book with not much going on.
Opzich was de verhaallijn echt niet verkeerd. Het einde niet super origineel maar wel eentje die me kan entertainen. Dit is ook de reden dat ik zo torn was tussen het boek uitlezen of aan de kant smijten door de seksistische ondertoon.
De compleet overbodige beschrijvingen over de lichamen van de vrouwen in het boek op de meest ongepaste momenten waren wat voor mij de ervaring volledig verpeste.
‘Kristina begon te huilen. Haar boezem trilde en haar gezicht werd rood’?
Het meisje was bang om GEDEPORTEERD te worden en het was nodig om er toch maar de beweging van haar boezem aan toe te voegen? Hou op zeg hahaha
De compleet overbodige beschrijvingen over de lichamen van de vrouwen in het boek op de meest ongepaste momenten waren wat voor mij de ervaring volledig verpeste.
‘Kristina begon te huilen. Haar boezem trilde en haar gezicht werd rood’?
Het meisje was bang om GEDEPORTEERD te worden en het was nodig om er toch maar de beweging van haar boezem aan toe te voegen? Hou op zeg hahaha
