Reviews

Another case calls and Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are on the scene to investigate a murder in a brothel. While at first glance, it seems like a fight gone wrong, evidence soon reveals that there's much more digging to do, including looking into a bank heist that happened a few years earlier. And all of this happens right before an international trade summit where the victim was going to be working and now, other agencies from near and far are getting involved as well.

Book four in the series and I'm glad to see that the writing quality remains on par with the previous books. Sometimes sequels start to fall off after a while, but Craven's work all holds to the same standard set by the first book. That said, this particular case wasn't my personal favourite as it delves into military aspects. While it was interesting to learn some of these things, it's just a topic that I don't often dive into.

Nonetheless, the story is strong, involves lots of twists and red herrings, and keeps you hooked and guessing at the solution. This time, I managed to pinpoint the culprit, but as with the previous books, the reveal still holds some surprises and clarifications even if you can figure out the "who" of it all.

And now I'll be off to get in line for the next book in the series at my local library!

dstrbia's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? Yes

4.25

burns_cheadle's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5 Stars: highly recommended for fans of fast-paced, character-driven crime fiction. This is the second Mike Craven book I read (for obscure reasons I started in the middle of the Washington Poe series with The Curator), and I am now a certified fan of this marvellous series. Craven does a brilliant job of developing vivid and engaging characters, setting them up against unimaginable terrors and then weaving in just enough side-splitting hilarity to ease the tension. Tilly Bradshaw, in particular, is nothing but pure, naïve, guileless joy. Sure, Craven occasionally "repurposes" memorable phrases from previous books ("his hands were like bunches of bananas and his knuckles were like walnuts" also popped up in The Curator), but personally I could care less—it's a good line and the editors should have caught it anyhow. No more time for writing a review—I am on to The Botanist (Washington Poe #5) as quickly as possible!

luciearan's review against another edition

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4.0

Hodnocení: 4,5/5 ✩
I ze stránek této knihy, do našich životů vstoupí kouzelně suverénní Poe, pod dohledem naprosto geniální Tilly. Já jsem si tuto neobvyklou dvojici zamilovala, už od prvního dílu. A jak už to tak bývá, oblíbeným hrdinům a sériím, se dá odpustit, kde co.
Z mého úhlu pohledu, je tento díl skoro až moc typicky filmovým thrillerem. Čímž samozřejmě nechci říct, že by byl špatný, to ne. Jen snad, že já se přeci jen, o něco víc, těšila na poněkud realističtější detektivku, plnou zákrut a spletitého vyšetřování. Na druhou stranu, ono až filmové zpracování, poskytlo autorovi mnohem větší pole působnosti a prostor, otevřený až neobvykle velkému množství možností. A že M. W. Craven neváhal, a většinu z nich, také využil. A nejen to, popustil také trochu uzdu oběma hlavním hrdinům. A tak se stane, že pokud se trochu uvolníte i vy, budete v nestřežených okamžicích propukat v smích. Jelikož poněkud škrobené a neobvyklé výrazy k Poeovi prostě patří a Tilly, je jednoduše příběh, sám pro sebe.
Pokud vám tedy nevadí, minimální míra uvěřitelnosti tohoto příběhu, směle do toho (myslím čtení), protože vás čeká jízda, za kterou by se nemuselo stydět ani filmové plátno.

lindseypeapod's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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