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ring01's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
elvang's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Angela Marsons continues to grow as an author. In this sixth book featuring Detective Inspector Kim Stone, she pushes Stone’s team to the next level when they are separated from their fearless boss and must handle their own investigation without her leadership. Thanks to a territorial dispute over a crime scene, Kim is forced to work with an old foe from neighbouring West Mercie. While she tries to uncover answers to a collection of human remains found at a forensic dig training site, Bryant, Dawson, and Wood look for suspects in an assault on a Polish immigrant with hate crime overtones.
Marsons has a knack for educating her readers while entertaining with intricate plots which inevitably merge in dramatic fashion. Her focus in Dead Souls is on hate crimes and prejudice in all its forms. A plot involving racism disguised as nationalistic pride could not be more relevant in these days of border walls and Brexit votes. Kudos to the author for raising awareness to the challenges faced by minorities of all stripes while giving us a fascinating mystery to solve.
Separating Stone from her team of detectives was daring and successful. Pairing solid, stalwart Bryant with the often erratic Dawson forced the two men to learn to work together and draw on each other’s strengths. Stacey Wood has played a minor yet essential role as tech wizard for the team in previous novels. In Dead Souls, she goes rogue investigation wise but also raises her fellow officer’s awareness regarding her experiences as a woman of colour. Growth by these secondary characters bodes well for future investigations. Seeing DI Kim Stone mature in her role as DI was an added bonus.
A great read I highly recommend.
ARC received with thanks from Bookouture via NetGalley for review.
Marsons has a knack for educating her readers while entertaining with intricate plots which inevitably merge in dramatic fashion. Her focus in Dead Souls is on hate crimes and prejudice in all its forms. A plot involving racism disguised as nationalistic pride could not be more relevant in these days of border walls and Brexit votes. Kudos to the author for raising awareness to the challenges faced by minorities of all stripes while giving us a fascinating mystery to solve.
Separating Stone from her team of detectives was daring and successful. Pairing solid, stalwart Bryant with the often erratic Dawson forced the two men to learn to work together and draw on each other’s strengths. Stacey Wood has played a minor yet essential role as tech wizard for the team in previous novels. In Dead Souls, she goes rogue investigation wise but also raises her fellow officer’s awareness regarding her experiences as a woman of colour. Growth by these secondary characters bodes well for future investigations. Seeing DI Kim Stone mature in her role as DI was an added bonus.
A great read I highly recommend.
ARC received with thanks from Bookouture via NetGalley for review.
casacostello's review against another edition
4.0
Bones are found during an archeological dig on land belonging to a family but run by another. This leads to DI Kim Stone having to leave her beloved team & work with an ex-colleague, Tom Travis & his team. Fair to say, Kim’s team struggle to keep it together without her & Kim struggles to work with Tom who is obviously still angry about what happened when they worked together years ago. This was again a great book- perhaps not my favourite of Angela Marsons but I’m still itching to carry on with the series. I stagger myself and read the Kim Stone books about in between every 3 or so other books to keep the series fresh.
bernluvsbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, this series just keeps getting better & better!
Dead Souls deals with some heavy content - hate crimes. A very real topic for our world and definitely not an easy one to read about. Marsons didn't shy away from vile characters and disturbing behavior but of course with Kim Stone & her team on the case - we can read with the knowledge they will meet with justice bc Kim always catches her perp!
This case was masterfully woven as it opens with a current teenage suicide and leads to the discovery of bones from a decades old murder. How are they related? See if you can piece it all together!
This one is definitely worth your time. It's not an easy read - be prepared to go down an intense but gripping journey with Kim & her team. It is easily one of my favorites in the series because it was brilliantly written. Marsons tackled this subject matter deftly and really makes us think both about the plot and the subject matter itself. I honestly didn't piece it all together until I saw it unravel along with Kim.
As always with this series & Marsons we get wonderful character development (we learn more about Stacey in this one!), back stories and a truly well crafted whodunnit. Looking forward to the next book in the series. Keep up the great work Angela Marsons - this series & these characters are such a gem and never disappoint.
My rating = 4.5 stars rounded up
Dead Souls deals with some heavy content - hate crimes. A very real topic for our world and definitely not an easy one to read about. Marsons didn't shy away from vile characters and disturbing behavior but of course with Kim Stone & her team on the case - we can read with the knowledge they will meet with justice bc Kim always catches her perp!
This case was masterfully woven as it opens with a current teenage suicide and leads to the discovery of bones from a decades old murder. How are they related? See if you can piece it all together!
This one is definitely worth your time. It's not an easy read - be prepared to go down an intense but gripping journey with Kim & her team. It is easily one of my favorites in the series because it was brilliantly written. Marsons tackled this subject matter deftly and really makes us think both about the plot and the subject matter itself. I honestly didn't piece it all together until I saw it unravel along with Kim.
As always with this series & Marsons we get wonderful character development (we learn more about Stacey in this one!), back stories and a truly well crafted whodunnit. Looking forward to the next book in the series. Keep up the great work Angela Marsons - this series & these characters are such a gem and never disappoint.
My rating = 4.5 stars rounded up
meera01's review against another edition
3.0
This was another good one and I actually felt like I learned something about British society. I took a star off because I get annoyed when I police character knowingly does something idiotic.
clair_82's review against another edition
5.0
I am a massive fan of this series, as this is book six I recommend that you read the first five books before embarking on Dead Souls. You can read my thoughts on some of the previous books here: Evil Games (book 2) | Play Dead (book 4) | Blood Lines (book 5)
Dead Souls is another fabulous book featuring DI Kim Stone and her team. Once again, I'm calling it that this is the best book in the series yet, however to be fair I say that about them all as they just keep getting better and better as the relationships build between the team and we learn more about Kim herself. Kim is a brilliant protagonist, successful and flawed all at the same time.
Forensic archaeologist, Dr A. is conducting a routine archaeological dig as part of training for her students - but it suddenly becomes a real-life crime scene when human remains are actually found. Kim is bought in and the remains turn out to be from more than one individual which then opens a complex investigation. However, due to the location of the human remains, on the boundary of two police forces, Kim is tasked with working with Detective Travis. It is clear from the outset that there is unfavourable history between them so Kim is not particularly pleased with this pairing.
What I loved about this book is seeing Kim's dynamic with a different partner and force as well as seeing Kim's team working without her on a complex hate crimes case. This showed different sides of them all, their weaknesses and strengths when not relying on the usual team and also how well they do work as a team, complimenting each other.
I love Angela Marsons' work and that she is not afraid to tackle difficult subjects head on with one of my all-time favourite detectives. Some of this book isn't easy reading (which it shouldn't be when looking into hate crimes) but it is intriguing (and disturbing) to understand what goes on in these people's heads and it's very, sadly, topical.
Once again, Angela Marsons has delivered a gripping, fast paced book with brilliant investigations through her short, snappy chapters (my favourite type of chapter!) that is addictive through to the very end.
I cannot wait for book seven, Broken Bones to come out in November!
Dead Souls is another fabulous book featuring DI Kim Stone and her team. Once again, I'm calling it that this is the best book in the series yet, however to be fair I say that about them all as they just keep getting better and better as the relationships build between the team and we learn more about Kim herself. Kim is a brilliant protagonist, successful and flawed all at the same time.
Forensic archaeologist, Dr A. is conducting a routine archaeological dig as part of training for her students - but it suddenly becomes a real-life crime scene when human remains are actually found. Kim is bought in and the remains turn out to be from more than one individual which then opens a complex investigation. However, due to the location of the human remains, on the boundary of two police forces, Kim is tasked with working with Detective Travis. It is clear from the outset that there is unfavourable history between them so Kim is not particularly pleased with this pairing.
What I loved about this book is seeing Kim's dynamic with a different partner and force as well as seeing Kim's team working without her on a complex hate crimes case. This showed different sides of them all, their weaknesses and strengths when not relying on the usual team and also how well they do work as a team, complimenting each other.
I love Angela Marsons' work and that she is not afraid to tackle difficult subjects head on with one of my all-time favourite detectives. Some of this book isn't easy reading (which it shouldn't be when looking into hate crimes) but it is intriguing (and disturbing) to understand what goes on in these people's heads and it's very, sadly, topical.
Once again, Angela Marsons has delivered a gripping, fast paced book with brilliant investigations through her short, snappy chapters (my favourite type of chapter!) that is addictive through to the very end.
I cannot wait for book seven, Broken Bones to come out in November!
labraden's review against another edition
4.0
Kim is called to a crime scene by Dr. A who has found unidentified bones in a grave located in an open field. Her arrival is followed closely by Kim's former partner, Tom Travis, who plans to take over the case. Kim immediately knows there will be trouble because of difficulties that ended their partnership. What neither of them realizes is that they are going to have to put their differences aside and work together to solve the case. Meanwhile Dawson and Stacey Wood are called to a crime scene of an apparent suicide, which brings back memories for Stacey and causes her to delve deeper into the reasons behind the suicide. As Dawson and Bryant find it difficult to work together, they still must solve the case of a man that was brutally beaten in an alley.
Dead Souls expertly examines the issue of hate crimes and prejudice woven into a book that exhibits a masterful display of plotting, however, pacing was an issue for me. The book follows three different investigations, alternating between chapters. Each time I would start to really get into one of the cases, the chapter would switch back to a different one, causing me to have to stop and remember the details of the other case. This slowed my reading and often made the stories hard to follow. It does pay off in the end, though, due to intricate and clever plotting. Overall, this is an excellent mystery that tackles tough issues and adds more elements to the D.I. Kim Stone series.
Dead Souls expertly examines the issue of hate crimes and prejudice woven into a book that exhibits a masterful display of plotting, however, pacing was an issue for me. The book follows three different investigations, alternating between chapters. Each time I would start to really get into one of the cases, the chapter would switch back to a different one, causing me to have to stop and remember the details of the other case. This slowed my reading and often made the stories hard to follow. It does pay off in the end, though, due to intricate and clever plotting. Overall, this is an excellent mystery that tackles tough issues and adds more elements to the D.I. Kim Stone series.
kelly_bookpile's review against another edition
For me personally, this wasn't one of Angela Marsons best books, I have read all the other Kim Stone novels and thoroughly enjoyed them, but this I just couldn't get into. I really hate to make myself read a book that i'm not enjoying, so unfortunately i gave up about half way through
melissalynne81's review against another edition
5.0
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely love this series. The author is fast becoming one of my favorites. And DI Kim Stone is one of my characters.
This book was far darker than any other the other books. The book didn't start out like that and I really had no idea what was going to happen. For me, it came out of nowhere. Once I started realizing where the book was going, and what was happening, I was disgusted. It was tough to read through and I had to put the book down several times.
This is not an easy ready, and definitely not for the faint of heart. The subject matter is very disturbing and hard to read. I would still highly recommend this book, just be warned that it is not for everyone.
Many thanks to Angela Marsons, Bookouture and NetGalley for an ARC.
owenreads's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
“How much loss and grief could the body take before it finally gave up?”
The book is fast paced like the rest of the series, and the main theme is strong - hate crimes should be talked about more, but because so many were touched on here, it felt really unfocused, and the story would have benefitted from picking one or two to really hammer home.
I think overall, I'm maybe just a little bit bored of Kim Stone. The rest of the team are still reasonably interesting, but I'm not sure their dynamic works anywhere near as well without Kim.
I'd been putting listening to this book off because I thought the last two books dipped in quality. This one is a slight improvement, but still... meh!