Reviews

Grida dal passato by Damien Boyd

toellandback's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Another series that I've returned to after a couple of years as Somerset based DI Nick Dixon is tasked into looking into the death of a teenage girl at a local boarding school. As a previous boarder, albeit at a different school, Dixon goes undercover as a supply teacher to try and get some inside information,  however it isn't long before his own tragic past resurfaces dramatically. 
 I really enjoyed this fast paced police procedure story with the reader collecting pieces of the story alongside Dixon. There were quite a lot of new characters to get used to, especially at the school, but you soon get used to who was maybe a primary character (suspect) and who probably wouldn't be. Set fairly local to me (I recognised certain areas in the finale) and a strong whodunnit.  Definitely recommended 

nickmasters's review against another edition

3.0

Another enjoyable addition to this fast paced crime series.

With this outing we even got to get a little more personal with Dixon and feel some raw emotion. I have resigned myself to not expecting a great deal of character growth in this form of narrative, so this was definitely a pleasant surprise.

Although I enjoyed the story line, some of the aspects, I felt, were too obvious, or perhaps too expected, a little too early on the storyline. (Spoiler Alert). In particular Jane's abduction (although played out very well) was almost as expected Monty going for a walk. And I also felt that the killer was revealed too early, but that's probably more a personal observation.

There were definitely a lot more finer details to the storyline that I enjoyed, and even felt myself re-reading a few scenes after later facts had revealed themselves. Purely to enjoy what I had previously overlooked.

All in all a great read!

ingrid_hennig's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

squishies's review against another edition

3.0

It's a bit weird to see Dixon angsty - it was justified, but it did throw me off a bit since he seems rather unflappable and I-don't-have-an-angsty-past kind of character.

Spoiler

Poor Jane! I guess Boyd thought he had tortured Dixon enough that it's Jane's turn.

I was really wondering if it was Phillips - seemed a bit too chummy, which could have been a pretense to get closer to Dixon for info. Father Anthony was totally not on my radar! What a twist.

beckmank's review against another edition

4.0

While the fourth in the DI Nick Dixon series, Swansong is my first outing with this detective.

I needed to suspend reality just a bit to stay on board with this story at the beginning. Nick makes a huge leap early on in the book, linking the murder of Isobel Swan to the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend 17 years earlier. There really was no evidence to connect the crimes, other than the two girls looked virtually identical and they both were sixth years in similar boarding schools.

Once you accept this premise, the book is a fast-paced page turner. Dixon’s past merges nicely with the present case as he goes undercover in the boarding school as a trainee teacher getting two weeks of work experience before the term ends. (Being an American, I wondered does a two week stint at a boarding school in England really count towards teaching experience?)

Looking back, I’m not sure if enough clues were dropped for the armchair detective to correctly deduce the murderer, but still a fun ride.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review from my blog, Hidden Staircase.