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3.52 AVERAGE
3.52 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-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
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Decent murder mystery.
The setting was interesting. The juxtaposition between the idyllic, almost heavenly, area and the heinous acts committed there was a brilliant idea. Tom Hindle described his character’s surroundings in good detail, while still leaving a lot of room for the reader’s imagination to roam free, which I always appreciate.
The characters are all generally unlikeable, which seems to be the point. Any one of them could be a stone-cold killer, after all. I like the way paranoia set in rather quickly after the murder, with close friends and family turning on each other in an instant.
Some of the ‘twists’ were very obvious. For example,the characters consistently referred to the unknown murderer as ‘he’ throughout. In addition to this, I found that the reader is let in on some big plot points that Robin, our main character, missed until the very end. This is due to the story being told from multiple perspectives. I was begging for each piece of information to be perceived, but most of it was ignored until Robin just suddenly pieced it all together at the end. This felt quite clunky, like Hindle threw it in because he had no way to link it all together.
Speaking of clunkiness, my biggest problem with the story was when guns were introduced. I thought, ‘Surely the murderer actually used a crossbow, that had been previously mentioned to have been in the museum, to kill Jeremy, and then removed the arrow. That must be why nobody heard.’ Then Hindle mentions in passing - a noticeable length later - that Camilla just happened to have a silencer. Furthermore, I was hoping that the bearded criminal would have a bit more story to whatever was in his pocket, but instead the reader was subjected to more characters being held at gunpoint. Overall, adding guns to the plot felt like it made the story far more clunky than was necessary.
(Spoilers for The Institute by Stephen King and Death at Whitewater Church by Andrea Carter to follow.)
The final scene when Robin is trying to talk Camilla down sets itself up to be like a lot of other boring finales involving guns; these usually end in a big shootout (see The Institute, Stephen King or Death at Whitewater Church, Andrea Carter). Thankfully, this story avoided a big shootout but unfortunately, it still felt a bit flat and was no where near as tense as it should have.
In conclusion, and despite my gripes with it, this story was a fun and interesting read. The beautiful setting really caught my imagination. Murder On Lake Garda brought my appetite for reading back to me and for that I will always be grateful.
The setting was interesting. The juxtaposition between the idyllic, almost heavenly, area and the heinous acts committed there was a brilliant idea. Tom Hindle described his character’s surroundings in good detail, while still leaving a lot of room for the reader’s imagination to roam free, which I always appreciate.
The characters are all generally unlikeable, which seems to be the point. Any one of them could be a stone-cold killer, after all. I like the way paranoia set in rather quickly after the murder, with close friends and family turning on each other in an instant.
Some of the ‘twists’ were very obvious. For example,
(Spoilers for The Institute by Stephen King and Death at Whitewater Church by Andrea Carter to follow.)
In conclusion, and despite my gripes with it, this story was a fun and interesting read. The beautiful setting really caught my imagination. Murder On Lake Garda brought my appetite for reading back to me and for that I will always be grateful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Death of parent, Classism
Minor: Pregnancy
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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:
Complicated
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
As far as murder mysteries go I did quite like the plot and it wasn't super predictable. However, other reviews mentioning the stereotyped characters are quite right, I feel like there was hardly any depth to any of the characters and there were times that I really didn't like the writing style of this book. Gets two stars because I'm a sucker for family drama and pretty islands!