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askhualrak's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Minor: Cancer, Car accident, Homophobia, Mental illness, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide
booking_along's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
a very well done medical thriller and a well done second book.
this book could technically be read as a stand-alone so well, since the characters and the background needed to get into the book is there without rehashing the first book or making it annoying if the first book was read - so that was extremely well done so that both new readers and readers that are continuing the series are both happy.
the murders are pretty brutal though - so if you don’t enjoy a realistic portrait of the brutality that humans are capable off and how the mange it? this series -and this book as well- isn’t for you.
it doesn’t shy away from describing and discussing the horrors humans inflict on each other and sometimes being quiet graphic about it as well.
also in this as well as the first book had rape as well - not graphic but in the way that someone experience it. which i hope will not be a continued trend in this series since i don’t think that every time a woman gets murdered or hurt it’s necessary to have rape as one of the contributing factors.
the murder itself was well done though - the mystery very well thought out and kept the tension until the last few pages. the reader can try to figure out along with the police and Kay why the murders happened and how and who the murderer might be and how to catch the person and while i personally don’t think it’s possible to solve the mystery until Cornwell gives the information to Kay and/or other characters maybe i am just not smart enough to catch the hints that could be in the book to make solving it before the reveal possible.
either way i think it’s a very well done book and a nicely plotted out mystery.
i personally enjoy the medical elements of this series a lot since i have a large interesting in the topic and always enjoy a book that is written well from the medical point and k think this series does that both well.
what i didn’t enjoy but is sadly very realistic is that one of the characters in this book is extremely homophobic and doesn’t mince words and used a lot of slurs and doesn’t seem to want to understand that it’s not okay.
thankfully Kay herself is not like that and is very much -it’s even stated that way in the book itself in similar terms - of the believe that everyone should be who they are and love who they want as long as nobody gets hurt directly because of it.
there is also a medium amount of mentions of the AIDS crisis that happened during the late 1980s early 1990s and how disrespectful and even hurtful especially police could handle people they saw as „dirty“ and „dangerous“ because of that.
again realistic and sadly it happened so it’s good that it’s in the book because it is part of the time just as the constant smoking everywhere and good amount of sexism featured in the books.
and i do think it was handled well - but i think it might be something someone would want to know before deciding to read this.
what i find very interesting reading this series especially is how extreme it shows how much everything changed in the last 35 years.
how almost nobody back than had a cellphone or even the internet, or how not everyone even owned a computer let alone use one and that type writers were still in use.
how smoking was completely acceptable everywhere and seemingly in all situations - in restaurants, in offices, in cars …- it’s just something interesting to read and get taken to and i do confess that i had a few moments in this book while reading specific moments where i tonight „just use your cellphone!“ „or you could just google it?“ before reminding myself that no actually in the late 1980s when this takes place and 1992 when this was written that was actually not a possibility and it took a while to look up infos because people had to actually search through paperwork instead of just typing it into a search engine.
i enjoyed this book a good amount and found the thriller very well done in all aspects i look for in thrillers - building suspense, takes the reader lang, throws in some aspects that could or couldn’t have anything to do with the murders and remains to be seen, action packed moments…. it’s all there i think a thriller should have and on top of that it’s well written.
this book could technically be read as a stand-alone so well, since the characters and the background needed to get into the book is there without rehashing the first book or making it annoying if the first book was read - so that was extremely well done so that both new readers and readers that are continuing the series are both happy.
the murders are pretty brutal though - so if you don’t enjoy a realistic portrait of the brutality that humans are capable off and how the mange it? this series -and this book as well- isn’t for you.
it doesn’t shy away from describing and discussing the horrors humans inflict on each other and sometimes being quiet graphic about it as well.
also in this as well as the first book had rape as well - not graphic but in the way that someone experience it. which i hope will not be a continued trend in this series since i don’t think that every time a woman gets murdered or hurt it’s necessary to have rape as one of the contributing factors.
the murder itself was well done though - the mystery very well thought out and kept the tension until the last few pages. the reader can try to figure out along with the police and Kay why the murders happened and how and who the murderer might be and how to catch the person and while i personally don’t think it’s possible to solve the mystery until Cornwell gives the information to Kay and/or other characters maybe i am just not smart enough to catch the hints that could be in the book to make solving it before the reveal possible.
either way i think it’s a very well done book and a nicely plotted out mystery.
i personally enjoy the medical elements of this series a lot since i have a large interesting in the topic and always enjoy a book that is written well from the medical point and k think this series does that both well.
what i didn’t enjoy but is sadly very realistic is that one of the characters in this book is extremely homophobic and doesn’t mince words and used a lot of slurs and doesn’t seem to want to understand that it’s not okay.
thankfully Kay herself is not like that and is very much -it’s even stated that way in the book itself in similar terms - of the believe that everyone should be who they are and love who they want as long as nobody gets hurt directly because of it.
there is also a medium amount of mentions of the AIDS crisis that happened during the late 1980s early 1990s and how disrespectful and even hurtful especially police could handle people they saw as „dirty“ and „dangerous“ because of that.
again realistic and sadly it happened so it’s good that it’s in the book because it is part of the time just as the constant smoking everywhere and good amount of sexism featured in the books.
and i do think it was handled well - but i think it might be something someone would want to know before deciding to read this.
what i find very interesting reading this series especially is how extreme it shows how much everything changed in the last 35 years.
how almost nobody back than had a cellphone or even the internet, or how not everyone even owned a computer let alone use one and that type writers were still in use.
how smoking was completely acceptable everywhere and seemingly in all situations - in restaurants, in offices, in cars …- it’s just something interesting to read and get taken to and i do confess that i had a few moments in this book while reading specific moments where i tonight „just use your cellphone!“ „or you could just google it?“ before reminding myself that no actually in the late 1980s when this takes place and 1992 when this was written that was actually not a possibility and it took a while to look up infos because people had to actually search through paperwork instead of just typing it into a search engine.
i enjoyed this book a good amount and found the thriller very well done in all aspects i look for in thrillers - building suspense, takes the reader lang, throws in some aspects that could or couldn’t have anything to do with the murders and remains to be seen, action packed moments…. it’s all there i think a thriller should have and on top of that it’s well written.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Medical content, Blood, Murder, Death, Suicide, and Gore
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Death of parent, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Gun violence
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