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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
the post-2008 housing development turned quasi ghost town was so juicy and creepy - essentially a character itself, it was hands down my favorite element of the book. The mystery itself had a good twist and I enjoyed! High 4 stars
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Suicide, Murder
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another Tana French novel, another 5 stars.
As with the previous books in the series we follow one of the detectives on the Dublin Murder Squad. We've met him before but here we really get an insight into the character. And for me that's what its all about with Tana's books, the characters. She has an amazing ability to make such a real and individual person with her words.
This book deals with mental health issues more than the other books in the series and I found the storyline and side plots really interesting.
Looking forward to reading the next one soon.
As with the previous books in the series we follow one of the detectives on the Dublin Murder Squad. We've met him before but here we really get an insight into the character. And for me that's what its all about with Tana's books, the characters. She has an amazing ability to make such a real and individual person with her words.
This book deals with mental health issues more than the other books in the series and I found the storyline and side plots really interesting.
Looking forward to reading the next one soon.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
systematically working my way through the dublin murder squad series on my beautiful wife’s recommendation and this instalment is by far the biggest and most harrowing gut punch. scorcher kennedy is not my favourite protagonist in this series by far but his story has been the most affecting. yikes!!!!
Liked #4 more than #3 because of the main character - a good read even if it took me awhile to get through it
The fourth in the Dublin Murder Squad series of mysteries, and once again it is very different than the other books. This one is practically a gothic novel, set in a creepy housing development that is largely abandoned and crumbling, located (of course) close to the location of a terrible event from our protagonist's childhood.
Our protagonist this time is Michael "Scorcher" Kennedy, who was the lead investigator (but not the protagonist) in the last novel, Faithful Place. Mick Kennedy is an interesting guy, hauling around a cubic ton of family baggage, largely in the form of his younger sister. This sister is a wrecking ball for Mick and everyone else in his family, who all coddle and excuse her manipulative and destructive behavior, never require her to actually seek medical treatment, etc. I spent most of the book debating whether Mick was a saint or major enabler, and ended up with he wasn't actually helping the sister with his drop everything and run attitude. Hopefully that will change with her latest antics, but I'm betting against it.
The most interesting relationship in the book is between Kennedy and his rookie murder detective partner, Curren. Kennedy's paternalistic attitude towards Curren and his secret desire for it to turn into the kind of partnership he's only viewed from afar - that was quite interesting. Moreso than the murder mystery anyway.
And for this murder mystery - I called it pretty early on. Doesn't detract too much from the book, as the mystery pretty much serves just as a background in these character driven novels. It was still entirely sad and horrific, but served the purpose. The thankless task of investigating what appears to be a domestic dispute rang true.
What didn't ring true and actually took me out of the story was the "American" dialect in the section where we were reading message boards (on pest control and wild animals). It wasn't a major or very important part of the story, but there was a chapter with a decent amount of message board comments that were supposed to be from Americans. But they were so poorly written (I say, as an American) that it was distracting. I have no idea if the many variations of Irish and English dialects used in these books are accurate, but that isn't distracting, as I don't know the difference. But using the Irish verb choices and just inserting in some stereotypical "American" slang was so weird to read. Not that I would do any better with an Irish dialect, but I'd bring someone else in - editing could have fixed this.
Other than that, it was transfixing and I read it in two days. Well done.
Our protagonist this time is Michael "Scorcher" Kennedy, who was the lead investigator (but not the protagonist) in the last novel, Faithful Place. Mick Kennedy is an interesting guy, hauling around a cubic ton of family baggage, largely in the form of his younger sister. This sister is a wrecking ball for Mick and everyone else in his family, who all coddle and excuse her manipulative and destructive behavior, never require her to actually seek medical treatment, etc. I spent most of the book debating whether Mick was a saint or major enabler, and ended up with he wasn't actually helping the sister with his drop everything and run attitude. Hopefully that will change with her latest antics, but I'm betting against it.
The most interesting relationship in the book is between Kennedy and his rookie murder detective partner, Curren. Kennedy's paternalistic attitude towards Curren and his secret desire for it to turn into the kind of partnership he's only viewed from afar - that was quite interesting. Moreso than the murder mystery anyway.
And for this murder mystery - I called it pretty early on. Doesn't detract too much from the book, as the mystery pretty much serves just as a background in these character driven novels. It was still entirely sad and horrific, but served the purpose. The thankless task of investigating what appears to be a domestic dispute rang true.
What didn't ring true and actually took me out of the story was the "American" dialect in the section where we were reading message boards (on pest control and wild animals). It wasn't a major or very important part of the story, but there was a chapter with a decent amount of message board comments that were supposed to be from Americans. But they were so poorly written (I say, as an American) that it was distracting. I have no idea if the many variations of Irish and English dialects used in these books are accurate, but that isn't distracting, as I don't know the difference. But using the Irish verb choices and just inserting in some stereotypical "American" slang was so weird to read. Not that I would do any better with an Irish dialect, but I'd bring someone else in - editing could have fixed this.
Other than that, it was transfixing and I read it in two days. Well done.