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veronica87's review against another edition
3.0
So I accidentally skipped over the third book in this series. It didn't greatly affect my ability to follow the story outside of some references to things that undoubtedly happened in the last book and of which I have no knowledge. In any event, like previous books this plays out rather like a Victorian era version of Law & Order with the first two thirds or so dealing with Monk's investigation into the murder of a nurse- with the most capable help of Hester - and the last third showcasing the trial.
I like Perry's writing style as it imbues the story with a sense of formality that befits the time period it is meant to depict. It's true that it tends to get a bit introspective at times but I don't mind too much...although that is also a reason why this is not a series I could ever binge read. The trial portion of the story is not my favorite simply because the lawyers tend to restate and re-ask the same things and that can get tedious. And while I liked the story I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in how straight forward it all turned out to be. I think the author could have thrown in some better curve balls and not made everything so comfortably black and white, both for the victim and the guilty party. I also felt that Monk and Hester missed making some pretty obvious connections. Ah well, this series still remains one of my comfort reads and I look forward to reading about Monk and Hester butting heads again soon.
I like Perry's writing style as it imbues the story with a sense of formality that befits the time period it is meant to depict. It's true that it tends to get a bit introspective at times but I don't mind too much...although that is also a reason why this is not a series I could ever binge read. The trial portion of the story is not my favorite simply because the lawyers tend to restate and re-ask the same things and that can get tedious. And while I liked the story I can't help but feel a bit disappointed in how straight forward it all turned out to be. I think the author could have thrown in some better curve balls and not made everything so comfortably black and white, both for the victim and the guilty party. I also felt that Monk and Hester missed making some pretty obvious connections. Ah well, this series still remains one of my comfort reads and I look forward to reading about Monk and Hester butting heads again soon.
smcleish's review against another edition
2.0
Originally published on my blog here in December 1999.
The first of Perry's William Monk detective stories to be published in the U.K., A Sudden Fearful Death does not read like the first of a series. The reader is given the impression that they should already know some of the characters, and be familiar with other events and cases. I do not know if there is a precursor to the novel, but if there is not, it is an interesting way to make the reader feel part of something ongoing.
Unfortunately, A Sudden Fearful Death is rather a weak novel, as Perry gets carried away by her mission to expose the unpleasantness of Victorian England. There is no denying that for many people, particularly women, it was a place with much suffering. But the hypocrisy of the period is what marks it out, and it is what obsesses Perry in her other series, featuring Inspector Pitt. Here, it is exposed more publicly, in a trial scene which would surely have become one of the most celebrated cases in the nineteenth century, with at least one extremely unlikely aspect to it dictated by a desire to provide a dramatic ending. (There were surely mechanisms, even then, to present new evidence which comes to light after the conclusion of the prosecution case.)
The other weakness of the novel is that several characters behave inconsistently, particularly the man accused of the murder and his family. Things become known which a much greater effort would have been made to hush up, where Pitt should have a much harder time breaking through the veils of secrecy to find the clues he needs to work out the solution. Most disappointing.
The first of Perry's William Monk detective stories to be published in the U.K., A Sudden Fearful Death does not read like the first of a series. The reader is given the impression that they should already know some of the characters, and be familiar with other events and cases. I do not know if there is a precursor to the novel, but if there is not, it is an interesting way to make the reader feel part of something ongoing.
Unfortunately, A Sudden Fearful Death is rather a weak novel, as Perry gets carried away by her mission to expose the unpleasantness of Victorian England. There is no denying that for many people, particularly women, it was a place with much suffering. But the hypocrisy of the period is what marks it out, and it is what obsesses Perry in her other series, featuring Inspector Pitt. Here, it is exposed more publicly, in a trial scene which would surely have become one of the most celebrated cases in the nineteenth century, with at least one extremely unlikely aspect to it dictated by a desire to provide a dramatic ending. (There were surely mechanisms, even then, to present new evidence which comes to light after the conclusion of the prosecution case.)
The other weakness of the novel is that several characters behave inconsistently, particularly the man accused of the murder and his family. Things become known which a much greater effort would have been made to hush up, where Pitt should have a much harder time breaking through the veils of secrecy to find the clues he needs to work out the solution. Most disappointing.
raehink's review against another edition
4.0
Prudence Barrymore, a Crimean nurse, is found strangled and stuffed down the laundry chute of a local hospital. Monk is hired to investigate the crime, which is being ably adjudicated by the barrister Oliver Rathbone. I enjoy Monk as a character immensely. Perry uses her character's amnesia to delve into many issues such as regrets, who we are versus what people think we are, and relationships. I am also savoring the developing attachment between Monk and Hester.
margaretpinard's review against another edition
3.0
Oh, I like the Monk novels, but this one turned out to have a big gaping hole. Perhaps Perry assumes her reader to be sufficiently in the mindset of the period not to realize that the letters could have a different meaning than she points to for over a hundred pages, but I thought it was most exasperating that they went on and on without realizing their import. Ah well. I begin to see how she's rearranged characters' foibles and mannerisms from the Thomas Pitt series, which makes it easier to analyze, as an author...