Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
I was checking out reviews here (on the storygraph) and came across some (unhidden!) spoilers that ruined the book for me. Read reviews before finishing at your own risk.
First there was a body.Then there was another. In this Iowa town, murder is an infrequent thing and a serial killer is unthinkable. Riley needs to track down the killer fast, all while dealing with the haunting of her past, her family troubles, and her personal relationships. Little does Riley know that the killings are only the beginning of the story.
This was a fast paced mystery. Riley is an interesting character who is tough but damaged and vulnerable. The plot was twisty and kept me guessing. I'd been interested in a second story.
This was a fast paced mystery. Riley is an interesting character who is tough but damaged and vulnerable. The plot was twisty and kept me guessing. I'd been interested in a second story.
Despite some bad reviews, I thought this was one of the better crime procedurals I have read in a while. Corrupted politicians and agriculture come together in this twisted and bizarre story. I felt like it wasnβt your typical crime novel, with cannibals and bioengineered crops, and one Sargent that sort of got on my nerves as I felt she wasnβt that good at her jobβ¦ either way, worth the read for sure!
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-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:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Thank you @flatiron_books for the #gifted books and @netgalley and @macmillan.audio for the complimentary audiobook of Original Sins.
πΊππππ πππ ππππππππ πππ π»ππ πππππ π, ππππ ππ πππππ 3 πππ πΆπππππππ πΊπππ.
I said I was going to catch up on series this year and this is the second one I tackled this month. As soon as I finished The Fields I dove straight into Original Sins.
What I enjoyed about both. Both books had solid plots that kept me guessing right to the end. With Original Sins I had an inkling, but I was way off on the βwhyβ. The pace was great, both are books you can easily just sit and consume big chunks at a time. I liked Rileyβs character, sheβs not trying to be one of the guys but is more than capable of holding her own.
What made Original Sins a better read for me over The Fields? There is a lot of complicated personal backstory in The Fields. Itβs told to you in bits and pieces throughout to help explain the relationship she currently has with her family and friends. It also helped to explain a lot about Rileyβs character. No doubt, all this information helps the series move forward, but it distracted me from what was going on in the investigation at times. Added to that we had the murders, politics, small farms vs big-agroβ¦ there were almost too many puzzle pieces to put together in The Fields.
With Rileyβs backstory out of the way, this allowed Original Sins to shine. It hit the ground running and kept on going straight through to the end. I like that some characters from the previous book made an appearance and I hope to continue to see them if there are more books.
Warning, there are some pretty gruesome descriptions of dead bodies. I was able to handle it so most people probably can.
πΊππππ πππ ππππππππ πππ π»ππ πππππ π, ππππ ππ πππππ 3 πππ πΆπππππππ πΊπππ.
I said I was going to catch up on series this year and this is the second one I tackled this month. As soon as I finished The Fields I dove straight into Original Sins.
What I enjoyed about both. Both books had solid plots that kept me guessing right to the end. With Original Sins I had an inkling, but I was way off on the βwhyβ. The pace was great, both are books you can easily just sit and consume big chunks at a time. I liked Rileyβs character, sheβs not trying to be one of the guys but is more than capable of holding her own.
What made Original Sins a better read for me over The Fields? There is a lot of complicated personal backstory in The Fields. Itβs told to you in bits and pieces throughout to help explain the relationship she currently has with her family and friends. It also helped to explain a lot about Rileyβs character. No doubt, all this information helps the series move forward, but it distracted me from what was going on in the investigation at times. Added to that we had the murders, politics, small farms vs big-agroβ¦ there were almost too many puzzle pieces to put together in The Fields.
With Rileyβs backstory out of the way, this allowed Original Sins to shine. It hit the ground running and kept on going straight through to the end. I like that some characters from the previous book made an appearance and I hope to continue to see them if there are more books.
Warning, there are some pretty gruesome descriptions of dead bodies. I was able to handle it so most people probably can.
A mystery novel set in Black Hawk County! In Iowa! Wow! 70 miles north of me!
Well....this was....fine. it's clearly the first in a series, being overstuffed with set-up for later books that had no payoff in this plot (I know blurbs oversell but "beautifully written and masterfully crafted" this is not). The plot itself is baggy in the first 2/3 and then the last 1/3 is Criminal Minds + a Robin Cook novel + ??cannibals??. Riley Fisher as a main character is interesting, but needs rounded out.
As an Iowan, I will tell you this book is clearly written by someone who has never actually lived in Iowa for any length of time. A description of the Cedar River "shining like steel" had me snorting. Also, no one watches the Hawkeyes on TV at a bar in July, particularly not in Black Hawk County which is Panther territory, because most of the baseball games aren't televised (and those bars probably aren't shelling out for a Big Ten Classics Channel subscription); football, which is basically what anyone in this state means when you say "the Hawkeyes" doesn't start until the end of August. There are Britishisms scattered throughout the book (maybe editorial caught those, since I read a digital galley that has been up on Edelweiss for almost a year at this point). And, this will sound kind of weird, but this book is too white. Black Hawk County might be rural and mostly white, but the city of Waterloo itself has a considerable population of Black and Latinx Iowans who seemed conspicuously absent. (I'm currently trying to see if any booksellers from our Waterloo store have read the book and what they think about it. You might think I'm being hypercritical but we get so few books set here. And you can tell who has lived here and who thinks we're just a headline/plotbunny when agriculture comes up.)
CW for extreme gore, cannibalism, violence against women, rape, sexism/misogyny, political corruption, police violence
Well....this was....fine. it's clearly the first in a series, being overstuffed with set-up for later books that had no payoff in this plot (I know blurbs oversell but "beautifully written and masterfully crafted" this is not). The plot itself is baggy in the first 2/3 and then the last 1/3 is Criminal Minds + a Robin Cook novel + ??cannibals??. Riley Fisher as a main character is interesting, but needs rounded out.
As an Iowan, I will tell you this book is clearly written by someone who has never actually lived in Iowa for any length of time. A description of the Cedar River "shining like steel" had me snorting. Also, no one watches the Hawkeyes on TV at a bar in July, particularly not in Black Hawk County which is Panther territory, because most of the baseball games aren't televised (and those bars probably aren't shelling out for a Big Ten Classics Channel subscription); football, which is basically what anyone in this state means when you say "the Hawkeyes" doesn't start until the end of August. There are Britishisms scattered throughout the book (maybe editorial caught those, since I read a digital galley that has been up on Edelweiss for almost a year at this point). And, this will sound kind of weird, but this book is too white. Black Hawk County might be rural and mostly white, but the city of Waterloo itself has a considerable population of Black and Latinx Iowans who seemed conspicuously absent. (I'm currently trying to see if any booksellers from our Waterloo store have read the book and what they think about it. You might think I'm being hypercritical but we get so few books set here. And you can tell who has lived here and who thinks we're just a headline/plotbunny when agriculture comes up.)
CW for extreme gore, cannibalism, violence against women, rape, sexism/misogyny, political corruption, police violence
3.5 stars rounded down
I really, really liked the premise of this book. As a former FFA member and ag student, the story's small farmer vs. big agriculture component was both well researched and a unique plot point. For a procedural, I found The Fields largely fast-paced, with enough twists and turns to keep you engaged without feeling overwhelmed by details. The two biggest downfalls of this book were that the ending grew more and more unlikely until it was impossible. Like, not even in the realm of possibility. The other was that the author continually called individuals facing homelessness "vagrants." Poverty in America is a crisis fueled by circumstances that folks have little to no control over (PTSD, the Sackler family-funded opioid epidemic, etc). To distill this experience into a singular term and offer no dignity was incredibly cruel, especially considering that these "vagrants" were also used as victims.
I really, really liked the premise of this book. As a former FFA member and ag student, the story's small farmer vs. big agriculture component was both well researched and a unique plot point. For a procedural, I found The Fields largely fast-paced, with enough twists and turns to keep you engaged without feeling overwhelmed by details. The two biggest downfalls of this book were that the ending grew more and more unlikely until it was impossible. Like, not even in the realm of possibility. The other was that the author continually called individuals facing homelessness "vagrants." Poverty in America is a crisis fueled by circumstances that folks have little to no control over (PTSD, the Sackler family-funded opioid epidemic, etc). To distill this experience into a singular term and offer no dignity was incredibly cruel, especially considering that these "vagrants" were also used as victims.
All around solid crime thriller, I really enjoyed the main character and how she was a strong female lead. I was absolutely thrown at the end, I have no idea how the author connected everything together. Truly one of the weirdest twists Iβve read in a book. 4 stars for uniqueness and I will definitely read the next book in the series when it comes out
I haven't read a mystery-thriller so genuinely engaging in a long time. I never wanted to put it down. The shift in perspectives kept you on your toes and helped seamlessly weave the intricate story. It had a cinematic feel to it, a real procedural playing out like an episode of Criminal Minds or Law and Order. I truly didn't know how it would end - and I'm so excited that there's more to come. Riley Fisher is such a strong main character, with plenty of flaws but so much fight. I can't wait to read what comes next. This is definitely a new favorite book for me.
Ooo, where are my violence fans at? This one is for you. What a strong debut. There was a political twist to this which I enjoyed and made for an interesting read. While this is a thriller "debut," Young writes historical fiction under a different name but you can see how refined her writing is. I'll definitely be checking out the next Riley Fisher novel coming out early next year.