Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
Find this review and others at Carlene Inspired.
Riley Fisher may be back in her hometown, the newest investigations sergeant, but she's done all she can to ensure her past won't catch up to her. At least, she thought so, until her former best friend, Chloe, is found dead in a field and whispers of a serial killer begin spreading around. It hits too close to home, Riley's past begins to seep into the present and as she investigates the death she finds herself and her team tied up in a political scandal associated with the corn fields. The same corn fields Chloe's body was found in.
Maybe it's my farm life history that made me love this, maybe it's the small town everyone knows everyone, or maybe it was just badass Riley Fisher that did it for me, but I found myself really enjoying The Fields. No, I didn't really expect to get super deep into crops and the politics associated with them, some of it definitely went over my head, but I enjoyed how something that should be so mundane could be so sinister. Erin Young gives us a lot of detail, enough that anyone can understand what's going on in Iowa politics and how this small town impacts it all. It's quite a grizzly police procedural, the details are stark, but it made me feel like I was watching an episode, almost like Law and Order, rather than just reading through the motions. There's a lot happening in The Fields and I felt like I was there for every scene.
The Fields can feel a bit long, it's easy to skim the political parts, but they do add to the story. I did figure out some of it early on, but there were still some great surprises. I only wish it hadn't been wrapped up so quickly, so simply. Something so gruesome impacted an entire town, yet we resolve it within a matter of pages. I needed more. I know, I'm a fan of the detailed, gruesome books, it's who I am, but I also really like a book tied up with a bow. There are some loose ends with this one, but we get a sequel so we shall see what it brings.
The Fields is readers' introduction to Sergeant Riley Fisher and the Black Hawk County's Sheriff Department. A police procedural series with a female in the lead and multiple POVs to keep readers wondering just what might happen next and how it all ties together.
Riley Fisher may be back in her hometown, the newest investigations sergeant, but she's done all she can to ensure her past won't catch up to her. At least, she thought so, until her former best friend, Chloe, is found dead in a field and whispers of a serial killer begin spreading around. It hits too close to home, Riley's past begins to seep into the present and as she investigates the death she finds herself and her team tied up in a political scandal associated with the corn fields. The same corn fields Chloe's body was found in.
Maybe it's my farm life history that made me love this, maybe it's the small town everyone knows everyone, or maybe it was just badass Riley Fisher that did it for me, but I found myself really enjoying The Fields. No, I didn't really expect to get super deep into crops and the politics associated with them, some of it definitely went over my head, but I enjoyed how something that should be so mundane could be so sinister. Erin Young gives us a lot of detail, enough that anyone can understand what's going on in Iowa politics and how this small town impacts it all. It's quite a grizzly police procedural, the details are stark, but it made me feel like I was watching an episode, almost like Law and Order, rather than just reading through the motions. There's a lot happening in The Fields and I felt like I was there for every scene.
The Fields can feel a bit long, it's easy to skim the political parts, but they do add to the story. I did figure out some of it early on, but there were still some great surprises. I only wish it hadn't been wrapped up so quickly, so simply. Something so gruesome impacted an entire town, yet we resolve it within a matter of pages. I needed more. I know, I'm a fan of the detailed, gruesome books, it's who I am, but I also really like a book tied up with a bow. There are some loose ends with this one, but we get a sequel so we shall see what it brings.
The Fields is readers' introduction to Sergeant Riley Fisher and the Black Hawk County's Sheriff Department. A police procedural series with a female in the lead and multiple POVs to keep readers wondering just what might happen next and how it all ties together.
dark
mysterious
slow-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
There was way too much going on in this book, it was simply all over the place. It also moved very slowly.
I was pretty excited to read a book set in Iowa, which made me overlook the fact that this is a police/crime procedural, which I don't really like all that much. It was like an episode of Criminal Minds, complete with murders with weird extenuating circumstances. It's apparently the first in a series of books about sergeant Riley Fisher, who lives/works in either Cedar Falls or Waterloo, Iowa (I wasn't sure which), and I was mostly enjoying the descriptions of Iowa...more on that later. I will say some of the characters just seemed to exist and I didn't know who they were. (Amy Fox--is she a cop? An office worker? Did I fall asleep during the paragraph where she was introduced?) And the character who moved from Flint because of the whole leaded pipes thing seemed...a little shoehorned.
I thought the author must have been from Iowa, at first; but according to the book jacket she lives in England, I think? Anyway. At one point in this novel the protagonist is in Des Moines and--okay, first of all, the Iowa State Fair isn't the BIGGEST event of all time, as she seems to imply. And also, while she's in Des Moines--in July, no less--she claims to be surrounded by the "frenetic energy of Iowa State students." And just--no. Iowa State is 35 miles away from Des Moines, in Ames. And if you need college students in Des Moines in your story (in July), you could have easily had them be Drake students. Or DMACC students. So that just annoyed me.
I just remembered that the main character would make really bad choices sometimes. "Well, I've got this hunch, gonna drive off to Des Moines and follow up, but I will tell no one!" "I'm going to go investigate this thing but not tell anyone what I am up to!" Just...really? Is that how policing works?
So, anyway. If you like CSI, and weird plots, and gritty police sergeants with damaging backstories, and political intrigue, and really grisly murders, you'll probably like this book more than I did. so it's a Sharon "2," everyone else "3-4."
I thought the author must have been from Iowa, at first; but according to the book jacket she lives in England, I think? Anyway. At one point in this novel the protagonist is in Des Moines and--okay, first of all, the Iowa State Fair isn't the BIGGEST event of all time, as she seems to imply. And also, while she's in Des Moines--in July, no less--she claims to be surrounded by the "frenetic energy of Iowa State students." And just--no. Iowa State is 35 miles away from Des Moines, in Ames. And if you need college students in Des Moines in your story (in July), you could have easily had them be Drake students. Or DMACC students. So that just annoyed me.
I just remembered that the main character would make really bad choices sometimes. "Well, I've got this hunch, gonna drive off to Des Moines and follow up, but I will tell no one!" "I'm going to go investigate this thing but not tell anyone what I am up to!" Just...really? Is that how policing works?
So, anyway. If you like CSI, and weird plots, and gritty police sergeants with damaging backstories, and political intrigue, and really grisly murders, you'll probably like this book more than I did. so it's a Sharon "2," everyone else "3-4."
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Cannibalism
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
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:
Yes
I marked this as read but really it’s tried to read. I’m a resident of Waterloo IA and of course of Black Hawk County- so naturally I was jazzed about a book set here! But when I started reading I just couldn’t get past her descriptions of Iowa.
1) describes black hawk county as a place where “strangers are noticed and stores are still closed on sundays” I mean sort of? But she knows like waterloo has a population of like 60,000 people and has things like Walmart and target right? Like we’re rural, but certainly a stranger would go unnoticed quite easily.
2) a character is described as having a “Pure Iowa” drawl. Do we have a drawl? Maybe I’m biased as an Iowan but in terms of places that have drawls I think we’re pretty low on that list.
3) she says murders don’t happen in Black hawk county- idk what she missed in her research but it’s not hard to debunk that.
Anyways…..maybe I’ll give this book another shot eventually but I was way too distracted by all of the “pure Iowa” descriptions (that at points literally made me laugh out loud) to actually get into the story. Maybe I’m salty because I feel like this book leaned way to hard into a “farm town Iowa family values rural place” idea. But idk man.
1) describes black hawk county as a place where “strangers are noticed and stores are still closed on sundays” I mean sort of? But she knows like waterloo has a population of like 60,000 people and has things like Walmart and target right? Like we’re rural, but certainly a stranger would go unnoticed quite easily.
2) a character is described as having a “Pure Iowa” drawl. Do we have a drawl? Maybe I’m biased as an Iowan but in terms of places that have drawls I think we’re pretty low on that list.
3) she says murders don’t happen in Black hawk county- idk what she missed in her research but it’s not hard to debunk that.
Anyways…..maybe I’ll give this book another shot eventually but I was way too distracted by all of the “pure Iowa” descriptions (that at points literally made me laugh out loud) to actually get into the story. Maybe I’m salty because I feel like this book leaned way to hard into a “farm town Iowa family values rural place” idea. But idk man.
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Too dark, graphic descriptions of cannibalism from the perspective of a cannibal
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Cannibalism, Murder
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated