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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Classism
challenging
funny
mysterious
I ended up liking this far more than I thought I would. I just had to get through the setup in the beginning.
mysterious
medium-paced
Ok, so the house is named "The Franchise" which to my 21st century American mind makes me think of McDonalds. It was hard to shake that all the way through the book, but it was good!
Not a murder mystery, but something almost more sinister--two women are accused of kidnapping, enslaving, and beating a young woman. Her testimony is uncannily accurate--if she's lying. It's up to their attorney to do some digging and see what he can find to discredit the witness. Absorbing!
Not a murder mystery, but something almost more sinister--two women are accused of kidnapping, enslaving, and beating a young woman. Her testimony is uncannily accurate--if she's lying. It's up to their attorney to do some digging and see what he can find to discredit the witness. Absorbing!
CW: This book has multiple instances of slurs against the Irish and gypsies.
Those you who read my reviews - *taps mic* "Is this thing on? Hello?" - will know that I bring up the subject of poor ageing and/or IDEOLOGY regularly when I review my old favourite Dick Francis books in the cold light of the 2020s. And I get to do it again here, although this is a generation older than Francis and was written well ahead of his books, in 1949.
I loved Tey's books as a kid but I never read this one so it's hard to know how much is me and the world growing up and how much is just that this isn't that good, although it's been adapted multiple times and was in a top 100 in 1990! As far as I'm concerned, even without the problematic aspects the mystery lacks much meat. The setup is dubious and TBH even the resolution lacks any real strong oomph, probably because this seems to principally be book spurned on by IDEOLOGY around the threat of communism.
There is one good thing about this book, and it's echoed in a lot of the Dick Francis books I've been giving: YOUNG PEOPLE ARE NOT UP TO THE JOB AND THINGS WERE BETTER BACK IN THE AUTHOR'S DAY. It's of course doubly amusing here because those kids getting slammed here are the parents of the Boomers and early Gen Xers who are continually posting ridiculous poems on Facebook about how in their day things were better. So at least we've learned the young are always, apparently, worthless. Suuuuuuuuureee.
Chiefly this book suffers because of Tey's classism and hugely conservative views, meaning the book ends up being more of a platform to back up her beliefs in phrenology and genetic criminality vs the purity of good honest well-brought up folk. At no point did I like the heroines of the piece, the Sharpes and so it was somewhat galling when I realised there wasn't going to be an early twist that switched things around - I guess back then there simply wasn't much in the way of double twists of that sort.
Avoid in my opinion. Just a hugely terrible book.
Those you who read my reviews - *taps mic* "Is this thing on? Hello?" - will know that I bring up the subject of poor ageing and/or IDEOLOGY regularly when I review my old favourite Dick Francis books in the cold light of the 2020s. And I get to do it again here, although this is a generation older than Francis and was written well ahead of his books, in 1949.
I loved Tey's books as a kid but I never read this one so it's hard to know how much is me and the world growing up and how much is just that this isn't that good, although it's been adapted multiple times and was in a top 100 in 1990! As far as I'm concerned, even without the problematic aspects the mystery lacks much meat. The setup is dubious and TBH even the resolution lacks any real strong oomph, probably because this seems to principally be book spurned on by IDEOLOGY around the threat of communism.
There is one good thing about this book, and it's echoed in a lot of the Dick Francis books I've been giving: YOUNG PEOPLE ARE NOT UP TO THE JOB AND THINGS WERE BETTER BACK IN THE AUTHOR'S DAY. It's of course doubly amusing here because those kids getting slammed here are the parents of the Boomers and early Gen Xers who are continually posting ridiculous poems on Facebook about how in their day things were better. So at least we've learned the young are always, apparently, worthless. Suuuuuuuuureee.
Chiefly this book suffers because of Tey's classism and hugely conservative views, meaning the book ends up being more of a platform to back up her beliefs in phrenology and genetic criminality vs the purity of good honest well-brought up folk. At no point did I like the heroines of the piece, the Sharpes and so it was somewhat galling when I realised there wasn't going to be an early twist that switched things around - I guess back then there simply wasn't much in the way of double twists of that sort.
Avoid in my opinion. Just a hugely terrible book.
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I really enjoyed this book. Teys writing style flows well and the characters are very charming.
The last few chapters where especially great! I couldn't put the book down and was smiling all the way through the last 2 chapters.
The last few chapters where especially great! I couldn't put the book down and was smiling all the way through the last 2 chapters.
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
adventurous
funny
mysterious