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courtlane's review against another edition
4.0
Really should probably be 4.5 stars. Definitely a solid second book for this author. Crazy story and kept me turning the pages.
inkishkingdoms's review against another edition
4.0
From the clutches of hell and death, Andrew Meyer takes his readers through the judgmental and provoking path of a scientist towards truth. An absorbing, smart, witty, action packed, and pulse rushing story where Andrew helps Theo outsmart everybody but mainly his readers. – Inkish Kingdoms
Full review will be coming soon to Inkish Kingdoms!
https://inkishkingdoms.wordpress.com/blog-posts-2/
Full review will be coming soon to Inkish Kingdoms!
https://inkishkingdoms.wordpress.com/blog-posts-2/
1975maddy's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Ending was a little bit underwhelming…and was kind of surprised that the author used a whole “urban legend” thing in the first two books of a series…but overall good
fleurette's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, what an excellent thriller. I haven't read the first book in this series, but I will definitely do it now. I just wanted something like that.
This is not a book for people sensitive to cruelty, especially those sensitive to harm to children. But if you don't mind some gruesome elements in your books, you should definitely read this book.
Theo is not your standard detective or even an amateur sleuth, he is above all a scientist. After the events of the first book, he is involved in tracking down the potential terrorists, work he is not satisfied with. Forced to take a break, he decides to solve the case of a boy who went missing years ago. The case turns out to be much more complicated and much larger than it seems at first.
As I said, Theo is primarily a scientist. So, to find a murderer, he uses the modern scientific methods of social sciences and mathematics. I found it incredibly fascinating. I like this classic police work, but when I read something like that I am fascinated by both the idea itself and the amount of work that the author had to do in preparation for writing this book. And I always wonder what the truth is. Which technologies and theories used by Theo are true or at least can actually be used as described in the book. As a result, we get a story completely different from the others. Really unique.
And a very interesting, remarkable hero. Morally ambiguous. This does not mean that Theo has no moral code or goes against social norms. Not at all. Theo has a strong moral code but his own. It is fascinating to observe his moral dilemmas and discover where his boundaries are placed. That is why the narrative in first person that I usually don't like didn’t disturbed me here. Theo's determined, somewhat cynical, sometimes slightly chill voice gave this story an additional, interesting aspect.
In contrast, the case of murders is not so unlike what we can find in other books. Yes, these are terrifying crimes with an interesting side thread, but nothing extraordinary. This absolutely does not mean that the plot is not interesting. This book is so well written that I liked things I usually don't like. Usually I prefer not to know who the killer is and I prefer when the detective's goal is to discover the perpetrator of the crime. And here, we learn a lot about the killer very early. And the whole thing comes down to catching him rather than finding out what happened to the boys. But all this is given in such a remarkable form, and the action is so fast that I was delighted.
I would definitely recommend this book to any thriller fan. This is for sure one of the best books I've read recently. And proof that the book does not have to be excessively long to be excellent and contain a whole lot of twists and turns. I feel like recently the authors of thrillers have fallen into some trend of writing unnecessarily long books. This is an excellent example that it can be done differently.
This is not a book for people sensitive to cruelty, especially those sensitive to harm to children. But if you don't mind some gruesome elements in your books, you should definitely read this book.
Theo is not your standard detective or even an amateur sleuth, he is above all a scientist. After the events of the first book, he is involved in tracking down the potential terrorists, work he is not satisfied with. Forced to take a break, he decides to solve the case of a boy who went missing years ago. The case turns out to be much more complicated and much larger than it seems at first.
As I said, Theo is primarily a scientist. So, to find a murderer, he uses the modern scientific methods of social sciences and mathematics. I found it incredibly fascinating. I like this classic police work, but when I read something like that I am fascinated by both the idea itself and the amount of work that the author had to do in preparation for writing this book. And I always wonder what the truth is. Which technologies and theories used by Theo are true or at least can actually be used as described in the book. As a result, we get a story completely different from the others. Really unique.
And a very interesting, remarkable hero. Morally ambiguous. This does not mean that Theo has no moral code or goes against social norms. Not at all. Theo has a strong moral code but his own. It is fascinating to observe his moral dilemmas and discover where his boundaries are placed. That is why the narrative in first person that I usually don't like didn’t disturbed me here. Theo's determined, somewhat cynical, sometimes slightly chill voice gave this story an additional, interesting aspect.
In contrast, the case of murders is not so unlike what we can find in other books. Yes, these are terrifying crimes with an interesting side thread, but nothing extraordinary. This absolutely does not mean that the plot is not interesting. This book is so well written that I liked things I usually don't like. Usually I prefer not to know who the killer is and I prefer when the detective's goal is to discover the perpetrator of the crime. And here, we learn a lot about the killer very early. And the whole thing comes down to catching him rather than finding out what happened to the boys. But all this is given in such a remarkable form, and the action is so fast that I was delighted.
I would definitely recommend this book to any thriller fan. This is for sure one of the best books I've read recently. And proof that the book does not have to be excessively long to be excellent and contain a whole lot of twists and turns. I feel like recently the authors of thrillers have fallen into some trend of writing unnecessarily long books. This is an excellent example that it can be done differently.
alex_worrell's review against another edition
5.0
Started a little slowly but overall better than the first book imo. There was a lot more unsettling imagery in this book than the first. The ending also had more resolution in comparison.
katmurph12's review against another edition
4.0
Another great installment. Entertaining enough to keep me hooked but also made me feel like I was learning a lot
andysilverfox's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
As a sequel to The Naturalist, I had high hopes for this book, but it regrettably fell short of what I had wished for. While its precursor in the series really played on the cloud of fear and mystery surrounding the antagonist, this book didn’t do as good of a job at that. Overall, it felt less cohesive and mysterious, and more brutal and tiring.
adelaidemetzger_robotprophet's review against another edition
4.0
“Don’t think just because you survived one monster you’ll survive the next.”
--Looking Glass Chapter 24.
One of my favorite literary characters ever, Dr. Theo Cray, is BACK PEOPLE!!!
Oh my God, I love him so much! The man’s brilliant brain holds him back from understanding certain emotions in his personal life, but he has a huge heart for people who need his help and will hunt down the evil that law enforcement has no power over—even if it means putting himself in death’s way.
I feel like this second installment was a bit slower than the first book. I found myself losing some interest in several chapters during the very thorough investigation. I found most of the explanatory chapters very educational and interesting as they made me give credit to Andrew Mayne for his research and knowledge such as what the Fourier method is, but chapters like the one explaining how a face-tracker system functions had me skimming pass the info.
One thing that did not bore me while carefully stepping my way through this book was the creep factor. My skin crawled with every chapter as Theo quickly unveiled what kind of killer he was dealing with. While the first book deconstructed the murder mystery under the theme of nature and Animalia, this book takes a darker turn. Without giving away too much I will say it involves children and the occult. Theo comes face-to-face with a killer that is silent, agile, and even snake-like as opposed to his experience in the first book where the killer resembled a large, hungry bear.
I do feel that I didn’t get to see the killer as much in this book compared to the first installment. While Theo is forced into an epic life-or-death faceoff with Joe Vik in the climax of the previous book, in Looking Glass he simply tracks down the guy and briefly scrapes by him twice before the ending. That doesn’t mean the killer isn’t just as deadly, or that the stakes aren’t higher, but does make me hungry for a bit more action.
My gut reaction every time I finish one of these is “This would make an epic movie!” But the more I think on it I feel like pulling a very wise Ken Levine move and saying, “Well…only if they do it right.” In the hands of people like James Wan and Leigh Whannell it would probably be perfect in its own way of an adaptation, but in any other hands I’d have trust issues.
If you can get pass the extensive breakdown during the investigation portion of these books, you should definitely give them a try. They aren’t your everyday crime thrillers and Andrew Mayne is no penny-crime author.
Number three, please?
--Looking Glass Chapter 24.
One of my favorite literary characters ever, Dr. Theo Cray, is BACK PEOPLE!!!
Oh my God, I love him so much! The man’s brilliant brain holds him back from understanding certain emotions in his personal life, but he has a huge heart for people who need his help and will hunt down the evil that law enforcement has no power over—even if it means putting himself in death’s way.
I feel like this second installment was a bit slower than the first book. I found myself losing some interest in several chapters during the very thorough investigation. I found most of the explanatory chapters very educational and interesting as they made me give credit to Andrew Mayne for his research and knowledge such as what the Fourier method is, but chapters like the one explaining how a face-tracker system functions had me skimming pass the info.
One thing that did not bore me while carefully stepping my way through this book was the creep factor. My skin crawled with every chapter as Theo quickly unveiled what kind of killer he was dealing with. While the first book deconstructed the murder mystery under the theme of nature and Animalia, this book takes a darker turn. Without giving away too much I will say it involves children and the occult. Theo comes face-to-face with a killer that is silent, agile, and even snake-like as opposed to his experience in the first book where the killer resembled a large, hungry bear.
I do feel that I didn’t get to see the killer as much in this book compared to the first installment. While Theo is forced into an epic life-or-death faceoff with Joe Vik in the climax of the previous book, in Looking Glass he simply tracks down the guy and briefly scrapes by him twice before the ending. That doesn’t mean the killer isn’t just as deadly, or that the stakes aren’t higher, but does make me hungry for a bit more action.
My gut reaction every time I finish one of these is “This would make an epic movie!” But the more I think on it I feel like pulling a very wise Ken Levine move and saying, “Well…only if they do it right.” In the hands of people like James Wan and Leigh Whannell it would probably be perfect in its own way of an adaptation, but in any other hands I’d have trust issues.
If you can get pass the extensive breakdown during the investigation portion of these books, you should definitely give them a try. They aren’t your everyday crime thrillers and Andrew Mayne is no penny-crime author.
Number three, please?