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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Audio and read physical copy: Pleasantly unique storyline and characters. I read many thriller and mysteries, and this is by far unique in unfolding of the story. Detailed storyline, lots of characters and many pieces of mystery to keep up with. Felt like every chapter contained one clue to solve mystery. You pick up breadcrumbs as the story progresses and builds upon each other.
At the same time, too many characters and many different storylines. It was confusing with all the different elements. I would get lost in the sub plots and couldn’t keep track of the main plot, red herring.
You will never guess the killer
Audiobook —
You will never guess the killer
Audiobook —
Narrator did superb work in executing dialect! Changing the voices for some characters, added depth and made each character stand out. Enhanced reading experience to enjoy novel. Classic Murder Mystery with Caribbean flavor!
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Miss Hortense is a retired nurse, an excellent cook, and a very observant member of the Afro-Caribbean community of Birmingham. Haunted by a series of brutal murders that take place in the 60s, more than thirty years later she finds herself dealing with the fall out of what happened then and with some new misfortunes now.
Mel Pennant's mystery is nicely layered, and how Hortense sets out to unravel what happened is often very satisfying, but for me the major enjoyment of this book lay in Pennant's depth of characterisation and her portraits of Hortense's community. I really believed in her characters as people—how they reacted and interacted, how they spoke and moved. My one minor quibble is that the chapters felt a little too short for me, especially since we shifted from POV to POV. I'd be just starting to get comfortable with one character and we'd be onto the next. Hopefully that's something that the sequel—hinted at by the ending here—will remedy that.
Mel Pennant's mystery is nicely layered, and how Hortense sets out to unravel what happened is often very satisfying, but for me the major enjoyment of this book lay in Pennant's depth of characterisation and her portraits of Hortense's community. I really believed in her characters as people—how they reacted and interacted, how they spoke and moved. My one minor quibble is that the chapters felt a little too short for me, especially since we shifted from POV to POV. I'd be just starting to get comfortable with one character and we'd be onto the next. Hopefully that's something that the sequel—hinted at by the ending here—will remedy that.
The way that this is written is not for me …
Honestly I'm just tired of reading on my ereader right now and the story wasn't gripping me enough. Needed to move on to something in print.
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I wanted to like this so bad; I love whodunit stories! However there were so many characters to keep track of so early on - it was tough. It was even worse because the POVs switched in every chapter to be people who weren't very relevant to the story, except as a plot device. The chapters lengths were very random; which I'm usually okay with BUT it would switch abruptly in the middle of scenes. I couldn't follow what was actually supposed to be going on besides some key "evil"/ bad mind people.
The plot idea was great, but I couldn't even feel bad or anxious for the Main Character (who is supposed to be Ms Hortense) because we never really got to know Ms. Hortense. Whodunit books are supposed to feed characters certain clues and characteristics that weren't provided to us.
I wanted to love this book but I barely like it. I would be interested to see another concept by this author developed further though.
The plot idea was great, but I couldn't even feel bad or anxious for the Main Character (who is supposed to be Ms Hortense) because we never really got to know Ms. Hortense. Whodunit books are supposed to feed characters certain clues and characteristics that weren't provided to us.
I wanted to love this book but I barely like it. I would be interested to see another concept by this author developed further though.
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes