Reviews - Capturing the Devil

2.99k reviews for:

Capturing the Devil

Kerri Maniscalco

4.12 AVERAGE

sfox26's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark funny medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

lilithinarose's review against another edition

5.0

Probably my most favorite book series ever.

sidodevilleduval's review against another edition

2.0

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

Everything about this just felt wrong. The characters didn't make sense, the plot was nonsensical and shat all over the first book, and even the chapter pictures were random and cheap.

I think this was meant to tie into the first book to be like a full-circle finale but it just ruined what was originally a cool plot twist. And it was kind of presented as an ‘oh Nathaniel’s not innocent but he is absolved of murder’, like he wasn’t an accomplice. Even if he didn’t actually do the killing, he was still responsible.

The book just had no plot, it was presented as serial killer murder mystery but most of it was just Audrey Rose and Thomas’s relationship dramas. They only started actually trying to solve the murder on p. 228, and even then it was only because it served them in fixing the marriage plotline. The marriage stuff also served absolutely no purpose. If you took it out, the story would have run exactly the same course, except AR and Thomas would’ve been married at the time and the book would’ve been half the length.

It felt like the characters were so disjointed to how they’d been in the rest of the series. Like Audrey Rose was always Not Like Other Girls but here she was just really arrogant "I didn't think he was used to his prey growing claws and fighting back" (p. 408). It's established that this man's killed hundreds of women (p.395) and you're telling me AR's the first one who fought back??

Also stop telling me Audrey Rose is a feminist and actually show me. Because at the moment all I can really see is that she’s a hypocrite. If I remember rightly, the whole reason for the setting of Escaping from Houdini was because AR and Thomas were chasing after Liza who’d run off with a man. Which was just so unacceptable to AR and she went behind Liza’s back to undo it. And yet in this book, it was AR’s idea to do the exact same thing with Thomas (p. 229). But this time it’s okay. AR loves to talk about how she longs to subvert Victorian values but only when it’s her doing it. She just seems to believe she's at the centre of the universe: a woman called Rose is brutally murdered but it must really be about her (p. 207).

The whole book just wasn’t believable anymore. The deduction thing massively jumped the shark- like her grandmother had literally no way of knowing Nathaniel was Jack the Ripper and it just doesn't make sense for her to guess something that extreme (p.192). And it’s so obvious who the CTD killer is, AR’s a liability. We know it’s a man with blue eyes, but once a suspicious man with blue eyes shows up, she starts blaming her friend instead (don’t have the page number, I got rid of the book as soon as I finished it).

A bit heavy handed, not much ‘show don't tell’. A lot of characters over-explaining to get the point across. And everything was just so long-winded, with pages of pointless conversation. Even the final boss fight was just pages of speech. It was supposed to be this tense standoff but I was so bored.

The whole thing just felt so empty. I would’ve dnfed but I wanted to finish it to complete the series. Really disappointing ending to a series I used to enjoy.

chicagovol's review against another edition

I loved this series!

santibueno's review against another edition

4.0

El final de una saga de misterio aunque la novela no creo que se haya centrado en el misterio. Se sintió mas como una novela de romance con el misterio de fondo. Y si bien me gustó mucho el libro en su totalidad, me sentí un poco estafado. Los elementos del misterio y la investigación fueron los que mas sufrieron con esto. Hubo poco de investigación real y me fue extremadamente fácil adivinar quien era el asesino. Esto último no porque hubiese pruebas, sino que la manera en que es presentado lo hace obvio. Lo que si puedo destacar como positivo de todo esto, es la confrontación con el asesino. Me encantó su guarida, todo la confrontacion con la protagonista, toda la estrategia que usa para intentar matarla. Fueron escenas super tensas que brillaron. Otro punto a favor fue Audry Rose, en este ultimo libro estaba desatada y me atreveria a decir un poco sanguinaria, aunque había lineas que no estaba dispuesta a cruzar. Esto me encantó. Su relacion con Thomas también, a pesar de no querer que fuese la trama principal, me gustó mucho. Son tal para cual en todo sentido y lo saben. Además adoptan un gato al que llaman Sir Issac Mewton. Que mas podía querer de ellos? La participacion de las familias de ambos también me gustó, salvo la del padre de Thomas que no me convenció que el conflicto que plantea se resuelva fuera de cámara. Aunque teniendo en cuenta que la abuela de Audry juega un rol importante en esa resolución, puedo perdonarlo. La abuela es de los mejores personajes secundarios, sin ninguna duda. La amé. Por último, creo que este libro logró enlazarse con el primero de una manera bastante interesante. Después de leer este, tengo ganas de releer el primero para ver como cambia mi visión de este.