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ncrabb 's review for:
Prime Suspect
by Lynda La Plante
I’m just going to go on record here as someone who opposes defunding police departments. After I read this book, I would be a major fan of defunding Jane Tennison’s salary. I’ve rarely read a character for whom I developed a more visceral dislike almost instantly. I mean, this went from zero to a thousand in about a millisecond. And while she got her guy at the end, and did so based on her talent and merits, I couldn’t bring myself to congratulate her. I’ve downloaded additional books in this series, but I suspect they may go unread—we’ll see.
The dead prostitute is Della Mornay, and she’s well known as an informant in the precinct where Jane works. But now she’s dead, and they’ve identified her body, and they’ve caught the guy they believe to be guilty, and it’s time to move on. But not so fast. It is Jane Tennison who realizes that the shoe size listed on the report isn’t the same as the actual shoe size of the victim. It turns out that the victim is a woman named Karen Howard.
This is essentially a scream fest temper tantrum thing for poor Jane whose superiors keep passing her over for various assignments. The other cops in her area despise Jane. When a heart attack kills the guy who had been handling the dead prostitute case, Jane gets the nod against the better judgment of her superiors, and she’s off to find a killer and alienate everyone she can in the process.
This just felt like La Plante overdid the lonely feminist who sacrifices her relationship, nearly her family, referring to her dad as an old sod because he failed to operate a video recorder so vain Jane could see what she looked like on a true crime show, and her humanity. Poor, poor little Jane! To the author’s credit, you see how Tennison’s colleagues rally around her when she succeeds, but the not-so-hidden agenda soured me on the series. The author relegates Jane’s happily married pregnant sister, Pam, to the ho-hum heap. I suspect pregnant Pam on her worst day would be a far better person to know than the ever-shrill ever-victimized Tennison.
All my whining aside, know that this is well written, and you'll stay with it if you start it to the back page. I understand why this series went from the page to the digital movie. The author displays real talent here. It's not her inability so much as it's just my lack of desire to reread this.
The dead prostitute is Della Mornay, and she’s well known as an informant in the precinct where Jane works. But now she’s dead, and they’ve identified her body, and they’ve caught the guy they believe to be guilty, and it’s time to move on. But not so fast. It is Jane Tennison who realizes that the shoe size listed on the report isn’t the same as the actual shoe size of the victim. It turns out that the victim is a woman named Karen Howard.
This is essentially a scream fest temper tantrum thing for poor Jane whose superiors keep passing her over for various assignments. The other cops in her area despise Jane. When a heart attack kills the guy who had been handling the dead prostitute case, Jane gets the nod against the better judgment of her superiors, and she’s off to find a killer and alienate everyone she can in the process.
This just felt like La Plante overdid the lonely feminist who sacrifices her relationship, nearly her family, referring to her dad as an old sod because he failed to operate a video recorder so vain Jane could see what she looked like on a true crime show, and her humanity. Poor, poor little Jane! To the author’s credit, you see how Tennison’s colleagues rally around her when she succeeds, but the not-so-hidden agenda soured me on the series. The author relegates Jane’s happily married pregnant sister, Pam, to the ho-hum heap. I suspect pregnant Pam on her worst day would be a far better person to know than the ever-shrill ever-victimized Tennison.
All my whining aside, know that this is well written, and you'll stay with it if you start it to the back page. I understand why this series went from the page to the digital movie. The author displays real talent here. It's not her inability so much as it's just my lack of desire to reread this.