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booksuperpower 's review for:
The Crossing Places
by Elly Griffiths
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths is a 2010 publication.
So many of my GR friends read the Ruth Galloway series, making me wildly curious about it for a long time. I went in blind, however, not really knowing what the premise was, and I'm glad I did. While this first book has some issues, I understand now why the series is so popular.
Ruth is a forensic archaeologist in her late thirties. She is unmarried and lives with her two cats. However, her quiet, orderly, slightly dull life is rudely upended when she is approached by Detective Chief Inspector Nelson to examine a child’s bones found on a beach.
Hoping the bones belonged to the missing child in case he was never able to solve, Nelson is disappointed to learn the bones are from the iron age. But, then a second child disappears, and Ruth finds herself, not only embroiled in a murder case, but a potential victim as well.
The pacing is a bit slow and understated as the reader is slowly given glimpses into the character’s personas while the case marches on in a methodical manner. I loved the atmosphere of the book, which is creepy, a bit gray, but not too heavy. While one would think I’d instantly take to Ruth, I had a very hard time warming up to her at first.
Ruth’s family sounds exhausting, and I can understand her negative attitude, but the repeated harping on religion grew old, and even offensive on one occasion. That, coupled with animal violence, made me consider quitting the book at one point, but I was invested in the mystery enough to want to see it through.
As it turns out, I was glad I stuck with it. This serves as a reminder to me to exercise patience, because good things come to those who wait. Ruth’s love of animals, her body image problems, and her very human responses to danger, which wasn’t a common occurrence in her life, felt very realistic and understandable.
I loved the way the book concluded and feel like maybe Ruth and I might be able to forge a tenuous friendship after all.
Overall, this was a little bit of a rocky start to the series for me, but I really liked the way everything developed and am curious to see how the series progresses from here.
3.5 stars
So many of my GR friends read the Ruth Galloway series, making me wildly curious about it for a long time. I went in blind, however, not really knowing what the premise was, and I'm glad I did. While this first book has some issues, I understand now why the series is so popular.
Ruth is a forensic archaeologist in her late thirties. She is unmarried and lives with her two cats. However, her quiet, orderly, slightly dull life is rudely upended when she is approached by Detective Chief Inspector Nelson to examine a child’s bones found on a beach.
Hoping the bones belonged to the missing child in case he was never able to solve, Nelson is disappointed to learn the bones are from the iron age. But, then a second child disappears, and Ruth finds herself, not only embroiled in a murder case, but a potential victim as well.
The pacing is a bit slow and understated as the reader is slowly given glimpses into the character’s personas while the case marches on in a methodical manner. I loved the atmosphere of the book, which is creepy, a bit gray, but not too heavy. While one would think I’d instantly take to Ruth, I had a very hard time warming up to her at first.
Ruth’s family sounds exhausting, and I can understand her negative attitude, but the repeated harping on religion grew old, and even offensive on one occasion. That, coupled with animal violence, made me consider quitting the book at one point, but I was invested in the mystery enough to want to see it through.
As it turns out, I was glad I stuck with it. This serves as a reminder to me to exercise patience, because good things come to those who wait. Ruth’s love of animals, her body image problems, and her very human responses to danger, which wasn’t a common occurrence in her life, felt very realistic and understandable.
I loved the way the book concluded and feel like maybe Ruth and I might be able to forge a tenuous friendship after all.
Overall, this was a little bit of a rocky start to the series for me, but I really liked the way everything developed and am curious to see how the series progresses from here.
3.5 stars