Scan barcode
A review by iolanthex
Broken Dolls by James Carol
2.0
Although my star rating may not seem like it I did quite enjoy reading this book. However a number of things led to me giving it the rating of being okay rather than saying it's a book I enjoyed so just hear me out.
Summary:
This novel follows Jefferson Winter the son of a serial killer who now works as a consultant with the police when they need help with a case. Recently in London a number of women have been abducted and tortured before being lobotomised and dumped to be found by police. The police aren't making progress with the case and the assailant is beginning to escalate so they know they have a limited amount of time before another woman is taken. Jefferson Winter is brought in to help them solve the case.
What I liked:
James Carol has a really nice style of writing and its so easy to read, honestly if not for this I'm not sure I would have finished reading the novel. His writing is immersive for the most part and it's easy to read 100 pages or so without realising it.
The plot was also somewhat different to most crime novels as Carol decided to have the victims lobotomised rather than murdered which isn't something I've seen as often and could have been influenced by Jeffrey Dahmer who also attempted to lobotomise some of his victims (though Dahmer was never successful).
What I hated:
Hate may seem like a strong way to feel towards what are at the end of the day very small aspects of the novel but they really stuck with me and did affect how much I enjoyed the experience of reading this book. In fact some of them led to me putting the book down for a while out of annoyance.
First of all is how smart Winter is. We're never allowed to forget it. Not only through his actions and how he helps solve the case but also because every other character brings it up every 5 minutes.In the end it was so repetitive and even began to make me hate Winter as a character, which I suppose is unjust because it's not his fault everyone else is amazed by his intelligence.
Secondly is the fact that despite being praised as a guy who knows everything Winter does get things wrong. And these mistakes don't come across as a humanising 'everyone gets things wrong sometimes' kind of thing but rather feel like Carol wanted Winter to say smart things without doing the research first. One example that really annoyed me was a comparison between leeches and lobotomies which doesn't really make sense because leeches are still used in modern medicine. Its a silly mistake that takes seconds to google and find out the truth.
My last major criticism is that women in this novel are objectified to an extent that it made me uncomfortable. It doesn't matter who the female character is if she can be she will be objectified. Characters who are strong women like Templeton are described in a ridiculously over-sexualised way before Winter has a one man pity party over the fact hot girls don't like smart nerdy guys like him. Even nameless characters who Winter might just pass by in a street are commented on in how attractive they are and an older woman is described as probably being attractive when she was younger. It really just broke the immersion of Carols writing and made me not like Winter as a character if that's his only way of viewing women.
Final Thoughts:
I really promise I didn't hate this book. The plot was interesting and for the most part the writing was enjoyable but the issues I have with the way it was written and some of the characters really made me not enjoy it as much as I could have. It had a lot of potential to be something I'd give 4 stars or so but as things are I couldn't. I'm probably going to read more of the books in this series and hope that maybe things are better in later novels but I'm not in a rush and it's probably going to be a while before I get around to it.
Summary:
This novel follows Jefferson Winter the son of a serial killer who now works as a consultant with the police when they need help with a case. Recently in London a number of women have been abducted and tortured before being lobotomised and dumped to be found by police. The police aren't making progress with the case and the assailant is beginning to escalate so they know they have a limited amount of time before another woman is taken. Jefferson Winter is brought in to help them solve the case.
What I liked:
James Carol has a really nice style of writing and its so easy to read, honestly if not for this I'm not sure I would have finished reading the novel. His writing is immersive for the most part and it's easy to read 100 pages or so without realising it.
The plot was also somewhat different to most crime novels as Carol decided to have the victims lobotomised rather than murdered which isn't something I've seen as often and could have been influenced by Jeffrey Dahmer who also attempted to lobotomise some of his victims (though Dahmer was never successful).
What I hated:
Hate may seem like a strong way to feel towards what are at the end of the day very small aspects of the novel but they really stuck with me and did affect how much I enjoyed the experience of reading this book. In fact some of them led to me putting the book down for a while out of annoyance.
First of all is how smart Winter is. We're never allowed to forget it. Not only through his actions and how he helps solve the case but also because every other character brings it up every 5 minutes.In the end it was so repetitive and even began to make me hate Winter as a character, which I suppose is unjust because it's not his fault everyone else is amazed by his intelligence.
Secondly is the fact that despite being praised as a guy who knows everything Winter does get things wrong. And these mistakes don't come across as a humanising 'everyone gets things wrong sometimes' kind of thing but rather feel like Carol wanted Winter to say smart things without doing the research first. One example that really annoyed me was a comparison between leeches and lobotomies which doesn't really make sense because leeches are still used in modern medicine. Its a silly mistake that takes seconds to google and find out the truth.
My last major criticism is that women in this novel are objectified to an extent that it made me uncomfortable. It doesn't matter who the female character is if she can be she will be objectified. Characters who are strong women like Templeton are described in a ridiculously over-sexualised way before Winter has a one man pity party over the fact hot girls don't like smart nerdy guys like him. Even nameless characters who Winter might just pass by in a street are commented on in how attractive they are and an older woman is described as probably being attractive when she was younger. It really just broke the immersion of Carols writing and made me not like Winter as a character if that's his only way of viewing women.
Final Thoughts:
I really promise I didn't hate this book. The plot was interesting and for the most part the writing was enjoyable but the issues I have with the way it was written and some of the characters really made me not enjoy it as much as I could have. It had a lot of potential to be something I'd give 4 stars or so but as things are I couldn't. I'm probably going to read more of the books in this series and hope that maybe things are better in later novels but I'm not in a rush and it's probably going to be a while before I get around to it.