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A review by mrsbooknerd
The Killing Room by Richard Montanari
2.0
I've read a few novels in this series before and I do like the characters of Jess and Byrne, however I felt that this novel was a little too Jess/Byrne-centric. The plot progressed really slowly, only to have an ending that came super left of field because it was based on character histories of which we had no knowledge. Much of the book detailed Byrne's inner musings or Jess' workouts etc and while they built on the characters for the series, it meant that the plot of this book suffered poor pacing. By the midway point I was actually quite bored.
The plot needed more leads and red herrings instead of just a series of murders studded with pages about Jess and Byrne. The threads of the conclusion needed to start revealing themselves earlier to have kept my interest. I like to try and work out crime novels as I go, thinking it's Doris the gardner but oh no, because of the kippers I now think it's George the tiger groomer. Or whatever. In this book, my participation was zero because there was nothing to work out, it was all revealed and concluded right at the end making the earlier 400 pages a bit of a pointless journey.
The plot needed more leads and red herrings instead of just a series of murders studded with pages about Jess and Byrne. The threads of the conclusion needed to start revealing themselves earlier to have kept my interest. I like to try and work out crime novels as I go, thinking it's Doris the gardner but oh no, because of the kippers I now think it's George the tiger groomer. Or whatever. In this book, my participation was zero because there was nothing to work out, it was all revealed and concluded right at the end making the earlier 400 pages a bit of a pointless journey.