Scan barcode
A review by krisrid
The Vanishing Thief by Kate Parker
4.0
I really enjoyed this story, and pretty much all the characters.
First off, I love the Victorian era and all things that go with it. The era makes for a great adventure, which Georgia Fenchurch and her friends definitely have in this book.
The differences in class, while foreign to those of us living in the present era, make for some excellent drama and challenge for the characters. Fortunately, almost everyone in the book has honourable motives . . . well, mostly.
The plot was well-constructed, and the tension and excitement well-paced to keep the reader racing through the pages. The character development was also very well done here, and that is a feature that I particularly enjoy, so when characters develop throughout the book, that is a plus for me. I love getting to know characters better as a book progresses, especially if the book is the start of a series (which I believe this is) so I have more books to spend time with, and get more involved with the characters as time goes on.
The murder and mystery were also well-done, I thought. I never try to figure out the murderer before all is revealed, so I can't speak to how challenging the mystery was, but I certainly found it interesting and engaging.
My one beef was with Georgia [hence the missing fifth star]. At times she is a smart, independent capable woman, in spite of the world she lives in that hasn't yet begun to see those qualities as positive in women. At other times, she descends into "damsel-in-distress" mode, which seems disconnected from whom we've been led to believe she is. I also get annoyed by her holier-than-thou belief that "justice" is the only way to handle evil people. While I understand her taking that approach, I am hoping that in future books, she becomes a bit more like the Duke of Blackford and takes a more pragmatic approach to her cases with the Archivist Society. Sometimes the bad guys just need to "get it", you know?
I also really liked pretty much all the supporting characters. Each of them have a unique personality, with individuality that makes them real to the reader. They also all have their parts - larger or smaller - to play in the investigations as the story progresses.
Overall, though I very much enjoyed this book. I am definitely going to read future installments that I hope are on the way.
First off, I love the Victorian era and all things that go with it. The era makes for a great adventure, which Georgia Fenchurch and her friends definitely have in this book.
The differences in class, while foreign to those of us living in the present era, make for some excellent drama and challenge for the characters. Fortunately, almost everyone in the book has honourable motives . . . well, mostly.
The plot was well-constructed, and the tension and excitement well-paced to keep the reader racing through the pages. The character development was also very well done here, and that is a feature that I particularly enjoy, so when characters develop throughout the book, that is a plus for me. I love getting to know characters better as a book progresses, especially if the book is the start of a series (which I believe this is) so I have more books to spend time with, and get more involved with the characters as time goes on.
The murder and mystery were also well-done, I thought. I never try to figure out the murderer before all is revealed, so I can't speak to how challenging the mystery was, but I certainly found it interesting and engaging.
My one beef was with Georgia [hence the missing fifth star]. At times she is a smart, independent capable woman, in spite of the world she lives in that hasn't yet begun to see those qualities as positive in women. At other times, she descends into "damsel-in-distress" mode, which seems disconnected from whom we've been led to believe she is. I also get annoyed by her holier-than-thou belief that "justice" is the only way to handle evil people. While I understand her taking that approach, I am hoping that in future books, she becomes a bit more like the Duke of Blackford and takes a more pragmatic approach to her cases with the Archivist Society. Sometimes the bad guys just need to "get it", you know?
I also really liked pretty much all the supporting characters. Each of them have a unique personality, with individuality that makes them real to the reader. They also all have their parts - larger or smaller - to play in the investigations as the story progresses.
Overall, though I very much enjoyed this book. I am definitely going to read future installments that I hope are on the way.