A review by iwanttoreadallthebooks
The Scent of Death by Andrew Taylor

3.0

I had such high hopes for The Scent of Death. The premise sounded really interesting and I always love historical fiction/thrillers. Unfortunately, Andrew Taylor did not deliver. There were certainly parts that were interesting and fulfilled the "thriller" component of the story. However, there was a lot of unnecessary filler that just wasn't particularly interesting. I think the Scent of Death would have benefitted from some serious editing (at least 100 pages worth). I also felt that Taylor could have done a more job of creating the atmosphere. The best historical fiction are the books that completely immerse you, so that you feel that you are actually living in the story with the characters. While Taylor did describe the setting, I only felt as if I was reading it, not living it.
While this book was a little bit of a letdown to me, I have heard such good things about some of Taylor's other books that I will give them a try.