A review by ari__s
The Black Country by Alex Grecian

3.0

It's been some time since I read the first in this series so it took me a little while to remember the specifics about each character. This wasn't hard to do, mostly because there isn't immense depth to the characters, but there also isn't much character development involved so even once I remember who was who I didn't feel like I had gained much insight. I love the quick verbal exchange that happens for the majority of the dialogue - all very short, sweet, to the point, and offhandedly humorous. At the same time, though, it does fall into the trap of lengthy verbal exchange where the reader loses track of exactly who is speaking, which became mildly irritating at times. Regardless, while I didn't enjoy this book as much as the Yard, in part because the novelty had worn off, Grecian maintains the Holmes-esque vintage freshness of how he tackles murder mysteries. On the whole this story was still quite entertaining, enough so that I probably will venture onto the next installment, though I don't know if I would hasten other readers to both reading past the Yard, which seemed more thought out and developed than the Black Country. Anyhow, it was a fun read at best. Perfect for blizzard weather and procrastinating.