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A review by j_f
Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves
4.0
While I've rated all four of the first novels in this Shetland Islands mystery series 4 stars, this one may be my favourite, or maybe I was just in a good reading mood.
Some of the same issues that prevented me from rating the other books 5 stars resurface here.
For one, I find that the secondary characters feel like minor characters, because their personalities are one-dimensional and sometimes forgettable.
For another, the main characters' emotions and thought processes are often strange to me. I find myself wondering how plausible it is that a detective would think, "Am I capable of murder? Yeah, maybe," in the middle of finding a corpse for the first time. Or how likely a suspect would be to tell a detective, "I totally would've killed so-and-so, but I didn't."
However, the setting, pacing and detective process of this novel worked well for me. I wanted to keep reading to find out who had committed the crime, but even more, I felt we spent a good amount of time with each suspect. I also liked getting to know more of Perez's family, especially his angst towards his dad. (I'm a sucker for father-son conflict.)
Some of the same issues that prevented me from rating the other books 5 stars resurface here.
For one, I find that the secondary characters feel like minor characters, because their personalities are one-dimensional and sometimes forgettable.
For another, the main characters' emotions and thought processes are often strange to me. I find myself wondering how plausible it is that a detective would think, "Am I capable of murder? Yeah, maybe," in the middle of finding a corpse for the first time. Or how likely a suspect would be to tell a detective, "I totally would've killed so-and-so, but I didn't."
However, the setting, pacing and detective process of this novel worked well for me. I wanted to keep reading to find out who had committed the crime, but even more, I felt we spent a good amount of time with each suspect. I also liked getting to know more of Perez's family, especially his angst towards his dad. (I'm a sucker for father-son conflict.)