A review by leelah
Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton

2.0

I actually thought that with that, one of the most thrilling and cinematic openings I've read from her, Sharon Bolton would manage to woo me back into die-hard fan category.
It was not meant to be, partly because she tend to overuse red herrings and I-got-ya! twists which of course robs it of its most important element to succeed- surprise-and partly for subjective reasons.
So, the book opens with a crowd of people flying in a hot-air balloon who witness a crime on the ground, in the woods. But, killer saw them too and he is determined to keep his secret. I thought this part, with the balloon and various characters trying to survive in almost impossible situation was so engrossing and like you're watching action flick. The moment main character survived the fall and story switched from "omg, what will happen now", into "twist behind the twist inside twist" the book fell apart for me.
Positive impression of first part was mostly ruined by psychopath killer who was almost over the top villainous when not omnipotent and all-knowing. His purpose couldn't be just lucrative, he had to be sadistic fuck who enjoys hunting and killing and has evil christian mother. But his ability to go places and sneak up to anyone is almost super power. It just made it into implausible story you have to stretch your imagination far too much which inevitably killed the suspense.
The investigation following the fall of hot-air balloon and the reason main character is running away both from killer and police didn't work for me personally.

Spoiler

I was involved in several IOs providing free legal help for victims of human trafficking and worked on a various reports for gross human rights violation, dealing mostly with human trafficking- and I know that first thing that pops in everyone's head when you say HT is sex trade, but that's only one part of it. Trafficking human organs is also a part of HT. Hence, when I realized Bolton used Yellow House reference in the book, it kind of irked me. I can't even explain why, I don't even claim I am right to be annoyed by this, but the best I can do is saying that the fact I was so closely involved in this case makes it hard reading it turned into fiction. She doesn't mention anything in afterword, but I guess she was inspired because it's literally the first thing that pops when you google yellow house.

I also felt it was a bit on the nose that killer and his family's last name was Faa, with just about... every bad stereotype attached to Roma. Even caravans.
It also involves the family drama of main character (oh, and I guessed that twist right away, because

Spoiler

she isn't who you think she is

twist Bolton already used in several books) but I just felt it became too melodramatic by the end.
So, maybe I picked it at the wrong time, maybe it was never meant to be, but I just hated reading this book after first part and powered through it to finish.
:/