Review by stnia - Murder on Line One

stnia 's review for:

Murder on Line One by Jeremy Vine

1.75

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Murder on Line One follows Edward, a radio host with a devoted audience as he tries to solve the mystery of who is targeting them. When we first meet Edward, he’s at a low point in his life and trying to figure out what he can do next. Initially unaware of anything nefarious, he’s approached by Stevie who is looking for answers around her grandmother’s recent death. Why Edward? Well, her grandmother was one of his doting audience. This kicks off what is a large-scale operation targeting the pensioners of Sidmouth.

On paper this book has everything that should captivate me, mystery, conspiracy, and murder all set up around a radio station. However, I found it extremely hard to engage with the story. For me it came down to the following things: Dialogue, character, and conclusion.

The dialogue at times was very heavy handed, to the point where it took me out of the story. An example being a character who had a loved one die in a horrific manner being explained in detail how that death happened, quickly followed by a half-hearted apology and then no reaction from the character being spoken to. The purpose felt only to inform the reader what happened (despite already knowing all the details) and not to build characters further.

On the characters it felt as if each was loaded with traumatic backstory, as if this would give them depth. For me this left many of them feeling very flat and hard to connect to. This was a pity as there so much potential to explore for each of them.

The twist at the conclusion was not a surprise for me. About halfway through I had figured out who was behind everything. As for their motives though, it felt entirely based on stereotypes, rather than something more genuine.

Overall, while the writing wasn’t bad and I did really enjoy the premise, I struggled to connect with the characters and spent the second half of the book frustrated while it slowly got to the reveal. With that I can’t say I would recommend the book to others.

Content Warnings