Take a photo of a barcode or cover
charliepritchard1996 's review for:
Blue Lightning
by Ann Cleeves
If I felt that the book preceding this one in the Shetland series, ‘Red Bones’, was a slow burner. With Blue Lightning, I think that Cleeves certainly delivers in significantly changing pace with the fourth instalment of the Jimmy Perez novels.
Perez returns to his home on Fair Isle with his fiancée Fran for what he hopes will he a tranquil homecoming. However, as the weather deteriorates and transport to and from the island becomes impermissible, a mysterious and extravagant murder hooks Perez and the Fair Isle community into a tension-filled saga.
What is fascinating about the introduction to the story is the characters, all bird-watchers/wildlife enthusiasts who have escaped cities to Fair Isle, all for seemingly different reasons. The characters are all different and have their own demons, and uncovering how this all intertwines with the murder of Angela Moore in the Fair Isle field centre is absorbing from the get-go.
The proximity all of the suspects have with one another contributes to an immersive plot, where tensions run high and fears escalate as the case intensifies. The backgrounds of each guest at the field centre are subtly revealing but we aren’t entirely sure of their relevance until the fantastic climax.
The way in which Cleeves blends Perez’s personal life with this specific case is subtle but comes together superbly in an explosive and heartbreaking denouement. Perez suggests that this may be his last case in the final passages of the novel, but with a conclusion so powerful, it surely can’t be. Therefore, even before finishing Blue Lightning, I was thinking about the following Jimmy Perez story, Dead Water.
I think that this is the genius of Cleeves. Just when you think the series may be arriving at a natural ending, a vital and shocking twist leaves you demanding more Shetland material. This is a triumph.
This is the novel in the Shetland series where Cleeves executes a decisive and emotional plot-twist. It provides a strange satisfaction for people following the series closely, instead of reading each book as a stand-alone. This keeps the vitality of the wider Jimmy Perez story alive and cleverly keeps us interested ahead of book No. 5.
Perez returns to his home on Fair Isle with his fiancée Fran for what he hopes will he a tranquil homecoming. However, as the weather deteriorates and transport to and from the island becomes impermissible, a mysterious and extravagant murder hooks Perez and the Fair Isle community into a tension-filled saga.
What is fascinating about the introduction to the story is the characters, all bird-watchers/wildlife enthusiasts who have escaped cities to Fair Isle, all for seemingly different reasons. The characters are all different and have their own demons, and uncovering how this all intertwines with the murder of Angela Moore in the Fair Isle field centre is absorbing from the get-go.
The proximity all of the suspects have with one another contributes to an immersive plot, where tensions run high and fears escalate as the case intensifies. The backgrounds of each guest at the field centre are subtly revealing but we aren’t entirely sure of their relevance until the fantastic climax.
The way in which Cleeves blends Perez’s personal life with this specific case is subtle but comes together superbly in an explosive and heartbreaking denouement. Perez suggests that this may be his last case in the final passages of the novel, but with a conclusion so powerful, it surely can’t be. Therefore, even before finishing Blue Lightning, I was thinking about the following Jimmy Perez story, Dead Water.
I think that this is the genius of Cleeves. Just when you think the series may be arriving at a natural ending, a vital and shocking twist leaves you demanding more Shetland material. This is a triumph.
This is the novel in the Shetland series where Cleeves executes a decisive and emotional plot-twist. It provides a strange satisfaction for people following the series closely, instead of reading each book as a stand-alone. This keeps the vitality of the wider Jimmy Perez story alive and cleverly keeps us interested ahead of book No. 5.