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A review by radioactiv
The Ice House by Minette Walters
2.5
The book was fine overall - an interesting plot that kept me on my toes written by a skilled author. Better writing style than most.
That said, the characterization in The Ice-House was a bit confusing. The characters have a good amount of depth - there are motivations, certainly, in the actions of the main characters. That said, it didn't seem quite life-like to me. I can't imagine there are many people who go around quoting Robert Burns poems. Seriously, how many people have "To a Louse" memorized? And Sgt. McLoughlin had a dramatic personality shift partway through the novel that seemed incredibly abrupt, even with the details of his personal life. Some of the other characters were a bit inconsistent as well, but McLoughlin was pretty bad.
The changes in POV were confusing at times. As another reviewer noted, the book is in 3rd person omniscient and changes between characters often. As such, the book is from the POV of one character in one paragraph and a different one (sometimes in a different location) for the next. I'd start to attribute dialogue to one character, realize that character couldn't be speaking (or had suddenly developed a penchant for speaking in third person), and would end up re-reading the paragraph.
As a side note, I don't really know if I'd categorize this as a "cozy mystery", which is what my book jacket says - though it also misspells Anne's name. It's a bit darker than most cozies and there's no amateur sleuth character. Additionally, it wasn't much of a whodunnit, where you actively guess who murdered the victim, as much of the story is spent trying to figure out whose body is in the ice house. Don't expect Agatha Christie style clues and hints.
That said, the characterization in The Ice-House was a bit confusing. The characters have a good amount of depth - there are motivations, certainly, in the actions of the main characters. That said, it didn't seem quite life-like to me. I can't imagine there are many people who go around quoting Robert Burns poems. Seriously, how many people have "To a Louse" memorized? And Sgt. McLoughlin had a dramatic personality shift partway through the novel that seemed incredibly abrupt, even with the details of his personal life. Some of the other characters were a bit inconsistent as well, but McLoughlin was pretty bad.
The changes in POV were confusing at times. As another reviewer noted, the book is in 3rd person omniscient and changes between characters often. As such, the book is from the POV of one character in one paragraph and a different one (sometimes in a different location) for the next. I'd start to attribute dialogue to one character, realize that character couldn't be speaking (or had suddenly developed a penchant for speaking in third person), and would end up re-reading the paragraph.
As a side note, I don't really know if I'd categorize this as a "cozy mystery", which is what my book jacket says - though it also misspells Anne's name. It's a bit darker than most cozies and there's no amateur sleuth character. Additionally, it wasn't much of a whodunnit, where you actively guess who murdered the victim, as much of the story is spent trying to figure out whose body is in the ice house. Don't expect Agatha Christie style clues and hints.