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A review by laschipa
Close Quarters by Angus McAllister
2.0
This started out strong but wandered off the mark for me. The various backstories of possible suspects gave a lot of flavour to the characters but not a lot of connect to the main mystery of who killed the one tenant that everyone hated. It felt like the author was writing a tv series, fleshing out secondary and even tertiary character arcs to fill hours of running time. I'm surprised I finished it.
SPOILERS!!!
And in finishing it, it was not satisfying at all. At no point did we get the backstory of the actual murderer (his wife, whom I easily suspected from the beginning). We get only the subtle hints in the text that might have worked in a visual medium, like tv where an actor could show us more of what was going on there. This wasn't enough to really make this compelling. I skimmed much of the book after about the halfway point, just trying to glean the important bits so I can get to the end. I do not like to read this way, hence my disappointment.
I suppose if you like a long, drawn out, meandering story about a bunch of random people who happen to live in the same building in the West End of Glasgow, then you might enjoy this one. But if you're interested in the slow unfolding of even a slightly complex mystery, this is not the book for you.
SPOILERS!!!
And in finishing it, it was not satisfying at all. At no point did we get the backstory of the actual murderer (his wife, whom I easily suspected from the beginning). We get only the subtle hints in the text that might have worked in a visual medium, like tv where an actor could show us more of what was going on there. This wasn't enough to really make this compelling. I skimmed much of the book after about the halfway point, just trying to glean the important bits so I can get to the end. I do not like to read this way, hence my disappointment.
I suppose if you like a long, drawn out, meandering story about a bunch of random people who happen to live in the same building in the West End of Glasgow, then you might enjoy this one. But if you're interested in the slow unfolding of even a slightly complex mystery, this is not the book for you.