A review by theredqueenlinnea
Every Dead Thing by John Connolly

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Genuinely good writing, cohesive mystery, and a lot of good fun in the small details. Coffee everywhere, lol. While I enjoyed it to a degree, I had some complaints. Some of the subplots strung out too long, the women characters or memory of some were underdeveloped and the entire book had an under layer of classic detective/hardened sexism when idealizing women. It just felt weak and predictable. I also am not a huge fan of thrillers that try to be too heady when the characters aren’t written in a way to match that. Seemed like everyone in the FBI/police force was a literary connoisseur and read mid tier poetry. I also felt like the narrator was weirdly developed. He fell prey to the common protagonist issue of being a man of all trades. For a first novel, this is ambitious and done well but has that sense of immaturity in character development I hope he develops.