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A review by emilyusuallyreading
Flower Net by Lisa See
3.0
What I Liked
Lisa See is an incredible writer and she can tackle any genre with skill. Flower Net is a pop culture mystery novel and it fits into that genre in almost every way, but for something of that genre, it is very well done.
One of See's best tricks in her writing is that she reveals things about characters that they never realized before but that were there all along. This does take place in Flower Net. It's more clumsily done than in her later works of historical fiction, but I still recognized See in this trait and I enjoyed it.
The gruesome murders (such as the scene on the boat) were shocking, but well-written. See doesn't leave out things just because they make your stomach churn... and that's part of what makes a good murder mystery.
What I Didn't Like
The romance. This would be my number one complain about the novel. Hulan and David have had zero contact in TEN years. And yet they fall back into each other's arms at the drop of a hat and have apparently been madly in love for the last decade. It doesn't work for me at all.
The bad guys. There was a typical monologue at the end and that let the mystery clean up nicely... in my opinion, the best mystery novels are when there is a hint of a bad guy and a hint of evil still lingering. No matter how many bad guys are killed or locked up, there is evil in the world, and things don't stitch up nice and neat in real life.
Lisa See is an incredible writer and she can tackle any genre with skill. Flower Net is a pop culture mystery novel and it fits into that genre in almost every way, but for something of that genre, it is very well done.
One of See's best tricks in her writing is that she reveals things about characters that they never realized before but that were there all along. This does take place in Flower Net. It's more clumsily done than in her later works of historical fiction, but I still recognized See in this trait and I enjoyed it.
The gruesome murders (such as the scene on the boat) were shocking, but well-written. See doesn't leave out things just because they make your stomach churn... and that's part of what makes a good murder mystery.
What I Didn't Like
The romance. This would be my number one complain about the novel. Hulan and David have had zero contact in TEN years. And yet they fall back into each other's arms at the drop of a hat and have apparently been madly in love for the last decade. It doesn't work for me at all.
The bad guys. There was a typical monologue at the end and