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A review by litwithleigh
The Darkest Place by Jo Spain
4.0
3.5 rounded up
One sentence review: Another strong book bar the hair on skulls (#triggered) and fatphobic comments
SYNOPSIS
DI Tom Reynolds is assigned a 40-year-old cold case after the missing person is found in a mass grave at a former psychiatric hospital.
MY OPINION
I am a sucker for an old psych ward. I visited the psych ward where The One That Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was filmed and it was eerie but fascinating. Also part of it is still running? My religious Filipina mother was NOT vibing I'll tell you that LOL.
Anyways, although I love a psych ward, I'm not a fan of cold cases. I know yeetage of disbelief is required, but how the cases are often solved is waaaay too contrived for me. Especially when it comes down to key witnesses remembering NEW things. I know not everyone has a swiss cheese brain, but there ain't one moment in my life that I can look back on and remember MORE clearly than I could five years ago. Absolutely not. BUT I found this was well done for the most part. There were no forgotten memories unearthed, but rather new crimes bringing old crimes to live. And some good ole fashion forensic science.
I'm kicking myself for not seeing the twisty twist earlier. When will I learn I'm not a huge fan of the ending. I'll just leave it at that. I really didn't like the tufts of hair attached to skulls... CMON NOW!!! And the author's fatphobic comments continue. I haven't read one book in this series that isn't blatantly and unnecessarily fatphobic. Funny how when a fat character eats a strip of bacon they're at risk of keeling over from a heart attack right there and then, but when Dr. Linda deep throats enough croissants to feed a French army, her appetite is to be celebrated.
All in all, I shall continue with this series. I love the cases and the dry humor is quite LOL. The prose is solid as well. If only she could get rid of the fatphobia and not go so off da rails at the end. She doesn't quite Sharon Bolton it thankfully, but still. It's hard to find a novel with a solid ending.
PROS AND CONS
Pros: great writing, love the wit, character dynamics are great, case was juicy
Cons: fatphobic comment, contrived af ending... major eye roll!!!
One sentence review: Another strong book bar the hair on skulls (#triggered) and fatphobic comments
SYNOPSIS
DI Tom Reynolds is assigned a 40-year-old cold case after the missing person is found in a mass grave at a former psychiatric hospital.
MY OPINION
I am a sucker for an old psych ward. I visited the psych ward where The One That Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was filmed and it was eerie but fascinating. Also part of it is still running? My religious Filipina mother was NOT vibing I'll tell you that LOL.
Anyways, although I love a psych ward, I'm not a fan of cold cases. I know yeetage of disbelief is required, but how the cases are often solved is waaaay too contrived for me. Especially when it comes down to key witnesses remembering NEW things. I know not everyone has a swiss cheese brain, but there ain't one moment in my life that I can look back on and remember MORE clearly than I could five years ago. Absolutely not. BUT I found this was well done for the most part. There were no forgotten memories unearthed, but rather new crimes bringing old crimes to live. And some good ole fashion forensic science.
I'm kicking myself for not seeing the twisty twist earlier. When will I learn
Spoiler
to never trust a diary ???All in all, I shall continue with this series. I love the cases and the dry humor is quite LOL. The prose is solid as well. If only she could get rid of the fatphobia and not go so off da rails at the end. She doesn't quite Sharon Bolton it thankfully, but still. It's hard to find a novel with a solid ending.
PROS AND CONS
Pros: great writing, love the wit, character dynamics are great, case was juicy
Cons: fatphobic comment, contrived af ending... major eye roll!!!