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A review by fleurette
Looking Glass by Andrew Mayne
5.0
Wow, what an excellent thriller. I haven't read the first book in this series, but I will definitely do it now. I just wanted something like that.
This is not a book for people sensitive to cruelty, especially those sensitive to harm to children. But if you don't mind some gruesome elements in your books, you should definitely read this book.
Theo is not your standard detective or even an amateur sleuth, he is above all a scientist. After the events of the first book, he is involved in tracking down the potential terrorists, work he is not satisfied with. Forced to take a break, he decides to solve the case of a boy who went missing years ago. The case turns out to be much more complicated and much larger than it seems at first.
As I said, Theo is primarily a scientist. So, to find a murderer, he uses the modern scientific methods of social sciences and mathematics. I found it incredibly fascinating. I like this classic police work, but when I read something like that I am fascinated by both the idea itself and the amount of work that the author had to do in preparation for writing this book. And I always wonder what the truth is. Which technologies and theories used by Theo are true or at least can actually be used as described in the book. As a result, we get a story completely different from the others. Really unique.
And a very interesting, remarkable hero. Morally ambiguous. This does not mean that Theo has no moral code or goes against social norms. Not at all. Theo has a strong moral code but his own. It is fascinating to observe his moral dilemmas and discover where his boundaries are placed. That is why the narrative in first person that I usually don't like didn’t disturbed me here. Theo's determined, somewhat cynical, sometimes slightly chill voice gave this story an additional, interesting aspect.
In contrast, the case of murders is not so unlike what we can find in other books. Yes, these are terrifying crimes with an interesting side thread, but nothing extraordinary. This absolutely does not mean that the plot is not interesting. This book is so well written that I liked things I usually don't like. Usually I prefer not to know who the killer is and I prefer when the detective's goal is to discover the perpetrator of the crime. And here, we learn a lot about the killer very early. And the whole thing comes down to catching him rather than finding out what happened to the boys. But all this is given in such a remarkable form, and the action is so fast that I was delighted.
I would definitely recommend this book to any thriller fan. This is for sure one of the best books I've read recently. And proof that the book does not have to be excessively long to be excellent and contain a whole lot of twists and turns. I feel like recently the authors of thrillers have fallen into some trend of writing unnecessarily long books. This is an excellent example that it can be done differently.
This is not a book for people sensitive to cruelty, especially those sensitive to harm to children. But if you don't mind some gruesome elements in your books, you should definitely read this book.
Theo is not your standard detective or even an amateur sleuth, he is above all a scientist. After the events of the first book, he is involved in tracking down the potential terrorists, work he is not satisfied with. Forced to take a break, he decides to solve the case of a boy who went missing years ago. The case turns out to be much more complicated and much larger than it seems at first.
As I said, Theo is primarily a scientist. So, to find a murderer, he uses the modern scientific methods of social sciences and mathematics. I found it incredibly fascinating. I like this classic police work, but when I read something like that I am fascinated by both the idea itself and the amount of work that the author had to do in preparation for writing this book. And I always wonder what the truth is. Which technologies and theories used by Theo are true or at least can actually be used as described in the book. As a result, we get a story completely different from the others. Really unique.
And a very interesting, remarkable hero. Morally ambiguous. This does not mean that Theo has no moral code or goes against social norms. Not at all. Theo has a strong moral code but his own. It is fascinating to observe his moral dilemmas and discover where his boundaries are placed. That is why the narrative in first person that I usually don't like didn’t disturbed me here. Theo's determined, somewhat cynical, sometimes slightly chill voice gave this story an additional, interesting aspect.
In contrast, the case of murders is not so unlike what we can find in other books. Yes, these are terrifying crimes with an interesting side thread, but nothing extraordinary. This absolutely does not mean that the plot is not interesting. This book is so well written that I liked things I usually don't like. Usually I prefer not to know who the killer is and I prefer when the detective's goal is to discover the perpetrator of the crime. And here, we learn a lot about the killer very early. And the whole thing comes down to catching him rather than finding out what happened to the boys. But all this is given in such a remarkable form, and the action is so fast that I was delighted.
I would definitely recommend this book to any thriller fan. This is for sure one of the best books I've read recently. And proof that the book does not have to be excessively long to be excellent and contain a whole lot of twists and turns. I feel like recently the authors of thrillers have fallen into some trend of writing unnecessarily long books. This is an excellent example that it can be done differently.