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foxonabook 's review for:
Hear No Evil
by Sarah Smith
CAWPILE Rating:
- Characters: 5/10
- Atmosphere: 5/10
- Writing: 5/10
- Plot: 7/10
- Intrigue: 7/10
- Logic: 7/10
- Enjoyment: 7.5/10
Total Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Review:
While I'm a fan of historical fiction, I don't really tend to read crime novels (which is how my library classified this in their catalogue), but I was excited to be pushed out of my comfort zone when this was chosen for the online book club that I recently joined.
I really enjoyed exploring 19th-century Edinburgh and Glasgow but I wish we got a better sense of how loud, busy, smelly, or clean the locations were. Although the book gave a good sense of a location’s layout and the building’s states, I didn’t really feel fully immersed in the location. With that said, I enjoyed looking up old maps of the areas described in the book so I could properly situate where the characters were. This took me down a rabbit hole, learning about Edinburgh and Leith’s history.
The characters were interesting too but I felt that they were lacking depth. Both Robert and Jean felt like characters I was acquainted with despite the fact that they were the central characters, and by the time I’d finished the book, I didn’t have a clear sense of why Robert was motivated to go so far out of his way to help Jean nor did I feel like that was any real character development. Maybe that’s what’s to be expected from crime books, but I enjoy books more when the characters are multidimensional or lifelike.
I thought the plot was really good and it kept me wanting to read more. In spite of the unclear character motivations, I was intrigued by the whodunnit and, more importantly, the why though the latter didn't really get explored much.
I can’t really articulate this, but I thought the writing was mediocre. I suppose some of it is explained above with the added comment that I felt that the writing leaned more towards telling rather than showing. I think the short chapters and the mix of flashbacks and present-day perspectives worked well in terms of slowly unravelling the events, however I thought the pacing slowed down a little after we found out who killed Jean’s baby. I suppose the real reveal is what happened on the bridge rather than the circumstances of the baby's death. With regards to the court case, I liked that there wasn’t a typical ‘the hero pulls off an impossible feat and saves the day’ type of resolution, but I did think the author rushed tying up the loose ends afterward.
Despite the shortcomings, I did enjoy the book and managed to finish it in four days.
- Characters: 5/10
- Atmosphere: 5/10
- Writing: 5/10
- Plot: 7/10
- Intrigue: 7/10
- Logic: 7/10
- Enjoyment: 7.5/10
Total Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Review:
While I'm a fan of historical fiction, I don't really tend to read crime novels (which is how my library classified this in their catalogue), but I was excited to be pushed out of my comfort zone when this was chosen for the online book club that I recently joined.
I really enjoyed exploring 19th-century Edinburgh and Glasgow but I wish we got a better sense of how loud, busy, smelly, or clean the locations were. Although the book gave a good sense of a location’s layout and the building’s states, I didn’t really feel fully immersed in the location. With that said, I enjoyed looking up old maps of the areas described in the book so I could properly situate where the characters were. This took me down a rabbit hole, learning about Edinburgh and Leith’s history.
The characters were interesting too but I felt that they were lacking depth. Both Robert and Jean felt like characters I was acquainted with despite the fact that they were the central characters, and by the time I’d finished the book, I didn’t have a clear sense of why Robert was motivated to go so far out of his way to help Jean nor did I feel like that was any real character development. Maybe that’s what’s to be expected from crime books, but I enjoy books more when the characters are multidimensional or lifelike.
I thought the plot was really good and it kept me wanting to read more. In spite of the unclear character motivations, I was intrigued by the whodunnit and, more importantly, the why though the latter didn't really get explored much.
I can’t really articulate this, but I thought the writing was mediocre. I suppose some of it is explained above with the added comment that I felt that the writing leaned more towards telling rather than showing. I think the short chapters and the mix of flashbacks and present-day perspectives worked well in terms of slowly unravelling the events, however I thought the pacing slowed down a little after we found out who killed Jean’s baby. I suppose the real reveal is what happened on the bridge rather than the circumstances of the baby's death. With regards to the court case, I liked that there wasn’t a typical ‘the hero pulls off an impossible feat and saves the day’ type of resolution, but I did think the author rushed tying up the loose ends afterward.
Despite the shortcomings, I did enjoy the book and managed to finish it in four days.