nanvazq 's review for:

A Test of Wills by Charles Todd

3.0

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A 3.5 for me. This is the first book in another mystery series I decided to try based on the books Chelsea Clinton mentioned in a recent NYT interview. (Clearly, she's a big mystery fan.) Given the post World War I England setting, "A Test of Wills" reminded me a bit of the Maisie Dobbs series but this time the detective, Ian Rutledge, is a Scotland Yard inspector who's returned to duty after treatment for PTSD. The only trouble is, despite the best efforts of his doctors, he's still hearing voices--or more specifically one voice, that of his dead Scottish sergeant, who also seems to double as Rutledge's conscience. That voice is about the only companion the detective has left, since he's been abandoned by the love of his life who found his post-war transformation too frightening to bear. He spends much of the book wondering if he's still a good detective or if his sixth sense for figuring out who-done-it is another casualty of the war. Although I liked Rutledge (and rather enjoyed the Sergeant's voice) many of the secondary characters felt one-dimensional. And there's no evidence yet of a world of characters for Rutledge to interact with. I may try the next one, in hopes it will avoid the overly elegiac tone that plagues the Maisie Dobbs series.