A review by katevane
A Kiss Before Killing by Keith McCarthy

3.0

I picked this up because I'd previously read and enjoyed [b:The Silent Sleep of the Dying|28283688|The Silent Sleep of the Dying|Keith McCarthy|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1450910646s/28283688.jpg|3251421] and was interested to revisit Eisenmenger some years on.

Sadly, this for me isn't as strong a novel. It feels a little rushed, like it's an early draft.

The strengths - the pace, the detailed portrayal of the hospital/medical world and the author's willingness to populate his books with unlikeable characters!

The weaknesses - I struggle with the trope of pulling an indispensable cop (or in this case pathologist) out of retirement. I felt there was one massive hole in the plot and a number of smaller things that were set up but not paid off. We didn't really get a clear sense of the killer's motivation.

Having said that, I'd give this series another go because of the quality of the first book I read.
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I received a copy of A Kiss Before Killing from the publisher via Netgalley.