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A review by kandicez
The Prodigal Son by Colleen McCullough
3.0
I keep reading McCullough because I love her ideas and I keep waiting for her to...I don't know, get better, I guess. She's been ill and had surgeries for crazy things that seem would make it impossible to write, but she keeps churning them out!
I really enjoy these (not quite old enough to be called historical) police procedurals. This is the 4th in a series centered around Captain Carmine Delmonico, set in the 1960's at Chubb University in Holloman.
The characters are great and the the plot twists are terrific. The problem with these books is that she seems unable to flesh them out. There are clues along the way and you can certainly "solve along with" the detectives, but there are glimmers of greatness that just don't play out. There isn't enough detail.
This one ends with something of a twist, shoving in your face who you knew had to be the killer all along, but throwing in a few tragic reveals that change your feelings (at least mine) for the main characters involved in the central "crime". McCullough strives to mislead you the entire novel, only to circle back around.
We get a few more details about Carmine's personal life which is the unifying thread through the series, but not many. There is just enough about him to provide the excuse to call this a series. A bit like the "In Death..." series by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts). You need familiar characters to root for, but the novel isn't about them. They are anchors more than characters.
I have the next in the series waiting to be read, but I am almost over looking for the greatness I once expected from her novels and now am reduced to settling for hints of what that greatness could have been had she written these novels a decade or so ago.
I really enjoy these (not quite old enough to be called historical) police procedurals. This is the 4th in a series centered around Captain Carmine Delmonico, set in the 1960's at Chubb University in Holloman.
The characters are great and the the plot twists are terrific. The problem with these books is that she seems unable to flesh them out. There are clues along the way and you can certainly "solve along with" the detectives, but there are glimmers of greatness that just don't play out. There isn't enough detail.
This one ends with something of a twist, shoving in your face who you knew had to be the killer all along, but throwing in a few tragic reveals that change your feelings (at least mine) for the main characters involved in the central "crime". McCullough strives to mislead you the entire novel, only to circle back around.
We get a few more details about Carmine's personal life which is the unifying thread through the series, but not many. There is just enough about him to provide the excuse to call this a series. A bit like the "In Death..." series by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts). You need familiar characters to root for, but the novel isn't about them. They are anchors more than characters.
I have the next in the series waiting to be read, but I am almost over looking for the greatness I once expected from her novels and now am reduced to settling for hints of what that greatness could have been had she written these novels a decade or so ago.