A review by rebelbelle13
Lost Birds by Anne Hillerman

emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

 

I hate to say this, but this... wasn't great. My gripes are primarily due to too many main characters with very little warning when the setting and perspective shifts, too many characters to remember, and too many plots to keep track of with too little time spent on each one. Not to mention that when it's obvious who the murderer is, the police can't seem to figure it out. The author should have picked two main characters to focus on at most, and two to three main storylines. The individual stories weren't given enough time or room to breathe or stay with the reader. We didn't get enough backstory to care about any of the side characters or why the MCs were helping them, or why the reader should care about their plights. A storyline about finding a birth family could easily have been solved by a DNA test, but conveniently, the character wanted nothing to do with that method until the story was resolved- and then, it was ok. A thread about wild dogs attacking sheep was left dangling (why include it in the first place?) and a witness with key evidence kept "remembering" information at a trickle, presumably to draw out the plot to a full size novel.
This novel honestly just makes me want to go back and read Hillerman's original books, before his daughter took over. It wasn't awful, but really could have used another round of editing.