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A review by janiemcpants
Little Face by Sophie Hannah
3.0
I gave this three stars because it was a real page-turner, and I read it in two sittings because I just had to know what happened. The book has a great concept that deserved a better execution.
The blurb on the cover said “for fans of the Dublin Murder Squad”, and I can see that. The dysfunctional family and the asshole cops (complete with solitary female cop who they all treat like crap) did remind me of the DMS books, except the DMS books have more depth and more multidimensional characters.
I have three big issues here:
1. As has been said in many other reviews, the final twist makes no sense. We’re right there in Alice’s head for half the book, so if she knew all along that Little Face was Florence, we should have known, too.
2. There was no closure for David’s plot. David subjects Alice to some pretty horrific abuse, and then we just...never hear about it again. Simon doesn’t even mention it, and you’d think, even if Simon wasn’t really in love with Alice (and I didn’t buy that he was for one second), he’d at least menace him a little bit, or something. I just wanted SOME kind of karma to get him. I think what we were supposed to take from David’s behavior was he was so under his mother’s thumb that he got off on controlling Alice, because that was the one thing he was able to control, but I wish it was more interesting than that. I actually wish David had been involved in the murder plot, or the babies really had been switched and David and Vivienne had been in it together, just because It’s All The Rich Controlling Mother’s Fault has been done to death.
3. There was no closure for Charlie’s plot. I still have no idea what that was all about.
All in all, it did a good job of portraying Alice’s growing panic and frustration, but the characters and motivations could have used a LOT more development. They all just sort of do things for some reason, and then plot happens.
The blurb on the cover said “for fans of the Dublin Murder Squad”, and I can see that. The dysfunctional family and the asshole cops (complete with solitary female cop who they all treat like crap) did remind me of the DMS books, except the DMS books have more depth and more multidimensional characters.
I have three big issues here:
1. As has been said in many other reviews, the final twist makes no sense. We’re right there in Alice’s head for half the book, so if she knew all along that Little Face was Florence, we should have known, too.
2. There was no closure for David’s plot. David subjects Alice to some pretty horrific abuse, and then we just...never hear about it again. Simon doesn’t even mention it, and you’d think, even if Simon wasn’t really in love with Alice (and I didn’t buy that he was for one second), he’d at least menace him a little bit, or something. I just wanted SOME kind of karma to get him. I think what we were supposed to take from David’s behavior was he was so under his mother’s thumb that he got off on controlling Alice, because that was the one thing he was able to control, but I wish it was more interesting than that. I actually wish David had been involved in the murder plot, or the babies really had been switched and David and Vivienne had been in it together, just because It’s All The Rich Controlling Mother’s Fault has been done to death.
3. There was no closure for Charlie’s plot. I still have no idea what that was all about.
All in all, it did a good job of portraying Alice’s growing panic and frustration, but the characters and motivations could have used a LOT more development. They all just sort of do things for some reason, and then plot happens.