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A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
Naked Cruelty by Colleen McCullough
2.0
‘It had been an upsetting day, and the only cure was sleep’
This novel is set in America in 1968, in the Connecticut town of Holloman. In the suburb of Carew, a number of women have fallen victim to a vicious and systematic rapist, but each of them has been too afraid to involve the police. When the latest victim finds the courage to speak out, the next victim is murdered. For Captain Carmine Delmonico, this case has come at a difficult time. The Holloman Police Department has its own problems, including an ambitious new trainee – Helen McIntosh – who just happens to be the daughter of the president of the Chubb University. The killer is escalating, and Delmonico and his team draw on every resource available to them: including the group of locals known as the Gentlemen Walkers.
This is the third of a series to feature Captain Carmine Delmonico. I enjoyed the first in the series, somehow missed the second, and did not enjoy this one. Why? The style of speech, for many of the characters, seemed incongruent to me and the frequent use of exclamation marks irritated. This would have mattered less if the story kept my attention but generally it didn’t. For me, the characters overwhelmed the plot and the moments of high drama appeared close to farce.
By the end of the story, I wasn’t sure whether I’d taken it too seriously, or perhaps not seriously enough. There’s humour here, but somehow it didn’t work for me this time round.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
This novel is set in America in 1968, in the Connecticut town of Holloman. In the suburb of Carew, a number of women have fallen victim to a vicious and systematic rapist, but each of them has been too afraid to involve the police. When the latest victim finds the courage to speak out, the next victim is murdered. For Captain Carmine Delmonico, this case has come at a difficult time. The Holloman Police Department has its own problems, including an ambitious new trainee – Helen McIntosh – who just happens to be the daughter of the president of the Chubb University. The killer is escalating, and Delmonico and his team draw on every resource available to them: including the group of locals known as the Gentlemen Walkers.
This is the third of a series to feature Captain Carmine Delmonico. I enjoyed the first in the series, somehow missed the second, and did not enjoy this one. Why? The style of speech, for many of the characters, seemed incongruent to me and the frequent use of exclamation marks irritated. This would have mattered less if the story kept my attention but generally it didn’t. For me, the characters overwhelmed the plot and the moments of high drama appeared close to farce.
By the end of the story, I wasn’t sure whether I’d taken it too seriously, or perhaps not seriously enough. There’s humour here, but somehow it didn’t work for me this time round.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith