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A review by nnecatrix
An Eye for Murder by Libby Fischer Hellmann
3.0
Book #64 for 2017
Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge: A debut novel
PopSugar's Ultimate Reading Challenge (max. 3):
- An espionage thriller
- A book set in two different time periods
- The first book in a series you haven't read before
GenreLand: November - Mystery
Mt TBR Challenge #19
Better World Books:
- A book set in a place you want to visit (Chicago, Prague)
- A book by a female writer
Follow the Clues: Trail 2, Clue 3
This one is hard to rate. I liked the intriguing premise. I'm a sucker for an inter-generational spy tale. Especially when there are Nazis to punch and/or kill. And the lens of Jewish Chicago was compelling. But I generally felt disoriented while reading this. It came out in 2002, and some of the tech and pop culture references felt right for that. Lots of other details, though, felt distinctly 20th-century. And while I didn't go through and do a timeline, there were quite a few dates and lives and milestones that I couldn't reconcile in my head, so they felt like an incoherent jumble as I was reading. So perhaps this book, once written, didn't get picked up by a publisher for quite some time, attempts were made to update it before publication, and it really needed one more thorough continuity edit that it didn't get.
It could probably have benefited from another general editing round as well. The dialogue felt stiff and self-conscious. Not horribly so, but enough to be distracting. I was also distracted by occasional weirdness of the "but that's not how that works" variety. Or were summer camps where the kids had unfettered access to fax machines an actual Thing in the '90s? And I'm told that there really are people who can tell at a glance who somebody is wearing, but that's just so bizarre to me, and it's not the sort of trait I expect in a Midwestern soccer mom. Well, okay, this Midwestern soccer mom also turns out to be an experienced shoplifter, but we don't find this out until what, halfway through the book, so now we're into pacing problems.
Ellie also seemed unusually dense too often for somebody who was presented as a pretty smart cookie. I had way too many "oh, c'mon" eyeroll moments while reading this.
Overall, though, I did like the book. The story and the settings were interesting, though I think I would have liked more of a look at the wartime action. I wouldn't recommend this to somebody who's going to nitpick like I've done here, but I think a lot of readers would really enjoy this book, particularly if they have an interest in Jewish Chicago.
Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge: A debut novel
PopSugar's Ultimate Reading Challenge (max. 3):
- An espionage thriller
- A book set in two different time periods
- The first book in a series you haven't read before
GenreLand: November - Mystery
Mt TBR Challenge #19
Better World Books:
- A book set in a place you want to visit (Chicago, Prague)
- A book by a female writer
Follow the Clues: Trail 2, Clue 3
This one is hard to rate. I liked the intriguing premise. I'm a sucker for an inter-generational spy tale. Especially when there are Nazis to punch and/or kill. And the lens of Jewish Chicago was compelling. But I generally felt disoriented while reading this. It came out in 2002, and some of the tech and pop culture references felt right for that. Lots of other details, though, felt distinctly 20th-century. And while I didn't go through and do a timeline, there were quite a few dates and lives and milestones that I couldn't reconcile in my head, so they felt like an incoherent jumble as I was reading. So perhaps this book, once written, didn't get picked up by a publisher for quite some time, attempts were made to update it before publication, and it really needed one more thorough continuity edit that it didn't get.
It could probably have benefited from another general editing round as well. The dialogue felt stiff and self-conscious. Not horribly so, but enough to be distracting. I was also distracted by occasional weirdness of the "but that's not how that works" variety. Or were summer camps where the kids had unfettered access to fax machines an actual Thing in the '90s? And I'm told that there really are people who can tell at a glance who somebody is wearing, but that's just so bizarre to me, and it's not the sort of trait I expect in a Midwestern soccer mom. Well, okay, this Midwestern soccer mom also turns out to be an experienced shoplifter, but we don't find this out until what, halfway through the book, so now we're into pacing problems.
Ellie also seemed unusually dense too often for somebody who was presented as a pretty smart cookie. I had way too many "oh, c'mon" eyeroll moments while reading this.
Overall, though, I did like the book. The story and the settings were interesting, though I think I would have liked more of a look at the wartime action. I wouldn't recommend this to somebody who's going to nitpick like I've done here, but I think a lot of readers would really enjoy this book, particularly if they have an interest in Jewish Chicago.