I must admit that I struggled with the first third/half of this novel.
I love a good crime novel and whilst the opening was brilliant the pace of the novel did then slow for a while, and the two view points took me a little while to adjust too, as neither of the main character POV's are your typical alpha types, and the mildness and to a point the lack of depth was switching me off a tad.
Thank god it didn't fully though, because around half way G.R Halliday emerges from the shadows and starts writing a proper murder crime book, filled with dis-likable characters and changing perspectives that kept myself as the reader completely in the dark as to who was behind the disappearance and murder of young boys in the Scottish highlands.
There's a number of shady figures,policemen and social workers implicated or involved with danger and threat popping up alongside the mystery periodically.
I would have liked a bit more detail on this setting, as at times it seems more secondary to the story, but when you consider the motives of the murders and the astronomy again it does all tie in at the end.
Ultimately I was pleased I stuck with it because I flew through the final third trying to second guess who the real killer was, and what the motivations were.
The character's themselves aren't always great and the plot falters at the start but the ending more than makes up for it and I loved the final little hint of an unanswered question of what happened to the remaining missing boy Nichol.
I love a good crime novel and whilst the opening was brilliant the pace of the novel did then slow for a while, and the two view points took me a little while to adjust too, as neither of the main character POV's are your typical alpha types, and the mildness and to a point the lack of depth was switching me off a tad.
Thank god it didn't fully though, because around half way G.R Halliday emerges from the shadows and starts writing a proper murder crime book, filled with dis-likable characters and changing perspectives that kept myself as the reader completely in the dark as to who was behind the disappearance and murder of young boys in the Scottish highlands.
There's a number of shady figures,policemen and social workers implicated or involved with danger and threat popping up alongside the mystery periodically.
I would have liked a bit more detail on this setting, as at times it seems more secondary to the story, but when you consider the motives of the murders and the astronomy again it does all tie in at the end.
Ultimately I was pleased I stuck with it because I flew through the final third trying to second guess who the real killer was, and what the motivations were.
The character's themselves aren't always great and the plot falters at the start but the ending more than makes up for it and I loved the final little hint of an unanswered question of what happened to the remaining missing boy Nichol.