I don't even know where to begin with this car crash.
I've never read a Tennison book before and after this instalment I don't feel like I've missed out. This works as a stand alone book but then I don't think I enjoyed it as a stand alone book either. The good reviews so far seem to be mostly fans of this series already. I haven't read or watched any of the series so far and I can firmly say after reading Good Friday I definitely don't want to again.
Firstly the writing is appalling! I have to admit my use of English is not outstanding and I found a lot of errors in this book. The style is generally unappealing. There's very little attempt to create tension and suspense. Even when the scenario would naturally be very tense e.g. Disposing of bombs....Lynda La Plante seemed to make it dull?! The writing was clunky and matter of fact. This killed it for me. The whole point in reading is to ignite our imagination but this book did the opposite. For example "Jane went into the bathroom. The shower unit was attached to the bath taps, and there was a small, plastic curtained rail around the bath. She turned on the shower and hurried into her bedroom to decide what to wear. The Coronatiob Stree theme tune echoed from the spare bedroom..." that's a really great description....of a shower. That added great value to the story. I've never noticed what a shower looked like before....this unnecessary description happens a lot!!
Moving along from the terrible writing style we approach the terrible story, which again, had a whole load of errors:
[1] Towards the beginning of the story a Spanish individual is arrested. Instead of offering an interpreter (welcome to the real world)....No. the police rely on Jane. Who only achieved (dodgy) A-Level Spanish. Many many years ago. Excuse me but that's not reliable and definitely not good policing.
[2] Confidentiality clearly doesn't apply to this police force. E.g. "....''Are you a relative of one of the patients?'
'No.' The man peered past Jane. 'Is that elderly woman one of the bomb victims?'
Jane moved from the bedside astonished at the man's rudeness. 'Yes, she is, and she's in a coma.'"
[3] To begin with this elderly woman is only known by here first name. But the police are requested to allow only relatives to visit her whilst in the hospital. Makes perfect sense. How would they know who's family or not if they don't even know the surname? How would family know she was there? Great story telling again. Great continuity.
[4] Janes date with Michael. So Michael is an ON-CALL nurse. Whilst ON-CALL he happily chugs half a bottle of wine. Then goes straight to work due to an emergency. I'd be very happy if the nurse I'd just called into work was inebriated. Nobody is that stupid. (I hope!)
[5] Towards the end they are reviewing evidence against a suspect using a phone box. They discuss the retrieval of fingerprints to help identify this female. Although in a previous witness statement this female is described as wearing black leather gloves. Talk about wasting police time. Good luck finding any fingerprints. Yet another contradiction. There are so many I'd basically quote the entire book cover to cover.
[6] The story was predictable. There is no attempt to hide character involvements. We could see from the moment Jane met the individuals that Pearl and Natalie would be involved in criminal activity at some point in the book. This is highlighted multiple times when every police officer says to Jane "Make sure you get your housemate vetted by the police"....just point to the criminal why don't you?
[7] Every police officer is boring. Did anybody finish the book and remember the difference between Church and Stanly? I didn't. Did any of these characters have any personality? Nope!
In other words, I don't recommend this book.
As they say "life is too short to read bad books".
I've never read a Tennison book before and after this instalment I don't feel like I've missed out. This works as a stand alone book but then I don't think I enjoyed it as a stand alone book either. The good reviews so far seem to be mostly fans of this series already. I haven't read or watched any of the series so far and I can firmly say after reading Good Friday I definitely don't want to again.
Firstly the writing is appalling! I have to admit my use of English is not outstanding and I found a lot of errors in this book. The style is generally unappealing. There's very little attempt to create tension and suspense. Even when the scenario would naturally be very tense e.g. Disposing of bombs....Lynda La Plante seemed to make it dull?! The writing was clunky and matter of fact. This killed it for me. The whole point in reading is to ignite our imagination but this book did the opposite. For example "Jane went into the bathroom. The shower unit was attached to the bath taps, and there was a small, plastic curtained rail around the bath. She turned on the shower and hurried into her bedroom to decide what to wear. The Coronatiob Stree theme tune echoed from the spare bedroom..." that's a really great description....of a shower. That added great value to the story. I've never noticed what a shower looked like before....this unnecessary description happens a lot!!
Moving along from the terrible writing style we approach the terrible story, which again, had a whole load of errors:
[1] Towards the beginning of the story a Spanish individual is arrested. Instead of offering an interpreter (welcome to the real world)....No. the police rely on Jane. Who only achieved (dodgy) A-Level Spanish. Many many years ago. Excuse me but that's not reliable and definitely not good policing.
[2] Confidentiality clearly doesn't apply to this police force. E.g. "....''Are you a relative of one of the patients?'
'No.' The man peered past Jane. 'Is that elderly woman one of the bomb victims?'
Jane moved from the bedside astonished at the man's rudeness. 'Yes, she is, and she's in a coma.'"
[3] To begin with this elderly woman is only known by here first name. But the police are requested to allow only relatives to visit her whilst in the hospital. Makes perfect sense. How would they know who's family or not if they don't even know the surname? How would family know she was there? Great story telling again. Great continuity.
[4] Janes date with Michael. So Michael is an ON-CALL nurse. Whilst ON-CALL he happily chugs half a bottle of wine. Then goes straight to work due to an emergency. I'd be very happy if the nurse I'd just called into work was inebriated. Nobody is that stupid. (I hope!)
[5] Towards the end they are reviewing evidence against a suspect using a phone box. They discuss the retrieval of fingerprints to help identify this female. Although in a previous witness statement this female is described as wearing black leather gloves. Talk about wasting police time. Good luck finding any fingerprints. Yet another contradiction. There are so many I'd basically quote the entire book cover to cover.
[6] The story was predictable. There is no attempt to hide character involvements. We could see from the moment Jane met the individuals that Pearl and Natalie would be involved in criminal activity at some point in the book. This is highlighted multiple times when every police officer says to Jane "Make sure you get your housemate vetted by the police"....just point to the criminal why don't you?
[7] Every police officer is boring. Did anybody finish the book and remember the difference between Church and Stanly? I didn't. Did any of these characters have any personality? Nope!
In other words, I don't recommend this book.
As they say "life is too short to read bad books".