Good Friday was my first Lynda La Plante novel, and I’ve never watched Prime Suspect, but of course I was aware of the popularity of that series and of the main character, Jane Tennison.
This is the third book in the Jane Tennison thriller series which covers her early police career, but it worked fine as a standalone narrative, despite references to earlier events.
Given the author’s reputation I was surprised at how mundane parts of the story were, seemingly padded with unnecessary details (the outfits worn by each character) and explanations. Much of the dialogue sounded unnatural; even when Jane was describing to her concerned father her experience of the aftermath of an explosion it came over more like a report than a daughter’s confidences.
On the other hand La Plante was good at evoking feelings like nerves on the first day of a new job or the irritation caused by a difficult flatmate.
I wasn’t taken in by a plot red herring, but, just as I was concluding that the story probably needed actors to bring it to life, the finale turned out to be genuinely exciting.
The number of mistakes in the text including sentences that didn’t scan, grammatical and spelling errors, was an irritation. There was even a lack of clarity in the final chapter as to which senior officer was expecting Jane in his office next day.
I suspect Good Friday will be popular with existing fans keen to hear more of Jane Tennison’s back story, but it didn’t make a new fan of me.
This is the third book in the Jane Tennison thriller series which covers her early police career, but it worked fine as a standalone narrative, despite references to earlier events.
Given the author’s reputation I was surprised at how mundane parts of the story were, seemingly padded with unnecessary details (the outfits worn by each character) and explanations. Much of the dialogue sounded unnatural; even when Jane was describing to her concerned father her experience of the aftermath of an explosion it came over more like a report than a daughter’s confidences.
On the other hand La Plante was good at evoking feelings like nerves on the first day of a new job or the irritation caused by a difficult flatmate.
I wasn’t taken in by a plot red herring, but, just as I was concluding that the story probably needed actors to bring it to life, the finale turned out to be genuinely exciting.
The number of mistakes in the text including sentences that didn’t scan, grammatical and spelling errors, was an irritation. There was even a lack of clarity in the final chapter as to which senior officer was expecting Jane in his office next day.
I suspect Good Friday will be popular with existing fans keen to hear more of Jane Tennison’s back story, but it didn’t make a new fan of me.