A book about the brutal murder of an attractive celebrity female, sounds good yes? I enjoyed the descriptive parts about Ireland, but the plot didn’t captivate me and the characters didn’t shine.
The author having come from Cork describes what I imagine Cork looks like really well. But the structure of the book didn’t work for me. Beginning with a person in bulky clothes and a balaclava standing over a sleeping lady, knife at the ready. The description of the murderer is pretty basic and doesn’t evoke the emotional charge of her/his presence. Murderer flicks her nose to wake her, scary? not really. Then the author describes each swipe of the blade, its not clinical, but its not lavish with spraying blood either, theres no shock or fear.
Once that is over with, the end of the book? no, we rewind, I didn’t enjoy this part. It turns out that the dead celebrity had chosen a specific holiday cottage to retrieve a book with evidence in it, escaping her husband. The manager Andy and/or some female associated with him was spying on her throughout this, he also witnessed the murder with his spy camera, which we will no doubt be treated to later on. But I didn’t find any kind of interest in the celebrity, she didn’t stand out as pretty as mentioned when we fast forward. Yes, we go back forward in time to a newspaper reporter who will track her down, this one a bit more gritty and interesting, but still not enough to captivate. There were two references to flat whites through this third phase of this extract, that was the most interesting part.
I dont think that it helps in comparing this book to the film Psycho, where the suspence slowly enveloped you until the fear fueled a sense of nausia, undeterred with a strong refusal to turn away. This is what I would have liked to have seen reflected in the writing. Im not so interested in a book similar to Basic Insinct, but Andy watching his laptop with a tub of vaseline coated wipes on standby doesnt fill me hope.
I like the cover of the book, but I can see where its going and I have lost interest. This could improve to be sure, I could be wrong and the characters could grow, but I’m not willing to proceed any further with this one, the characters and time shifting didn’t work for me.
The author having come from Cork describes what I imagine Cork looks like really well. But the structure of the book didn’t work for me. Beginning with a person in bulky clothes and a balaclava standing over a sleeping lady, knife at the ready. The description of the murderer is pretty basic and doesn’t evoke the emotional charge of her/his presence. Murderer flicks her nose to wake her, scary? not really. Then the author describes each swipe of the blade, its not clinical, but its not lavish with spraying blood either, theres no shock or fear.
Once that is over with, the end of the book? no, we rewind, I didn’t enjoy this part. It turns out that the dead celebrity had chosen a specific holiday cottage to retrieve a book with evidence in it, escaping her husband. The manager Andy and/or some female associated with him was spying on her throughout this, he also witnessed the murder with his spy camera, which we will no doubt be treated to later on. But I didn’t find any kind of interest in the celebrity, she didn’t stand out as pretty as mentioned when we fast forward. Yes, we go back forward in time to a newspaper reporter who will track her down, this one a bit more gritty and interesting, but still not enough to captivate. There were two references to flat whites through this third phase of this extract, that was the most interesting part.
I dont think that it helps in comparing this book to the film Psycho, where the suspence slowly enveloped you until the fear fueled a sense of nausia, undeterred with a strong refusal to turn away. This is what I would have liked to have seen reflected in the writing. Im not so interested in a book similar to Basic Insinct, but Andy watching his laptop with a tub of vaseline coated wipes on standby doesnt fill me hope.
I like the cover of the book, but I can see where its going and I have lost interest. This could improve to be sure, I could be wrong and the characters could grow, but I’m not willing to proceed any further with this one, the characters and time shifting didn’t work for me.