The first impression and the first third of Temple House Vanishing, were really good. It drew me in, and it foreshadowed a lot of the plot and set up a great deal of the recurring themes in quite subtle ways.
Unfortunately once I was past that and really into what should be the meat of the story I found it incredibly hard to remain focused on the story, I put the book down and returned to it later, and found it no easier. The sad truth is that after such a dynamic opener and setting the scene the pace just drops away from this story.
Themes and ideas are repeated over and over, until done to death. How many times and how many ways did the author need to demonstrate the realtionships between the lead characters? It wasn't adding mystery it was dull, and the plot and the dialogue I felt were trying too hard to be clever and encompass ideals to the point you could quite easily skim this book.
The actual mystery of the disappearance and investigation by the journalist is a tiny portion of a novel, and one that comes to a pretty clear and obvious conclusion(Although I did like how in hindsight the opening and the ending are tied together)
All in all this could have been great, but to me felt a tad laboured and I didn't enjoy reading it.
Unfortunately once I was past that and really into what should be the meat of the story I found it incredibly hard to remain focused on the story, I put the book down and returned to it later, and found it no easier. The sad truth is that after such a dynamic opener and setting the scene the pace just drops away from this story.
Themes and ideas are repeated over and over, until done to death. How many times and how many ways did the author need to demonstrate the realtionships between the lead characters? It wasn't adding mystery it was dull, and the plot and the dialogue I felt were trying too hard to be clever and encompass ideals to the point you could quite easily skim this book.
The actual mystery of the disappearance and investigation by the journalist is a tiny portion of a novel, and one that comes to a pretty clear and obvious conclusion(Although I did like how in hindsight the opening and the ending are tied together)
All in all this could have been great, but to me felt a tad laboured and I didn't enjoy reading it.