A crime thriller about some chap who gets nailed in a horrific murder, leaving behind his estranged wife.
I found the first 30 pages a difficult read, the plot did not progress very far and there were too many characters, all of which were pretty indistinct off the shelf standard characters.
There is the brilliant but mentally scarred detective, the cold but alluring (to the detective) wife of the victim. The angry boss who tries to keep the brilliant but maverick detective off the case. All are stereotypical components of the TV police drama, which doesn’t offer anything exciting or distinct for the reader.
The novel is based in Liverpool, namedropping Aintree, Bootle etc. If you haven’t been to any of these places then there was not enough descriptive writing to give a distinct image of the locations. This novel could have been based anywhere, the narration sounds more fitting to a USA than Liverpool setting.
The moments when the reader should feel shock did not work. The part about Mathews testicles being nailed to the floor could well have been shopping in ikea. The characters responses to finding a freshly tortured dead body did not add any shock value, in fact the character progressed straight to anger by stabbing the floor repeatedly, why?
This may work as a screenplay for a detective drama. But as a novel more work needs to be done to accomplish an enjoyable read.
I don’t want a copy of this book.
I found the first 30 pages a difficult read, the plot did not progress very far and there were too many characters, all of which were pretty indistinct off the shelf standard characters.
There is the brilliant but mentally scarred detective, the cold but alluring (to the detective) wife of the victim. The angry boss who tries to keep the brilliant but maverick detective off the case. All are stereotypical components of the TV police drama, which doesn’t offer anything exciting or distinct for the reader.
The novel is based in Liverpool, namedropping Aintree, Bootle etc. If you haven’t been to any of these places then there was not enough descriptive writing to give a distinct image of the locations. This novel could have been based anywhere, the narration sounds more fitting to a USA than Liverpool setting.
The moments when the reader should feel shock did not work. The part about Mathews testicles being nailed to the floor could well have been shopping in ikea. The characters responses to finding a freshly tortured dead body did not add any shock value, in fact the character progressed straight to anger by stabbing the floor repeatedly, why?
This may work as a screenplay for a detective drama. But as a novel more work needs to be done to accomplish an enjoyable read.
I don’t want a copy of this book.