I had yet to read a book by Angela Marsons, although I had heard very good things from her from several people. Unfortunately this perhaps isn't the best book to showcase her talents. This is a perfectly acceptable, fairly interesting crime thriller but I was not blown out of the water by it. The plot starts off quite gripping and I like most of what it does but the biggest problem by far is the writing.
For starters, this book is far too long. It could have easily been condensed without losing anything and that might have helped with me being engaged with the plot. The author also has the annoying habit which I call 'the Goosebumps effect'. That is, often a chapter will end on an artificial cliffhanger, created only by people acting like no one ever has in real life. For example, one point a character says something along the lines of 'And you won't believe what I'm about to tell you'. Who would ever say that? Why wouldn't someone just say the actual thing, especially when both people are part of the police force and working on the same case?
Honestly aside from the writing, there isn't much to fault here. The characters managed to be interesting on the whole, although they all had a slightly unsettling air of apathy to the situation about them. However, if you know you like Marsons' writing then it might be worth checking this out, especially if you are a fan of the series. It hasn't put me off reading her other works and there are definitely some on my list to check out.
Overall Rating:
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