Genre: Crime
Fiction/Police Procedural
Description:
“This year, the fireworks will be red hot…
Skates Farrington is a changed man. Gone are the smart suits, the dull
meetings and the extra pounds. Nowadays, he gets his thrills at the skate park
and from whatever substances his dealers send his way. The only thing missing
from his life is his ex-wife. She’s shacked up with a respectable partner in an
isolated farm and striving to create the perfect life. Skates is convinced that
she will come back to him when she sees his new self, but when attempts to win
her heart all over again are thrown back in his face, he decides a little
gentle persuasion is in order. Now he can include murder and abduction among his
new-found skills.
DI Oliver Wilson, leading the investigation, has more than a few
things on his mind. The case and imminent arrival of his third child should be
at the forefront of his thoughts, but the arrival of a sequence of unusual
gifts is making him nervous. The packages are sending him a message, he just
can’t work out what they’re trying to say.”
Author:
Nigel Bird is a Scottish school teacher as well as a writer of
fiction. He has several novels available and has had his work appear in
numerous magazines.
Appraisal:
As I was pondering this book something occurred to me that I don’t
remember considering before. Specifically, the different things that a story
may or may not have and how those different approaches keep a reader engaged in
the story. In this case I was thinking specifically about the difference
between a mystery or a lot of stories that, like this one, have some main
characters who are police detectives trying to solve a crime and how those
compare to stories where the reader knows who committed the crime early in the
story. Here we know who committed the crimes in question when they happen or
even before (the book description spills the beans).
What keeps the reader engaged isn’t figuring
out who did it, but wondering whether those who don’t have those answers are
going to figure it out and stop the criminal before he does more. That threat of
more crime keeps the reader engaged. That’s what happened to me here. What
Skates was going to do, just how far he’d go, and what damage he was going to
cause was never clear. The answer to that question kept me wondering and
engaged in the story.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Although this is book #3 in a series it can be read as a standalone.
Format/Typo
Issues:
This review is based on an ARC (advance reader copy), so I can’t gauge
the final product in this area.
Rating: ****
Four Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 50-55,000 words
No comments:
Post a Comment