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The Book Of Souls by James Oswald
Jun. 7th, 2016 11:46 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
Every year for ten years, a young woman’s body was found in Edinburgh at Christmas time: naked, throat slit, body washed clean.
The final victim, Kirsty Summers, was Detective Constable Tony McLean’s finacee. But the Christmas Killer made a mistake and McLean put an end to the brutal killing spree.
Twelve years later, and a fellow prisoner has murdered the Christmas Killer. But with the festive season comes a body: naked, washed, her throat cut.
Is this a copycat killer? Was the wrong man behind bars all this time? Or is there a more sinister explanation?
McLean must revisit his most disturbing case and discover what he missed before the killer strikes again …
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
The second in the INSPECTOR MCLEAN SERIES has pacing problems and the heavy handed supernatural elements that don’t gel with the crime elements. The big issue for me is that Oswald struggles to bring together the drugs operation, the murders and the arsons in a convincing way – the arson storyline in particular could have been easily dropped and I think that the supernatural element would have been stronger for it. I also found the identity of the antagonist to be easy to guess and the chapters told from their point of view didn’t make a whole lot of sense in the context of the story. This is all a shame because I liked the insights we get on Tony’s personal life (alluded to in NATURAL CAUSES) and would have liked more information on his relationship with Kirsty (who’s rather flat and two-dimensional) as a contrast to what’s going on with Emma. Tony’s forced therapy sessions could have helped with this but the set-up was artificial and the relationship unnecessarily antagonistic. I enjoy Tony’s relationship with Grumpy Bob and his squad and enjoyed the introduction of DS Ritchie and I like how Oswald forces his character into new situations while weighing him up with guilt. As such, while this book didn’t work for me, I do want to read the next one.
The final victim, Kirsty Summers, was Detective Constable Tony McLean’s finacee. But the Christmas Killer made a mistake and McLean put an end to the brutal killing spree.
Twelve years later, and a fellow prisoner has murdered the Christmas Killer. But with the festive season comes a body: naked, washed, her throat cut.
McLean must revisit his most disturbing case and discover what he missed before the killer strikes again …
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
The second in the INSPECTOR MCLEAN SERIES has pacing problems and the heavy handed supernatural elements that don’t gel with the crime elements. The big issue for me is that Oswald struggles to bring together the drugs operation, the murders and the arsons in a convincing way – the arson storyline in particular could have been easily dropped and I think that the supernatural element would have been stronger for it. I also found the identity of the antagonist to be easy to guess and the chapters told from their point of view didn’t make a whole lot of sense in the context of the story. This is all a shame because I liked the insights we get on Tony’s personal life (alluded to in NATURAL CAUSES) and would have liked more information on his relationship with Kirsty (who’s rather flat and two-dimensional) as a contrast to what’s going on with Emma. Tony’s forced therapy sessions could have helped with this but the set-up was artificial and the relationship unnecessarily antagonistic. I enjoy Tony’s relationship with Grumpy Bob and his squad and enjoyed the introduction of DS Ritchie and I like how Oswald forces his character into new situations while weighing him up with guilt. As such, while this book didn’t work for me, I do want to read the next one.
