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A Lovely Way To Burn by Louise Welsh
Apr. 24th, 2014 11:25 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
On the surface, the shootings were nothing to do with what happened later, but they stuck in Stevie Flint’s mind. Their details returned to her during the months ahead and she would begin to think of them as a portent of what was to come, a sign that the city was beginning to turn on itself.
A pandemic is rapidly sweeping the globe. London is a city in crisis, but Stevie Flint is convinced that the sudden death of her boyfriend, Simon, was not from natural causes.
Stevie’s search for Simon’s killer takes her into the depths of the dying city and into a race with death.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Louise Welsh’s novel (the first in a trilogy) marries crime thriller with apocalyptic horror to so-so effect. Welsh does well at conveying the breakdown of a city to a pandemic and the confusion and fear that takes hold of its population as the body count rises, but the mystery element itself is very much by-the-numbers, particularly as it’s pretty obvious who the villains are. Stevie’s an okay character but I never really bought what made her tick and as she questions the nature of her relationship with Simon, I wondered why she was so keen on discovering what had happened to him. Although there’s a hint as to the possible overarching trilogy arc, I’m not particularly bothered about finding out what it is and won’t rush to read the rest.
A LOVELY WAY TO BURN was released in the United Kingdom on 27th March 2014. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
A pandemic is rapidly sweeping the globe. London is a city in crisis, but Stevie Flint is convinced that the sudden death of her boyfriend, Simon, was not from natural causes.
Stevie’s search for Simon’s killer takes her into the depths of the dying city and into a race with death.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Louise Welsh’s novel (the first in a trilogy) marries crime thriller with apocalyptic horror to so-so effect. Welsh does well at conveying the breakdown of a city to a pandemic and the confusion and fear that takes hold of its population as the body count rises, but the mystery element itself is very much by-the-numbers, particularly as it’s pretty obvious who the villains are. Stevie’s an okay character but I never really bought what made her tick and as she questions the nature of her relationship with Simon, I wondered why she was so keen on discovering what had happened to him. Although there’s a hint as to the possible overarching trilogy arc, I’m not particularly bothered about finding out what it is and won’t rush to read the rest.
A LOVELY WAY TO BURN was released in the United Kingdom on 27th March 2014. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
