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Review Date: 11/22/2020
I thought the first two books in this series were brilliant, and a welcome addition to Icelandic noir. In this one however, Jonasson seems to have given the writing over to a couple of 14 year olds who watch a lot of police televisions shows. Spoiler alert - There is rape, physical child abuse, drug abuse, money laundering, murder, a hero obsessing, really obsessing, about his lost love, a driven television reporter with an incurable disease who is also researching the life of her grandmother who died young from smoking in addition to investigating the murder, a backstabbing television newsroom, people trafficking, a police officer haunted by his past history as a bully in school, a police supervisor whose wife left him, an alcoholic doctor who caused the death of patients, and the hero's former girlfriend who is a shallow, self absorbed doctor who is starting to believe she chose the wrong profession. There is not one sympathetic character and about midway through the book one finds oneself wishing "please let this end." It is a shame, because the mystery is and the solution are good. Some of this result might be passed off as a less than perfect translation from Icelandic, but mostly it is just overdone.
Review Date: 11/22/2020
I thought the first two books in this series were brilliant, and a welcome addition to Icelandic noir. In this one however, Jonasson seems to have given the writing over to a couple of 14 year olds who watch a lot of police televisions shows. Spoiler alert - There is rape, physical child abuse, drug abuse, money laundering, murder, a hero obsessing, really obsessing, about his lost love, a driven television reporter with an incurable disease who is also researching the life of her grandmother who died young from smoking in addition to investigating the murder, a backstabbing television newsroom, people trafficking, a police officer haunted by his past history as a bully in school, a police supervisor whose wife left him, an alcoholic doctor who caused the death of patients, and the hero's former girlfriend who is a shallow, self absorbed doctor who is starting to believe she chose the wrong profession. There is not one sympathetic character and about midway through the book one finds oneself wishing "please let this end."
Review Date: 2/16/2013
A clever and entertaining book. It does for pulps what Raiders of the Lost Ark did for serials. I was particularly taken by the way Malmont made the best of the pulp writers the heroes of the novel.
Review Date: 8/14/2019
Great police procedural with insight into Ireland and Dublin in the late 1880s. Joe Swallow is a great character and I appreciate reading a novel set in Ireland where the detective is not an alcoholic or very nearly so. I enjoyed the first novel in the series A June of Ordinary Murders, but in this one Brady has hit his stride. The characters are better developed, the mystery more complex and of course political. Excellent overall.
Review Date: 2/19/2015
Great story set in a desolate American controlled by a Blackwater type organization. Character development excellent for the format. Only downside was the male anti-heroes all looked alike - bald with facial tattoos. Difficult to follow who was who, but I guess that was the point, as they were all current or former gang members. To the head of the Blackwater organization they would be interchangeable. Nice action graphic novel.
Review Date: 8/29/2015
A very entertaining book. Good mystery and frequently very funny. Atkinson very nearly captures Hemingway's writing style and shows a great knowledge of the man and his times. The only downer for me was that the book is set in 1956 and no matter how much one enjoys Hemingway as a character and detective, I could never discard the knowledge that Papa would be gone in five years. Still, very much worth reading.
Review Date: 7/6/2017
Helpful Score: 1
If you enjoy a story that begins with dread and foreboding and quickly dissolves into despair and utter hopelessness then this is the book for you. I've never read an Arctic seafaring story set in the 19th Century that did not end badly and this is no exception. Still, the writing is outstanding, the characters well defined and the descriptions of the landscape often border on poetry. There is a lot of blood but for me the most harrowing account was not a human murder, but a whale hunt and the aftermath. Definitely worth reading but not for the squeamish, animal lovers, ecologists or optimists.
Review Date: 2/13/2018
Most Roman historical mysteries are set in either Rome or Britain. This one is set in Aquitaine during the reign of Augustus Caesar. That alone would make it unique, but in addition it is pure noir fiction. The story has a world weary investigator, good women gone bad, corrupt officials and a series of ugly murders. Minus the togas, this could be L.A. in the 1940's. Infantem, quod non curant (Baby, I don't care). Well worth reading.
Review Date: 3/7/2020
Good adventure novel. Lovegrove generally captures the narrative style of the late nineteenth century. For Holmes fans, the story owes more to H. Rider Haggard than Conan Doyle.
Review Date: 10/24/2020
Probably the best Roman Army novel, and there are many, that I've read. Plenty of battle scenes in the style of Bernard Cornwell. Appealing main characters who are not stereotypes or cardboard cutouts. Believable and well worth the read. Written by a historian who specializes in the Roman army.
Review Date: 10/24/2020
Nice addition to the growing Icelandic police procedural. Not as dark as some but an interesting mystery with a historical slant.
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