56%
24.05.26The pacing is poor, there's too much exposition, the fact checking is still dodgy (has the author ever actually listened to a podcast?), the characters are underdeveloped but still I keep reading this series so there must be something about it that engages me. Maybe I just hope that this time it will be better.
21.05.26
Like the designs in the story, great idea, poorly executed.
17.09.25
I'm not much of a Greenwood fan but how could I resist a story set in my oft-ignored home town? Unfortunately, the town didn't feature at all and so the very occasional mention of local businesses - plus the use of the actual names of many racecourse staff - were the only high points in this poorly written and deadly boring (ha!) police procedural, where there were more police officers than suspects.
06.08.25
I'm all for a story set in Norwich but there was too much time spent on (the admittedly intriguing) worldbuilding and not enough on plot, character development and continuity. There were, in fact, so many annoying continuity errors and unnecessary typos that I wondered if anyone, including the author, had actually read the book before (self)publishing it.
14.07.25
This was a weird mix of genres, starting off as a family drama and abruptly changing to a police procedural halfway through. While the focus on family relationships, and the lasting effects of trauma, was refreshingly unusual for a murder mystery, it was still a lumpy and ultimately unsatisfying read.
09.07.25
Apparently, the author is a well-known screenwriter so you'd think the pacing would be better. It did read like a TV drama, but that's not necessarily what you want in a novel. And here was yet another 'cynical female detective approaching middle age while bringing up teenage son and dealing with iffy husband'. But it was fairly well written and the update to typical English village stock characters was refreshing.
04.06.25
I don't really understand the concept of a 'cosy' murder mystery - someone dying violently really isn't very cosy. But in this case, everyone hated the victim, so that apparently made it OK. It also seemed to be a given that readers would love the highly irritating main character so much that little time was spent on developing the supporting cast. It was entertaining enough but too light to be memorable.
31.05.25
This didn't contain the irritating factual errors of the first book (or at least not that I noticed), but it was frustrating in a different way. It wasn't emotionally involving, and the murderer was obvious as soon as I gave some thought to whodunnit. Mainly, though, it could have done so much more with the series' whole USP, the AI detective.
53%
16.05.25I enjoyed the first in this series but this third book feels much more off the production line. Maslen takes pains to make the main detective realistically ordinary, but that only draws attention to the unrealistically evil villains (and there are several) without bothering to build any emotional engagement. The murderer here was obvious from the start, so it seemed like a lot of faffing went on before they were finally taken down.
27.03.25
This has glowing reviews but it was just another muddled fantasy murder mystery. The excessive worldbuilding overshadowed - to the extent of distracting from - the plot, so that when the denouement finally came it wasn't a revelation so much as a reinforcement of what had already been made clear. None of the characters were convincing or interesting and it wasn't particularly well written. Despite all this, it was readable enough and gets a few points for trying to be inclusive.
07.03.25
Yes, I know, but it was free and had a talking cat. Don't judge me.
22.01.25
I'd never heard of Rob Rinder before this book but apparently it's a bestseller because he's famous so I'd thought I'd better read it. Well, it was no John Gresham, apart from the casual sexism in all the depictions of women. Stereotyped characters, messy and illogical plot, not really any action, not really any suspects - at least it seems he didn't use a ghostwriter.
17.12.24
This was a 'by numbers' Christmas cash-in (literally - the structure was based on an Advent calendar) that was almost self-aware enough, in the usual Stevenson style, to pull off. But not quite - it lacked the passion to be anything other than a gimmicky read - although I liked the determined portrayal of the festive Australian summer.
58%
21.10.24
Fair play to Stevenson for tackling that difficult 'second in the series' with so much meta energy. His decision to continue with the trademark self-referential elements livened up the old 'murder on a train' cliche, but the characters and plot were still too confusing and I don't think I'll remember much about it.
03.10.24
Despite the sometimes clunky phrasing, despite having too many characters, despite the confusing plot with an ending that had me asking, "OK, but what about...?", despite not being a fan of gory horror, despite the moral messaging that was as subtle as, well, a vampire, I kind of loved this. The tone, the pacing, the ethical grey areas, the setting and above all the clever worldbuilding all had me caught up in this alternative - yet maybe not so alternative after all - universe.
Am I awake? I'm not sure after reading this fever-dream of a novel. Utterly bonkers.
Disappointingly, after a strong opening to the series, this was confusing, impossible to work out the murderer and, surprisingly, not particularly well written. And it's lucky that nobody ever finds out the main character's coincidental links with the cases.
(I often wonder, with police procedurals, how people know what to call the investigator: "Oh, Acting Detective Superintendent Officer, do have a cup of tea.")
