"It’s a fun read and that’s why I gave it four stars. But the plot doesn’t stand up under scrutiny. It’s more a fantasy than a mystery. Much of the story is told in the form of documents, letters, police reports, news clippings, etc., and so the prose is clear and simple; consequently, the book can be read quickly. There are twists but they are easy to follow. It explores the phenomenon of women who fall in love with men who have been imprisoned for heinous crimes but doesn’t provide any answers as to why this occurs.

Things that particularly bothered me after I finished reading it were: (1) why wait 20 years to take revenge, (2) why didn’t Maggie tell anyone that she had found Zoe, and (3) what is the fight scene in Chapter 19 all about �� it seems completely out of place.

This is the first Sharon Boulton story I have read and I’ll probably read another when I am in the mood for a fun read."

"Another solid police procedural from McDermid. Top-level writing. (Rated and read shortly after I became a member of ŷ������.)"

"This is my fourth Belinda Bauer book and the first one that I didn’t absolutely love. It is good but I felt it lacked that special touch that have made Bauer’s novels so exceptional. Possibly this is because I didn’t really connect with the main protagonist, Eve Singer, who appeared to me to be just another version of the “woman in peril who nonetheless solves the case��.

Eve is a TV news reporter who lives with her father, Duncan. He suffers from dementia and can be very irritating to live with, seldom recognizing her and even, on occasion, hitting her. Eve is working hard to pay the bills of a full-time day caretaker who looks after her father while she works. I guess I couldn’t understand why, at this stage in Duncan’s dementia, she hasn’t placed him in a rest home. The bills might be just as high as having a full-time day caretaker but at least she wouldn’t be so frazzled when she is off the job. Bauer tries to show us how devoted Eve is to this shell of her father, but I simply couldn’t connect. Being of an age where dementia is a definite possibility, I have already made it quite clear to my family that I would rather be dead; a shell is not a person.

Eve has attracted the attention of a killer whose reasons for killing random people are logical to his mind only. He believes he is a special person when, as Bauer makes quite clear, he is very ordinary.

As the story unfolds, Eve and her cameraman (who is not-so-secretly in love with her) uncover the clues that lead the police to identify the killer. Until the killer became obsessed with Eve, he successfully escaped the police’s notice because he chose random people and used different methods. But once identified, the race is on to catch him. He kidnaps Eve’s father in an attempt to stage his most perfect killing, and thus secure him immortality as a genius. Eve and Joe fight back, with Eve willing to lose her life to save her father’s.

As usual, Bauer creates wonderful secondary characters. My favourite was DS Emily Aguda, who was also in “The Shut Eye��, a Bauer novel I really loved. I didn’t really love this one, but Bauer’s writing is still good enough for a four-star read.
"

"NOW YOU SEE ME is the first book in Sharon Bolton’s Lacey Flint series. Having recently read #4 in this set, I wondered how fair my rating would be. From the beginning, I knew who the killer was, the surprise ending of #1 ruined, because of information conveyed in #4. That I continued to read to the end, not skipping or skimming portions even though I knew when Bolton was throwing in red herrings, demonstrates the strength of the author’s story-telling abilities.

I didn’t like this one quite as much as #4, although its plot is more polished—not quite so bizarre or fantastic as the plot of #4. But it’s written in the first person, and as a rule, I don’t like novels that are written in the first person. It makes the protagonist appear to be claustrophobic and whiny, and thus unlikeable. (There are a few exceptions to my preferred POV rule, but this Lacey Flint novel was not one; I think it would have read better had it been written in the third-person voice.) Plus, in the latter part of the story, when Lacey knows who the killer is, there is a ridiculous attempt to keep this a secret by having her “think�� using the killer’s last name, when in reality, once revealed, we know Lacey would only use the first name in her thoughts. Had a third-person POV been used, the author would not have needed to resort to this ludicrous circumlocution.

The killer appears to be replicating a series of “Jack The Ripper�� murders, and so we learn a lot about the Ripper slayings. Recreating a series of nineteenth century scenes as a backdrop to the twenty-first century crimes increases the darkness of this twisty story. It is dark, and there are several gruesome scenes, so squeamish readers beware.

I have just been able to acquire access to these Lacey Flint novels, even though this one was first published in the UK in 2011. They weren’t readily available and/or publicized in North America until recently. This novel was written before “the twisty ending�� became so popular in thrillers and should be respected as a precursor in that sphere.

As per my conclusions to #4, I found Lacey’s actions difficult to comprehend at times, plus I immediately liked DI Dana Tulloch and thoroughly disliked DI Mark Joesbury (Lacey’s romantic interest).

Thanks to the Greater Victoria Public Library for providing the ebook that I read.

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My review for another novel in this series:
�� A Dark and Twisted Tide (Lacey Flint, #4)
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