Review: And She Was

And She Was by Alison Gaylin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Trigger warning: vanished children and teenagers, but no abuse, no torture.
Some killing and violence against adults, a little over the top.
Female MC, currently single, really like her. Story takes place in the USA.

If you watched the "Unforgettable" TV-Show, then you know about the affliction. To call it an illness may be wrong, but it is certainly not really wantable: a different wired brain, where a person does recall every memory in great detail.
In the book the MC Brenna Spector is a PI who can remember everything. Up to a certain point this is interesting and well integrated, but the story gets brocken with memories which do nothing for the cases nor the story nor for me. While it is not too distracting, at least 10% could have been left out without changing the story - boring!

The main case is a cold case about a missing little girl, which may be related to another, older case about the MC's sister going missing.

Quite a few twists, and I guessed none. The case is complicated, and what I really liked was no vigilantism, while the "going places without telling someone" did happen, it was not totally obvious that it would be dangerous. And most of time the MC told someone where she was going. The "no cell phone service"-problem was logical in that context and well explained.

Bought this one and the next one for a low price (less than 3 Eur each for the ebooks, but not sure, wether is the normal price or I was just lucky).

Recommended 3.5 Stars rounded up to 4 for first book in the series, may get better with next one, here is hoping!



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Review: Vow of Silence

Vow of Silence by Chris Patchell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lent this with a free Kindle Unlimited trial.
Solid 3 stars, could have been better. If you liked the first book, you may like this one.
Not too fond of vigilantism, but the end is more or less satisfying, even for me.
Technical up-to-date with computers, mobile phones, instagram etc., but could have had more in depth scenes and technical stuff for me, it was real, but barely scratched the surface.
OK read, but no recommendation, except to get closure to the Jill Shannon story.
Not enough twists or suspense, but the final decision by her was great.

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Review: The Lying Room

The Lying Room by Nicci French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 rounded up to 4 for good MC. Not enough suspense for full 4 or even 5 stars and some scenes where just too long. And I would have put the daughter (Mable) out far earlier, she should have tried living on her own.
Good twists, I could not even guess the killer. Not entirely my stile, did not really like the books from the Frida Klein series I tried (one I will still read, to conclude one of the cases).
Still recommended.

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Review: The Lying Room

The Lying Room by Nicci French
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

3.5 rounded up to 4 for good MC. Not enough suspense for full 4 or even 5 stars and some scenes where just too long. And I would have put the daughter (Mable) out far earlier, she should have tried living on her own.
Good twists, I could not even guess the killer. Not entirely my stile, did not really like the books from the Frida Klein series I tried (one I will still read, to conclude one of the cases).
Still recommended.

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Review: The Body Keeper

The Body Keeper by Anne Frasier
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lent this with a free Kindle Unlimited trial.
Good solid work, but most of the twists I saw coming and the "going places alone, even if it might be dangerous" happens, which I really cannot stand if it is not well explained. In this book it well integrated and while not justified at least believably written and softened as the MC lets someone know where she is going.
Only very little social media integration this time (Instagram and Facebook mentioned, but not used, a little Youtube), mostly due to the time the crimes where beginning.

On a different day I might have given 4 stars, these 5 feel a little much, more like rounded up from 4.5 stars.
Recommended, but the 2nd one was the best from the (so far) three books.
Still, this is a series I will try to keep reading if more books are published.

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Review: Verfolgung

Verfolgung by David Lagercrantz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Just saw, looking for the next book in the series that I have not read this yet and the price sank, so I bought it. The next book is even as an ebook rather expensive and I will that for that to sink to 10 Eur or less, like with this book (I guess it was on publishing the same ridiculous high price).

Read this in German translation, as that is my first language and english would have been also a translation (do not read Swedish).

Writing is ok, but at the scenes with hacking (like in the prison office) felt not as real as with Larsson, as often with people who do not know their stuff. While it did not go into details, it felt embellished as to the capabilities of both Lisbeth and other hackers, this may be also due to the POV in the prison office scene of the person looking at the hacking, so not too sure about that.

What was really disturbing, was the ever changing POVs and then commenting on it like an outsider. And also no visual distinction when POV changes - in some books this is chapter wise, or marked somehow, so it is clear, who is now narrating, which I think is rather better and more readable, and also here in this book there are a few too many POVs.

But most even non-significant side infos / stories get integrated into the main story at some point, so, ok, 4 stars it is.

Also, as this is a series, I was surprised, how much of the 4 books before that I had forgotten, although the most necessary parts are retold, adding to the length of the story. For me this a fast page-turner, just the right length, but I can understand if others see this differently.
Not really wether I have changed, or the writing is not as good as it has been, but I found this lacking without something to put my finger on, even with the 4 stars I gave it (and thought about giving 5!), should re-read the other books again, but there are just so many books on TBR-bought list ....

So, still highly recommended, but keep in mind, that I read the German translation, and this does not say all about the english translation.

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Review: In the Darkness

In the Darkness by Mike Omer
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Lent this with a free Kindle Unlimited trial. Did not like the first book in the series, my 1 * review.

So why did I read this one? First, I considered it an easy DNF, so I was surprised that I read/FF (fast-forward) through it, and although it was very straight, again, by-the-numbers-serial-killer-book, I knew what to skip, and the case was way better.
Even so, this could have been read in a day or on a rainy weekend, but it was just not interesting enough to read this faster.

Do not like the MC, nor her sidekick, straight story, little sex happening of page, little romance, too many sidestories which did nothing for the suspense of which again, there was too little.

No good twists, ending ok. Good integration of social media (streaming of video, Instagram, Youtube), which was interesting and without mistakes, so 3 stars, if you want to read it, it is ok, but
again not recommended by me.
Better than the first one, but will never read something by this author or in this series again.

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