Review: A great heroine stuck in an average story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 30, 2014
Sarah Milton is a good cop. She's a great profiler, and she's got an uncanny ability to get inside the heads of killers. But she's haunted by the murder of her mother at a young age...oh, yeah, and she has an imaginary friend who's been with her most of her life and just might be real. If that sounds pretty cliched up until that final point, well, that's because it is, and that's part of what keeps Reading the Dead from being as interesting as it should be. Sarah is a good character, and in Cameron's narration, she provides interesting, engaging narration that allows her to be an interesting character. But every time the plot comes in, there's an undeniable sense that we've seen this all done before, and Reading the Dead doesn't add that much to the story to make it stand out apart from Milton. The one big thing that sets the killer apart - his ultimate motivation - feels abruptly thrown into the story, as though Milton just made the jump and we should too, because we have a climax to get to, even though the climax, once again, feels really familiar. And yet, for all of that, I didn't hate Reading the Dead as much as it might sound like I did. Milton really is a good character, and while I found her "friend" Anna more annoying and obnoxious than funny and charming, I liked the way Cameron used the device for more than just plot solving. There's some interesting ideas here, and if Cameron can get away from a hackneyed and uninteresting plot, this series could go to some fun places. But right now, it feels like a great heroine who deserves a better story to serve her needs.