Review: A Hard Edged Psychologically Disturbing Whodunit.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 5, 2012
If you like a whodunit, and are prepared for brutal accurate description of murder and general physical and sexual violence then you will love this book. Let me be clear that when the plot requires these pictures to be brutally accurate they certainly are. Generally though graphic description of murder and sexual and physical violence is avoided, or rather left to the deprivations of our own imagination. When we the plot requires that we see every tear or drop of blood we do.The main characters are very well rounded and believable, but personally I found it hard to keep up with the entire cast. This was more my fault than Philip Catshill's. The first requirement of any whodunit is to keep up. My reading was too broken to allow this. When reading Agatha Christie as a youngster I always used to write a key word or two on each character on a rough piece of paper. Unless you can read this book in a couple of close sessions I would consider doing the same here. Those who have the opportunity to read this book quickly will obviously not have this problem. The book certainly has the power to keep one going provided the real world doesn't intervene.The main characters, all as flawed as any real people, and all add real dimension to the story. We soon have a deep understanding of what makes them tick as individuals, with always a little held back for an appropriate moment of revelation. This is an adult book, which brings out many dark emotions as it explores some of the extreme aspects of human behaviour. Both mental and physical sicknesses are described very believably, as are so many of the raw emotions associated with these conditions.Perhaps by chance I did second guess the murderer, but never with anything like a freedom of doubt that could have spoilt the story. And although I can't be certain, because as I have said I didn't always keep up with all the nuances of every character, I certainly didn't see any flaws in the plot. Generally speaking the reading was very easy, though I was rather irritated by being told by the author what certain medical words he had just used meant. I would have preferred that the word was explained, if really necessary, in a more natural flow of the story, or an old fashioned use of the asterisk had been employed. I rather felt as though a pedantic editor had meddled.I look forward to reading more from this author. I don't except in very rare cases give five stars to any book. For those who like this crude device and regret that I have broken the full sets of previous reviews, let me say that I am inclined to five for plot, and five for the complex psychologically and mostly very believable characters. I can't think of any aspects of the book that failed to score well.