Review: Nice idea, shame about the execution
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 07 22, 2013
A fast-paced British thriller? I had to read this.Unfortunately there are some issues which bring the book down badly and that's why I've only given it two stars. SPOILERS ALERT.Firstly, the plot is really nonsensical. We've two senior police officers with a) nothing else to do and b) an easygoing attitude towards letting interested members of the public see what's going on behind the scenes. Apart from the sheer unlikeliness of it, there's also the question of verbal evidence contamination, breaches of privacy and so on.Secondly, the point of view chops and changes so much that, if this were a film, it'd be quite unwatchable. There were times when I knew things that I didn't know because I was still inside the head of the character whose eyes I'd been seeing through a few sentences prior.Thirdly, the characters are very thin and cardboard cut-out-like. The women are gorgeous, the men are good or bad and the whole thing more than a bit contrived.I'm really pleased to say that there were some good points. The story itself has a fascinating premise (I liked that a lot), there was some light relief at times (liked that, too) and the setting stayed reasonably steady (some books can turn into travelogues) until the ending when it really lost the plot (pun intended) bigtime.British crime thrillers like this benefit from being gritty and realistic - this (very sadly) wasn't.