Review: Clever Plot - Weak Characters
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 28, 2013
Review of Into the Killer Sphere by Stefania MattanaChase Williams, a detective who used to work at Scotland Yard, but had to give up his career due to some mishap, now works in Ernesto Ceccarelli’s cashmere company in Tursenia, Italy. He has a few days off and is planning a nice quiet vacation, but instead gets a call from his friend Angelo Alunni, an Inspector in the Tursenian police force. Angelo asks for Chase’s help in solving a rather strange case. The two of them arrive at a villa owned by the wealthy Galli family. They are shown upstairs to a room where the body of Piero Galli lies under a large chandelier that has fallen from the ceiling and killed him. Was it an unfortunate accident or something more sinister? Chase’s formidable detection skills are put to the test as many of the family members could have committed the crime, but he soon discovers the guilty party.I struggled to connect with the characters, I felt that the character of Chase especially, was weak and calling Angelo ‘mate’ was irritating. I don’t think a person in Chase’s position would call his friend that; it’s more a term used by a couple of men meeting down the pub!It is a great skill if you can build several books around a particular character and the author has discovered a character in Chase that will allow her to do so. I hope that Chase becomes the sort of person I can relate to in further books.