Review: Good mystery, needed more character development
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 25, 2013
At the heart of the story is the case of the body of a boy found nailed to planks of wood, crucifixion style. All evidence points to St Konrad's, a traditional Catholic monastery and boarding school run by His Excellency The Most Reverend Bishop James, self styled `last valid Catholic bishop left' in the "real" Catholic Church.The writing is often blunt and certainly doesn't pull any punches. While it may have been mildly shocking at times, that wasn't what particularly bothered me. What did, was the fact that apparently the majority of people Thomas worked with were all either incompetent, unlikeable, or both. The only real exceptions to that were the ME and a catholic priest who mentored Thomas when he was younger. The receptionist at the police station in particular was so extreme that it was just unbelievable that someone that dumb, unprofessional and inarticulate would be employed by the police department for a position that is effectively the first point of contact.Set in 1997/8 (not sure why, it didn't have a bearing on the story), I quite enjoyed the mystery. It was well paced and interesting, although there were no real surprises. The characters were a little lacking, especially Daniel, who I felt it would have been nice to get to know better. I'd have liked for there to have been a bit more time given to their development. The mystery part of the plot was fairly well done, the personal side was pretty uneven and almost unnecessary, it was so underdeveloped. The writing and story were good enough that I'd be willing to try the next book in this new series, but I'd definitely be hoping for better character development.Read the full review at Live Your Life, Buy The Book