RoroblusMumReadsReviews/Rants

3* Got this based on the several 5* NetGalley reviews, but found being in Smith's head confusing - and I don't think I was the only one.  I'm not sure and I'm also not interested enough to find out if this was the first in a series. I originally DNF'd it about 8 pages in and went to feed this back, saw all the 5* reviews about great British policing and had a rethink. I wish I hadn't.  It's a confusing tale as most of it seems to be in Smith-speak and Smith-think. His new partner/trainee? seemed as confused at times, and I couldn't figure if Smith had a vendetta with more than one colleague or if it was mountains out of molehills. The hint of the higher-ups getting involved didn't really ring true, nor did the connection that Smith supposedly made. I'm afraid I should've stuck with the DNF. ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Penguin Random House for my reading pleasure.

3.5* Not exactly thrilling, but an engaging read.  I'm not actually sure exactly what Jessica did in her job, tbh, but it was a British policing role of some kind. It wasn't thrilling but I did engage with the tale and with the little hint of the paranormal. I'm not convinced on the incident with the person she was asked to visit in prison - the 2026 incident, not the 20-odd-years-ago one, but I liked the help she got. I'm also not convinced about the racist copper and the victim that took their time reporting it. I'm pretty sure there's CCTV in some areas in nicks, however old they are, so this didn't really wash.  I normally hate cheating in books, but what happened here kind of felt okay, although where and when Jessica found time after a busy day's work, and rushing home to play mum - the latter because that's that it felt like, that she wasn't really present. I think I'd read another in this series, but I'm not inspired to read the p...

4* Slow, slow, slow, and not quite what the blurb leads you to believe, nor as it turned out, my cup of tea...But I kept coming back to it time and time again. There was something indefinable that drew me in... I expected a murder-mystery with the lead being a retired Chicago cop. Instead, I got Ireland's version of small town Anywhere, USA, where politicians are bought; justice is done local style; the local bigwig rules with smiles, jobs, favours, seeming benevolence, or veiled and not-so-veiled threats...until things change. And people rise up... This was slow to the point that I wondered why I was still going with it, as it was more saga and very much not cop procedural. Characters were many, and there wasn't really enough of an intro to most. I got the impression that mental health was an issue for more than a few, but not admitted, and that people in Ardnakilty had their own way of dealing with things. The ending was a surprise. In my book, pun not intended, justice didn...

3.5* Back to being predictable again - I suspected the right household member and someone we've seen before. I left this series for around 5 years until last year, when I played catch-up. The last book was the 50th, Golden ID, which sadly, wasn't great. There's a formula that used to work when the side characters were central to the tales, which they're not really anymore, but that's not stopped micro appearances from Mira, Mavis, Leonardo, McNab, Feeney, Louise and Charles, and more. They're not necessary to this tale, not even the cops, so it's a bummer that they've been included in organically. The tale isn't hard to fathom out. Mention of the people in the household pointed at one person. Tick. Mention of a femme fatale type with blonde hair, and a penchant for red and jewellery, made me think, "Aha, this rings bells and I think Eve's rung their bell before." She had. And does. Sigh. All that was missing was Eve offering herself up ...

4* I think the author's Asian name, Aisha's too, plus the RAW mention (Hritikh fan here) made me get this - it's a good tale, scarily true to real life in some aspects. Sci-fi absolutely isn't my thing. I was scared as a kid by watching "V", so yeah. But, this isn't a scary sci-fi book, at least not from one side. It's people and their quest for more, for power, control, leverage and world domination that's the scary parts, and all too true to 2026, with a barely disguised Stephen Miller type, a No47 type, a Muskrat type, and hangers on.  The tale features an NRI, Aisha, who's married to Adam for sort-of-'Indian'-reasons that I can relate to - vaguely Asian person here. She's Muslim, he's Caucasian American and a Nobel prize-winner. He has an ego, she's on the rebound, and tbh, he probably is too. Tension is good in the tale, with a death on their honeymoon, Adam going missing, Adam's ego coming into play, Adam's ex ...

3* Not an exciting tale but it's better than the previous book I read by SR. This is book X in a series and you won't be lost if you've not read the previous ones. There are low-key murder-mysteries set in Cornwall with a DS who's not long widowed, and who has a little girl that he pretty much dumps on his parents to look after. I've never really had the sense that the tales are full of tension or anything exciting but the police team do their jobs, sometimes fall for the obvious that's not necessarily the right thing, big things up a little - Googling is a skill a colleague has mastered - yawn, and ultimately get there. Dialogue is occasionally stilted and teaches readers to such eggs, but it's a readable series. In this one, the prologue told us the killer was a guy, so the chercher la femme was a bit of a waste of time, especially when the cops knew there had been a mystery guy around the first deceased all those years ago... ARC courtesy of NetGalley and...