RoroblusMumReadsReviews/Rants

4* Another good tale with Detective Elea Baker, that can be read as a standalone. It was about 2 chapters into the tale that I realised the female detective sounded familiar and went googling. I got clued in quite quickly and had no issues jumping into this storyline, although it's very different to book 1 and did require a bit of suspension of disbelief. I don't quite get the guest policing in the UK that allegedly happens so easily and smoothly in this book, but it was a decent read with a detective with good instincts, kickarse autonomy, confidence in her skills and abilities, and who's not afraid to take risks, break rules and make decisions that logical bureaucracy would have meant the opposite of. The killer is behind bars, isn't he? But, there's so much that's happening now that happened before he was captured, that they're not sure if he's got a copycat fan, an acolyte or if he's orchestrating things. Elea uses her wiles and her takes-no-pris...

4* Fine as a standalone, and a decent tale to boot. Don't you just love a book where those who've evaded justice through a name, money, power, threats, 'facilitators' and because they've bought local cops and judges, get their comeuppance? Well, that's what happens here, and it happens in a way that gives power and vindication to someone wronged. It happens as an aside to the main storyline, and it's hugely satisfying.  The storyline is kind of WTF because of the 3 days the missing girls have been gone, and because of the huge issue of optics and politics that results in TSTL decisions. Frankly the parents didn't deserve their kids, and I'd have loved to see this go to court - sadly, no chance of that - or to be a fly on the wall once debriefs are done.  The girls were decent, despite their parents. The mother found her backbone before it was irreparably late, and ditched her alcoholic crutch. The baddie/s in theory felt believable but didn't pan...

3.5* **SPOILERS** I hate cheating in books, so my attitude towards the book and the holier-than-thou big sister changed to less favourable once that came out.  This book wouldn't have worked without the cheating, so I'm in 2 minds about it. The author put together a well-adhered tale, but with unlikeable characters. Cheating is bad enough in my book, no pun intended, but doing it to your spouse and sibling is a no-no. It made me want them to be found out. And maybe one day they will, hurting 4 innocent people. Like with Madeleine McCann, Tillie's parents threw money at the case, had the means to keep the search alive. The coincidence that happened and turned out to be true, felt believable. The red herring/s were decent. The cheaters were not, and their spouses deserved more, although one suspected cheating.  ARC courtesy of NetGalley and HQ for my reading pleasure.

4.85* Sad for more than only the victim and her son, with a 'bad guy' that was also, to a large degree, a victim of events that'd upended life in 20** This book technically could be read as a standalone - I didn't pick book 3 up until recently - as enough is given that you'd be clued into Jim's world. What's strange is tjat his wife is completely absent and I wondered if there was trouble in paradise. Tbh, I'm not sure they're on the same page in respect of the issue they're facing, so... So, the storyline was excellent and well plotted. The little kid with his protective, mistrusting mother, was such a strong character. He was believable because of her past, what she taught him, and his own strength of character. The ultimate baddie was believable too, and whilst his plan in motion was unforgivable, what motivated him was love and desperation. He'd become hardened by things in his recent life, and he was a stone-cold killer. Rarely have I fe...

4.5* Very nearly a 5* read, other than the Aidan-inclusive, not-really-that-believable ending. This is another charming and well-written book featuring 30-something landscape gardener, Ali, and her student-to-be nephew Gavan. Nothing to do with solving mysteries, or so you'd think. The killing was sad. An innocent, decent person killed because of someone's jealousy and sick mind. Someone that almost went hidden but for a couple of heavy handed comments that made me clock their identity but not their motive. Did said motive come from a trauma and its consequences? Not sure, and I'm not sure that somewhere along the lines a professional assessment for routine stuff wouldn't have brought this to light. But, as a bad guy, this person worked, and I hope they get belts and braces thrown at them and do heavy time. To snuff out not one but two lives, because diddums got hurt once upon a time, and to ruin several others, without remorse or consideration, made him incapable of re...

2.5* Hmm, the best wasn't saved for last. Kind of anticlimactic. What's nice about this book: Fyn is sweet and quite literal, as he's not really been around anyone other than his herd. His lack of guile made me smile. His friendship with his bestie./Seeing the godlings/kittens in kittens form, although Aine is quite precocious./A reunion at the end, and a change that I suspected would happen. What's not so good: very little happens. Hadeom - his true identity was the biggest, unsubstantiated anticlimax of the tale - spends much of the tale asleep and then catatonic./The fight between Fyn and his brother, Pax, that came to nothing in the end./ When Fyn and Hadeom get together at just under 80% of the tale gone. One short but sweet sex scene, avowals of love that lacked depth, believability and feelings./The anticlimactic human interference thing - all bigged up yet all gone in 2 pages. Danger that was never there, or felt like it was never there.  It ends in a way that l...