RoroblusMumReadsReviews/Rants

3.5* Misleading blurb, brutal scenes that I didn't expect or stomach too well, but a not-bad tale.  I've only read the predecessor to this book, not the first 2 in the series, but wasn't lost in either. This one follows immediately from book 3, with some personal stuff for Malkie  some possible closure, a possible future with someone he loves, and a case that works, though Elizabeth really didn't have a very good head on her shoulders, nor care much about her daughter, it felt. I mean, doing what she did, handing the offending item to her daughter to be seen with it, risking the adverse publicity that would come with her being found out, risking her daughter now being bullied for 2 things instead of 1 - I mean, really, lady?  The brutality in this book was shocking, especially as it's explicit and against females. There really needed to be a warning about it. But, the events leading to the involvement of the bad guys was mostly plausible (other than who employs some...

3* Feels like a cosy mystery without any real sense of danger or urgency.  This is quite decently written but it bigs itself up to something that the writing doesn't deliver, unfortunately. We are told the characters are great at their jobs, but investigations and the initial prison escape plot were quite mundane and there was no feel of danger or urgency. The cops weren't clever - take Andy, for example. He plans to capture the escaped prisoner when he turns up at an agreed place at 1pm, so he and some cops turn up at 12.30pm, not wondering, seemingly, that the guy would've likely been casing the place.  The reveal of the prisoner's fate was believable. The arc that suddenly appeared around 66% of the tale gone was believable, too, but felt like too much too late, and as if the police should've been detecting and investigating more. Had it not been for the female DC who was good at research, they'd have been at it for years, it felt like. The DI with the Mc sur...