2.5 Stars
Boy this has high marks from everyone. And here I am . . . . .
Let’s take a trip on the Wayback Machine to this book that I read during the FIRST FREAKING WEEK OF THE YEAR and has become part of the more than 40 unreviewed books I’ve added to the pile since. I picked this up for one reason and one reason alone . . . .
And also that cover. Wow that’s a good cover.
Full disclosure: I had never heard of this author before. Immediately upon starting I noticed that there was a pretty big explanation of how this came about and that it was sort of a “labor of love” and even though publishers didn’t want it Bolton never gave up and I feel really bad that I didn’t like this, but . . . . .
So I’m still posting this.
The story here is told in a dual timeline. In 1969 Florence Lovelady (that is just a terrible name for someone I am supposed to take seriously) is a fresh-faced rookie cop trying to make it in a man’s world. That happened when she cracked the case of three murdered children and sent Larry Grassbrook to prison for the rest of his life. In 1999 Florence has returned to Lancashire to see Grassbrook be buried . . . . but then history repeats itself.
Here’s where things went wrong for me. First . . . .
Seriously. Way too long and slow rolling for a thriller about a child killer. Bored was the last thing I thought I would be when I checked this out from the library.
Second, being beaten over the head by the message that Florence was being treated sooooo unfairly because she was a woman in a man’s world. That definitely was (and sadly still sometimes is) the case, but Florence was taken to task for being a rookie who was overstepping her boundaries/breaking protocol/etc. . . . .
It had very little to do with her lack of wiener.
Third, the witchcraft subplot . . . .
I’m pretty sure this is what the publishers all passed on and was also what the author was committed to writing about. It just didn’t work for me. I notice that most of my friends who enjoyed this are big fans of Bolton to begin with. I probably should have started with one of her other books rather than this one.
Let’s take a trip on the Wayback Machine to this book that I read during the FIRST FREAKING WEEK OF THE YEAR and has become part of the more than 40 unreviewed books I’ve added to the pile since. I picked this up for one reason and one reason alone . . . .
And also that cover. Wow that’s a good cover.
Full disclosure: I had never heard of this author before. Immediately upon starting I noticed that there was a pretty big explanation of how this came about and that it was sort of a “labor of love” and even though publishers didn’t want it Bolton never gave up and I feel really bad that I didn’t like this, but . . . . .
So I’m still posting this.
The story here is told in a dual timeline. In 1969 Florence Lovelady (that is just a terrible name for someone I am supposed to take seriously) is a fresh-faced rookie cop trying to make it in a man’s world. That happened when she cracked the case of three murdered children and sent Larry Grassbrook to prison for the rest of his life. In 1999 Florence has returned to Lancashire to see Grassbrook be buried . . . . but then history repeats itself.
Here’s where things went wrong for me. First . . . .
Seriously. Way too long and slow rolling for a thriller about a child killer. Bored was the last thing I thought I would be when I checked this out from the library.
Second, being beaten over the head by the message that Florence was being treated sooooo unfairly because she was a woman in a man’s world. That definitely was (and sadly still sometimes is) the case, but Florence was taken to task for being a rookie who was overstepping her boundaries/breaking protocol/etc. . . . .
It had very little to do with her lack of wiener.
Third, the witchcraft subplot . . . .
I’m pretty sure this is what the publishers all passed on and was also what the author was committed to writing about. It just didn’t work for me. I notice that most of my friends who enjoyed this are big fans of Bolton to begin with. I probably should have started with one of her other books rather than this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment