Friday 29 May 2015

In the midst of life - Roger Silverwood

I have read a lot of crime and murder mystery books, they are one of my favourite genre of books, and if I want some kind of relaxing entertainment then I often turn to a murder mystery either in book form or on the tv. 

They come in many different styles and are written with varying degrees of success. I have to start by saying, that for me, this was not one of the better ones.

The lead detective, Inspector Michael Angel just didn't ring true. The book was apparently written about ten years ago, it mentioned mobile phones, computers, modern forensic techniques, but he seemed of a different age.

There was quite a bit of talk about his wife being away and his cats needing milk, but it didn't add to the character or the story and just seemed pointless.

The writing struggled to flow in parts and I really struggled with some of the dialogue, it didn't really sound natural or lifelike enough. There was far too much grunting of things too.

As for the mystery itself, which is of course why you read these things, it didn't really do it for me. There weren't the little clues hidden along the way to help you solve it all, although our detective seems to have worked it all out himself (although we're never told how and the secret behind the solution isn't really shared with us). Some of the relationships between principal suspects are never explained, and there is a whole section about a video tape which really makes no sense. (Surely the police would watch a piece of evidence like that, not just keep it in a draw?) 

When the final 'big reveal' came about, I'd actually didn't really care who had done it or why. I don't think I'll be reading any more in this series, it just wasn't for me.

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