I loved. Intense.

I have read the first two books in this series and from what I remember about them, I liked them and found them compelling. This for me, while fairly well written, kind of veered into the 'not-like-other-girls' genre of female characters, in that she was an academic, and an Investigator, and a SWAT team member, all at the same time. Some of the fight scenes were a little ridiculous and there were a lot of unnecessary descriptions of things that in no way enhanced the plot. I think my favourite part of this book was the description of a poor community, the kind of one for all mentality combined with a 'never-talk-to-the-police' motif. You get the impression that this is definitely how these kind of places allow organised crime to flourish. Also how figures like Escobar become folk heroes while also meeting out horrendous violence to their detractors.

I have bought the next book in the series so I will continue and see where it leads.

As a Crime novel I thought that this was a cut above others that I have read recently for a number of reasons, and yet there was something about it that just failed to make me go crazy over it.

Darby was a strong character and yet - unlike some other long standing Detective series - she didn't dominate the novel with her theories, observations and thoughts. She was a subtle voice which led us through, and yet she was established to us as the Leading character. Very clever writing.

The constant interweaving of old and new cases and the witnesses and victims with criminals and police could have been really confusing, but for the most part, I managed to follow. Where I struggled was the amount of characters and the variations of their names. Policemen who had criminal names and then nicknames appointed to them by other characters throughout the book... I had to keep flicking back to clear their names up in my mind.
The pacing was brilliant, considering it is a substantial book, the plotline was always progressing and developing, and yet nothing felt rushed and most aspects were explained.

The only thing that I would class as a negative was the FBI/Police corruption. I felt that it was too big and therefore bordered on unbelievable. That everyone in the FBI and lots of the Boston PD were not only corrupted in the 70s and 80s but still remained in seats of power just felt a bit too much. Could there have been local Police who were corrupted? Yes. And could the criminals have originally been FBI agents? Yes. But there didn't still need to be this wide spreading corruption thirty years later.

Still, I read it in a day and would definitely read more!

I thought that is was very well written, but left us with some unanswered questions. This is my first McCormick book, so maybe it is continued in book four, but I don't think so. Mooney did a wonderful job of throwing twists and turns into the usual "mystery story". I was intriguing, but not a page turner which is why I gave it four stars. It took me a bit of time to read (but this is my own fault because I am not a mystery reader in the first place). Overall I would recommend this book to anyone, mystery lover or not.

I'm giving 4 stars because it kept me gripped from start to finish, and I read it in two sittings! What's remarkable about my score is that the book contained a lot of elements that really frustrate me: too much description over unimportant details, such as house layout etc, and what roads a character takes to get to a destination (a particular pet hate!) Also, the plot heavily features a mob-related storyline, something that doesn't generally interest me. (I stopped reading Mark Billingham because of too much gang warfare stuff).

However, the plot had a lot of other things going on, most of it quite interesting and gripping. The plot has lots of twists and turns. It involves crime scene officer Darby McCormick arriving at a homicide in which a woman has been murdered and her son injured. The case soon starts turning up fingerprints of people who are supposed to be dead. Several leads trace back to the death of head Irish mobster Frankie Sullivan, who was supposed to have died in an FBI raid 26 years prior, along with several FBI agents. There's a side plot involving Jamie Russo, a woman who survived an attack, seeking revenge on those who murdered her husband.

You can tell this was written when "CSI" and "The Sopranos" were the big things on television, with the strong mob connections, and some dry descriptions of various crime scene technologies. But it still moves at a breakneck pace and delivers an exciting, if a bit far-fetched, conspiracy at the heart of things, linking all the way back to the murder of Darby's father. There is a particular plot twist that I didn't see coming, even though it's quite overused these days. It was a bit upsetting, however.

Spoiler

Jamie's two sons, who apparently survived the attack that killed Jamie's husband, were actually dead all along. Normally, I can spot that sort of twist a mile off, but here it was handled cleverly. But I cared for the characters, so it left me sad and depressed! I may have to go read a happy-ever-after romance now!

This is turning out to be quite a good series, even if Darby is a bit too much good-at-everything (she's practically Rambo in the finale). I look forward to reading the other books.

The Dead Room by Chris Mooney

Title - The Dead Room
Author - Chris Mooney
First Published - February 2013
Publisher - Penguin
Pages - 464
Price on Amazon - Paperback - £7.99 Kindle - £3.99
ISBN - 1405913800

Darby McCormick is back in the third book of the series. When a mother and son are violently attacked, Darby and her team are called in to investigate.The further Darby digs, the more secrets come to the surface, with a dead man's fingerprints appearing at the crime scene, can Darby figure out the puzzle before it's too late?

I am really enjoying this series, I love following Darby and her team. This series has quickly become one of my favourite series this year. I find myself unable to put the book down once I start it. I find the plot of each book to be really interesting, a new murder mystery in each book, but with smaller more personal stories for each character continuing from each book, linking them all together. I find myself getting really involved with the characters and also getting lost in the story which to me is the sign of a great read and an excellent book. As a reader you want to be sucked into the world of the book you are reading and transported there, you want to feel like your part of the story and for me, this series does just that.

I am really enjoying these books so much I have literally just spent my last £3.99 on the next book.

Rating - five stars
Would I Read Again? - Yes
Would I Recommend? - Yes
Would I read other books by the same author? - Yes

Reviews for this book can be found on:
Amazon under Lu's Reviews
Goodreads,
Net Galley,
My Blogs at www.lu-ellensreadingandreviewingblog.co.uk
www.lusreviewsblog.wordpress.com

Links to this review can be found at:
Twitter: @lusreviews
Facebook: @lusreviews
Instagram: lusreviews

The Dead Room
4.5 Stars

The rapid pacing, intricate plotting and excellent characterization more than compensate for the slightly far-fetched premise and Darby's sudden transformation from lab rat into serious kick-ass chick.

Fox Mulder's "Trust No One" maxim fits the plot of this book to a tee as Darby slowly unravels the mystery of a gruesome home invasion, and soon comes to realize that rampant corruption in the Boston PD and FBI means that everyone around her is a potential villain. The story is complex but everything is ultimately explained and the twists and turns will definitely keep you up late turning the pages.

The ending is somewhat bittersweet and open ended but Mooney's writing is skillful and intense, which means I will be reading Darby's next adventure sooner rather than later.