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sarahkuntsal's review against another edition
4.0
Another good Inspector Morse novel. Although the character of Morse really changed between this novel and the last...he seemed to get really seedy in this book. Sort of an odd change. But the characters are witty, the plot is good, and overall it was an enjoyable novel.
lille_in_the_ville's review against another edition
2.0
Given what an annoying sod Inspector Morse can be, it was a pleasure to see him challenged so thoroughly by this mystery. I'm finding these books humorless and misanthropic--everyone's cheating in every way they can, both men and women are trapped by gender roles that make our modern issues seem almost trivial, and all happiness is based on self-deception and lies.
emmabeckman's review against another edition
3.0
The mystery was interesting and formatted differently than a lot of other detective stories than I’ve read/watched. The writing was occasionally brilliant (the beginning of chapter 3 when Morse is at the opera?? Excellent). But every female character was viewed through a pense of sex appeal first and other characteristics later, even when they were teenagers. And Morse was a lot more dirty-old-man trope-y than he is on the TV shows that I’ve seen, and I wasn’t super into that. I think he’s a way more interesting character on Endeavour than he was here.
lisac456's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Morse’s objectification of women, regardless of age, power differential, wears poorly and is tiresome.
duvyna's review against another edition
3.0
I would say this has not aged well at all. While the mystery portion is fairly entertaining the author's portrayal of women and minors is very dated and pretty cringe.
heather_boo's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 Valerie Craven mysteriously goes missing. Is she dead or alive? I was excited each time Morse and Lewis thought they cracked the case, but it was only a well wrought red herring over and over. When they finally do get it right this is the only time it’s not explained in detail. I’m not quite sure how it ended… they may have worked it out, but I’m still puzzling.
chris2110's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5