scknitter's reviews
1436 reviews

The Last Days of Kira Mullan by Nicci French

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 The Last Days of Kira Mullan is another brilliantly written police procedural about DI Maude O’Connor and how she sees evidence her lazy, misogynistic fellow police officers miss. It is a story about how she is essentially all alone while pursuing clues and trying to help other women and find out the truth. It is also a very realistic and sad look at how people with mental health issues are treated and ignored. The way Nancy North was treated by her partner, her neighbors, and the mental health professionals was so intense and disturbing at first that I had to take a break from listening. (Perhaps if I had been reading instead it wouldn’t have been so bad, but I could literally hear her panic and feel her despair.) 
Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? by Nicci French

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emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 
Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter is told in three parts.  The first part tells of her disappearance and is essentially a look at the families involved and how they cope – or don’t cope with not only Charlotte’s disappearance but also the death of another member of the small town.  The second part, which takes place 30 years later is still more of a family saga as it is evident that what happened still affects them deeply.  Finally, in the last part when a murder occurs you have a brilliant police procedural led by DI Maude O’Connor who refuses to let the incompetent and misogynistic local police stop her from doing her job.  The absolutely fascinating police work that O’Connor manages to pull off with evidence lost, and essentially no meaningful investigation from thirty years earlier was amazing and more than made up for the slow burn in the beginning of the story. I can’t wait to read more of DI Maude O’Connor’s police work. 

Carved in Blood by

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informative slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

 I really enjoyed the first two Hana Westerman books and while I enjoyed reading more about the Māori culture and getting to know more about Hana’s friends and family I felt Like Carved in Blood was lacking in anything very exciting or thrilling and was more of a filler piece to give Hana a reason to rejoin the force so she could once again be the center of something dangerous and exciting. I will definitely be reading the next Hana Westerman because I really enjoy Bennett’s writing, and I am hoping for more of a police procedural than a family saga. 
I Would Die for You by Sandie Jones

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 I would Die For You was one of the most intense thrillers I have read in awhile. As soon as Nicole realized that her daughter’s mysterious disappearance had something to do with what happened between her and her younger sister and a scandal involving one of London’s most famous boy bands of the 1980’s I couldn’t listen fast enough. As the past was slowly revealed I kept thinking I knew why Nicole had run away and never told her husband about her past, but I could never have imagined what actually happened. What a story and what an ending! Thanks to #netgalley and #minataur for the advanced listening copy. 
King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby

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dark sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 King of Ashes is the darkest and most violent of Cosby’s books. I cannot imagine living in the type of environment that Roman and his siblings find themselves in. But Cosby describes it so vividly that you literally feel the anger, the fear, the anguish, and the grief that the Carruthers have gone through for most of their lives. I did not understand at first why Roman did the things he did to help his brother, but family is everything as you will soon come to realize. 
The Haunting of Room 904 by Erika T. Wurth

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dark informative mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 
I don’t normally read/like paranormal or supernatural novels, but Wurth brilliantly used the genre to tell the story of past injustices to native Americans – specifically the Sand Creek Massacre – and to discuss serious topics such as racial bias affecting all of us in current times.  It was easy to believe that Olivia was truly seeing and hearing everyone that helped her to understand her sister’s death. 

We Don't Talk About Emma by J.D. Barker

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 We Don’t Talk About Emma doesn’t have the normal creepiness and horror usually associated with books by J.D.Barker. Instead, it is a well written, slow-burn police procedural focused on the murder of a suspected rapist who was later found to be a serial killer of young girls. The detectives assigned to the case, Nikki Mayeaux and Keith Teague each have their own agendas and don’t often play by the rules. Their background and their actions are what make the story so unique and interesting as does the locale of New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Thanks to Net Galley for the audio advanced listening copy. 
The Younger Woman by Cate Ray

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

He's to Die For by Erin Dunn

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 This was a fun read with a great mystery, a gay love story, and two really terrific main characters. I hope to see more of Detective Rav Trivedi in the future. 
She Didn't See It Coming by Shari Lapena

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mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 A superb domestic thriller that starts out as a missing person’s case but soon becomes a murder investigation. There are a host of possible suspects and each time you think you know who might have done it new evidence comes out that will change your mind. Detective Jayne Salter uses her instincts and intuition to get at the secrets that all of the main characters are hiding. Even after the murder was solved there were still a lot of secrets not addressed and there is an interesting last sentence from Detective Salter’s boyfriend who is a psychologist that leads me to believe this could be the start of a series.