Friday 31 August 2012

CRIME REVIEW: The Abbey - Chris Culver

Release Date: 02/08/12

SYNOPSIS:
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING SENSATION Addictive, thrilling, exhilarating...You won't be able to put it down. Ash Rashid is a former homicide detective who can't stand the thought of handling another death investigation. That's until his niece's body is found in the property of one of the city's wealthiest citizens. The coroner calls it an overdose, but the case doesn't add up. Against orders, Ash launches an investigation to find his niece's murderer. But the longer he searches, the darker the case gets - and if he doesn't solve it fast, his niece won't be the only family member he has to bury...Discover for yourself the US crime novel that became a word of mouth phenomenon. The Abbey is the beginning of a major new series, featuring one of the most fascinating detectives in the history of crime fiction.


REVIEW:

I love a good crime mystery, so when this title by Chris Culver landed it sounded right up my street. I loved the intrigue, the lone detective trying to uncover the truth regardless of what he’s told by others and whilst to a certain degree that is the core of this title, it was a book that soon began to niggle me as I felt the character was more impulsive than his background really should have allowed him to be especially considering the effect that he could have on such a personal case in allowing the guilty to escape in a court of law.

Whilst I did enjoy this to a certain degree a lot of the supporting cast was flat, the tale also felt almost driven by numbers so that it could reach its linear end and all in I felt that it didn’t do the job as snappily as it could have done with a little more editing time thrown in. Don’t get me wrong, it filled my time in but against a lot of other crime titles out there, this one left me feeling that there was a lot more that could have been achieved if the author had had a little extra time to work out the characters more rather than relying on pace to keep you fuelled alongside the character long lucky streak that should have resulted in a good few injuries from various situations.

All in its OK, but against a lot of others out there, its sadly middle of the road.


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