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BookInspector (124 KP) rated Gallowstree Lane (Collins and Griffiths #3) in Books

Sep 24, 2020

Gallowstree Lane (Collins and Griffiths #3)

Kate London | 2019 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Thriller

7.0

(4 Ratings)

Book Rating

This novel is told from multiple perspectives, and it is very hard to identify the main lead in this book. It is a Sarah Collins and Lizzie Griffiths detective novel, both of them are very strong female detectives, but they don’t have much communication between each other throughout the book, so I don’t really see them as a duo. It is a third book in the Metropolitan series, and I haven’t read the previous books. I found It perfectly understandable as a stand-alone, and the author explains a lot of things from previous books, but I think, to understand Sarah and Lizzie properly, it is better to read the previous books before starting this one.

So, a little about the characters, Lizzie is a single mother, who got pregnant after the affair with a fellow detective, who was married. Lizzie is trying her best to do her job like everybody else, but she is struggling. I really liked that the author analyzed childcare issues in this book, and how difficult is to be a mother, who wants to work and take care of her baby by her self. On the other hand, I have very strong negative emotions about her involvement with a married man in the first place, and that is what made her and Kieran (the married detective) my least favourite characters in this book.

Sarah Collins is a very determined detective, who knows how to get the stuff done. I really liked her as a character, it is visible that she loves the job and is very good at it. Kate London chose the characters very well for this novel. They are diverse, believable and very intriguing. I was very curious to read Ryan’s thoughts, he is a fifteen-year-old drug dealer, who’s friend gets stabbed. I am curious, how much actual truth was in Ryan’s thoughts compared to real life youth who act like “wannabe gangsters”. I can see that the author used her experience at the police very well, the procedures, places, the criminal mind looks very realistically portrayed in this book.

I think this book is more character orientated, the plot is intriguing, but the character’s thoughts and their lives are more absorbing than the plot itself. The plot is quite fast-paced and filled with a lot of findings, and I really enjoyed the whole investigation experience. The author analyses very important topics in this book, such as teenage criminals, knife crime, gangs and their war for territory, prostitution, drug addictions, childcare issues for working single mothers etc.

I really liked the writing style of this book, the whole book feels gloomy and intense, but at the same time, it is a very pleasant read. The setting continuously changes, depending on the character. The chapters have a very decent length and didn’t leave me bored. The ending was quite unexpected but rounded up this book quite well. So, to conclude, this is a very realistic and believable novel about teenage criminals and police work, filled with very amusing characters, and twisty plot. I learned a lot of interesting information and thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially the topics discussed in this novel. I strongly recommend this book to all, but especially to anyone living in London, I hope you will like it as much as I did.

Kudos

BookInspector (124 KP) rated Grim Ambition (A Grim Trilogy #1) in Books

Sep 24, 2020

This book was offered to me by Jennifer Reinfried, and even though I’m not big fan of “Marvel” and super heroes, I got interested in this book, because the “bad girl” was involved into finding out, who Grim was. That was what drew me to this book, and it was quite a nice read for me. This is a book about good and evil, and that sometimes evil can swap sides. The description of the book is quite detailed, so I don’t see a need to add anything.

This book is full of diverse characters, and any reader will have a variety to choose from as their favourites. In this case my most favourite was Alex, the cruel and vicious right hand of Mafia’s head Vance. Let me explain you why. From all of the characters, he was the most interesting one. He had everything what great villain would need: cruel, ruthless, smart, cunning, good looking and a little bit psychotic. I personally think he was the best rounded character from all of them. I believe that Shawn needed to be a little bit more extraordinary, so knowing how to drive a car and how to shoot, when you are blind would’ve been something “wow”. Emma, was my least favourite one. She was not smart, and her way up was literary though bed, her way into infiltration through seduction and bed. She chose the easiest ways which made her really boring to me. Jaxon was quite interesting as well. It was visible that he knows more than he gives away, and he has plenty of secrets to share with the readers in upcoming books. I was really glad, that author wrote this book including more than one character. More voices in the book helps to understand the characters better, and made it more interesting for me, as a reader.

There was a whole short story about Henry, the lawyer, but in the book he disappears quite quickly. It was quite strange to me. The characters have quite a short life span in this book, that’s why I’m interested to see what author has “up her sleeve”. This story has some great twists and turns, which keeps the interest going. I really liked the flashbacks from Shawn’s past, and I think, that in another parts of this sequel, it will unfold even more. As I mentioned before, this book is not typical super hero book, Grim has his flaws and his strengths, the girl who was devoted mafia’s poppet got confused in what she is going to do further, so that’s quite unusual and at the same time refreshing. I really loved, that at the end of the book, author put the portraits of the main characters that was absolutely awesome. I loved, that I could compare them with the ones of my imagination.

The writing style of this book is easy to understand, but it contains some erotic scenes, so it is not suitable for younger readers. The chapters are not long in this book, so it doesn’t drag along. There is quite a lot of action going on in the book, so it is fun to read it. The ending of the book is quite well thought through, and it leaves that cliff hanger to keep you guessing of what will happen next. So to conclude, if you looking for some super hero action, which is different and refreshing, give it a go and you might be surprised. I am really interested to see, what other parts of this series will bring.