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Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated Batman: Gotham After Midnight in Books

Jun 24, 2019

This novel contains 12 episodes of Batman stories, each full of action and crime and excitement. It includes Man-Bat, Axe-Man, Clayface, The Joker, Killer Croc, Catwoman, Scarecrow and the new villain, Midnight. At first, Batman is trying to figure out why his villains are suddenly changing their patterns. But then Midnight comes into the scene...

Batman becomes rather attached to a police officer, although Bruce Wayne has no success with her. But can he save her from this strange, crazy new murderer?

The detective side of this - especially toward the end, when Batman is close to discovering Midnight's identity - is fantastic. Full of suspense. Of course, his encounters with the enemies are great, too. I wasn't sure about his relationship with April, but I like how it all fit together in the end.

The inner monologue - and even the dialogue - wasn't great. The text that was chosen for this also wasn't the wisest. But the story got told and that's all that really matters in the end.

And Alfred... I love him! He's witty and smart, but also caring and wise when it comes to dealing with Batman. He often has to tell Batman to pull himself together and to stop being an idiot. I think he may be my favourite character.

The art was great and I liked the story, but the dodgy, clunky monologue was quite off-putting. Even so, it was an easy read still so it obviously wasn't that bad. I think I'll say 4 stars for this, though I may be being a little generous there.

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Hazel (2934 KP) rated Cold As The Grave in Books

Sep 1, 2019

Cold As The Grave

James Oswald | 2019 | Crime, Paranormal, Thriller

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

A treat for crime fiction lovers

This is a treat for crime fiction lovers with a bit of the supernatural thrown in for good measure. Mr Oswald knows how to write a great story and he has done it once again with "Cold as the Grave".

DCI Tony McLean finds himself, quite unexpectedly, in the midst of a strange and disturbing investigation following his discovery of the mummified remains of a young girl. Being a DCI, Tony is not supposed to get into the day to day investigation of crime however, Tony being Tony just can't help himself and he quickly becomes in the thick of it.

This is a dark and sinister case to investigate and includes themes on refugees, asylum seekers, illegal immigrants, trafficking, modern slavery, the murder of children and violence towards women as well as introducing a less than "normal" slant on the perpetrator of the crime and the method used for committing murder.

With fantastic characters throughout and written in a sympathetic rather than sensationalist way with the back drop of a winter in Edinburgh, this is a great read.

I admit to not having read all the previous books in this series and although I have probably missed out massively on back story, character development, etc., it did not detract from my enjoyment of this book.

On to the next .... when it comes out!

My thanks must go to the Publisher and NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased review.