Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (434)

Content

Ross (3284 KP) rated The Way of All Flesh in Books

May 31, 2018

Excellent gripping period thriller set in Edinburgh's medical revolution

This tale of murder takes place in mid 19th century Edinburgh, where the city is at the forefront of the world's advances in medicine - both medical practices and procedures and also drugs and anaesthetics. Many nights are spent with some of the city's top surgeons sitting round the dinner table in the post-prandial slumber sampling various substances looking to find the perfect anaesthetic.
Will Raven, a recently qualified doctor, starts a new job as apprentice to Edinburgh's pre-eminent midwifery expert, Dr James Young Simpson. But he has recently found the dead body of a female friend and starts to investigate the mysterious circumstances of her demise.
The book takes several strands: we have the true history of Edinburgh's medical revolution where doctors like Simpson vied to get the job done but also find better ways to do it for their patients, we have the murder mystery angle, we have the capable and frustrated women who are refused to even attempt to do jobs they are clearly able to do, and we have the class system in full evidence and while many go along with it, some people like Simpson try to get past this and make their households more inclusive for all.
The threads are all interwoven brilliantly and combine to give a story that is both thrilling and interesting.
Having read a lot of Chris Brookmyre, I had high expectations for his storytelling and these were more than met with a brilliantly paced and enjoyable page-turner. I believe writing with his wife has helped tone down the language a little and the tone of the dialogue is very different to his previous work.
My one gripe would be that the climax of the story was a little laboured, with every single event, decision and twist explained numerous times from different perspectives. Given I had spotted a number of hints quite early on and knew who the perpetrator was, and was happy to assume certain things had happened, I didn't feel the need to have this confirmed at length in great detail.
Otherwise an excellent book and the start of a new series that I will be avidly waiting for the next instalment of.

Kudos

Eleanor (1463 KP) rated Beyond Reach / Skin Privilege (UK) (Grant County, #6) in Books

Oct 19, 2019

A worthy end to a solid series - would recommend reading in order.

For some reason, the UK version of this book has a different name (Skin Privilege) to the rest of the world’s Beyond Reach title. Whatever you call it its the end of the Grant County series and what a way to finish!!! It’s a strong and worthy ending to a solid series that had a few ups and downs along the way for me.

We meet up again with Detective Lena Adams back in her hometown of Reece; where she has got herself into a whole world of trouble (no surprise there, it’s her special talent.) With a vicious (and I mean typical Slaughter full-on vicious) murder Lena is the only suspect and our intrepid heroes, Jeffery and Sara; rush to do what they do best i.e. stick their noses in and try to figure out what the hell is going on.

We get 2 different timelines and general POVs with us following Lena pre murder trying to unearth the truth of her family history and Sara and Jeffery trying to piece together Lena’s involvement in a murder. Lena looks especially involved in it when she does a runner from local law enforcement. The two main POVs work well together to slowly lead you through an enjoyable mystery.

I’ve previously not been a huge fan of Jeffery and Lena but this book worked to give me a better understanding and more empathy for Lena; although she is still annoyingly stubborn to the point of it being pretty stupid.

I thought the ending was what this series needed and for those that don’t like it there is a letter from Slaughter on her website explaining her thoughts (don’t read until after you have read the book.) Overall the Grant County Series has had some really high points (the first two books were particularly good) and some low points; A Faint Cold Fear and Indelible didn’t do much for me but overall I’m glad I kept with it and look forward to maybe meeting some of the characters again in the future - I think there is a tie in at some point in her Will Trent series that I’ve not read any of yet but look forward to giving a go - I do enjoy Slaughters writing.