Scan barcode
gadrake's review against another edition
4.0
This is an intelligent thriller featuring cybercrime, autistic adults, women as priests, human trafficking, sexual abuse in the military, the CIA, privacy issues, and much more. This is a debut novel by British author, Jonathan Holt, first of a possible trilogy and readers are highly likely to be eager for the next installment.
nlane2's review against another edition
3.0
⚠️ TW ⚠️ : R*pe
I was really excited to start reading the book, the plot sounded great so I had high hopes. However I can't say I was gripped throughout the book until the last quarter but even then, the ending felt very rushed. It felt like there were either a lot of edits made to shorten the book and detail was omitted or the author lost their way, personally I felt there was a lack of direction in the plot throughout the book, the author was trying to do too much and make it sound really complex (potentially intentionally trying to misdirect the reader) however for me it came across as a scattergun approach of topics wanting to be included without a logical approach and/or structure.
One of my biggest issues in the book was about half way through when r*pe was mentioned almost constantly until the end. Didn't add anything to the story by mentioning it that much and felt wholly unnecessary. The repetition of sexual assault I can imagine could be quite triggering for survivors and therefore I wouldn't recommend reading this book. Even if you didn't know a man wrote this book, you'd be able to tell from the laissez faire mentions of r*pe throughout.
To make matters worse, Kat warns Tapo that she'll be filing a formal complaint against him not because of their predictable affair but because he/his wife won't let her continue working with him on the case despite her being one of the main protagonists of the story (albeit quite briefly). It felt like the author panicked with the storyline, created a female protagonist but is still incredibly old fashioned regarding in gender roles and feminism.
Don't get me wrong, there were times throughout the book where I was still surprised and intrigued and that's why I've rated it 3 stars, but it wasn't gripping or descriptive enough for me, there were a lot of character holes and predictable storylines and a lack of depth to each storyline. In summary, I won't be reading anything else from the Carnivia trilogy.
I was really excited to start reading the book, the plot sounded great so I had high hopes. However I can't say I was gripped throughout the book until the last quarter but even then, the ending felt very rushed. It felt like there were either a lot of edits made to shorten the book and detail was omitted or the author lost their way, personally I felt there was a lack of direction in the plot throughout the book, the author was trying to do too much and make it sound really complex (potentially intentionally trying to misdirect the reader) however for me it came across as a scattergun approach of topics wanting to be included without a logical approach and/or structure.
One of my biggest issues in the book was about half way through when r*pe was mentioned almost constantly until the end. Didn't add anything to the story by mentioning it that much and felt wholly unnecessary. The repetition of sexual assault I can imagine could be quite triggering for survivors and therefore I wouldn't recommend reading this book. Even if you didn't know a man wrote this book, you'd be able to tell from the laissez faire mentions of r*pe throughout.
To make matters worse, Kat warns Tapo that she'll be filing a formal complaint against him not because of their predictable affair but because he/his wife won't let her continue working with him on the case despite her being one of the main protagonists of the story (albeit quite briefly). It felt like the author panicked with the storyline, created a female protagonist but is still incredibly old fashioned regarding in gender roles and feminism.
Don't get me wrong, there were times throughout the book where I was still surprised and intrigued and that's why I've rated it 3 stars, but it wasn't gripping or descriptive enough for me, there were a lot of character holes and predictable storylines and a lack of depth to each storyline. In summary, I won't be reading anything else from the Carnivia trilogy.
apechild's review against another edition
5.0
Oh, this was just so, so good. Just loved it. Well-written, intelligent and thorough - he clearly knows what he's writing about; interesting characters, page turning plot... this is what thrillers should be. I've actually already read the second in the trilogy, which I won on goodreads, and the reason I've come across this trilogy. I don't know whether I'd have heard of it otherwise.
You could put this in the same arena of books as the Millenium Trilogy. It's a crime thriller, but it's also about the culture and corruption of a particular country, and it's connections to the wider international world of politics, war-mongering and conspiracy. This time we're in Venice, Italy, and a dead woman in priest's clothing has washed up at the steps of a church. But this is no straight forward murder mystery.
There are three main characters who are important to the trilogy - Holly Boland, a US solider who is just moving to the massive US camp just outside of Venice in this book. There's Daniele, who is a recluse Italien who has created Carnivia, an online version of Venice that's encrypted and closed to the authorities, so people can use it for information sharing, conversations, hook ups or whatever - the thing is that the authorities can't spy on you here. And there is Kat Tapo, who is just such a cool character. She's a detective in the military police (I can't say I completely understand the Italian legal system, but they seem to have two sets of police, and the military type police deal with civilian crimes too). All of them get pulled into their own individual mysteries, which turn out to be the same mystery. They've got to pool resources and figure things out if they're going to survive.
There's a lot of recent European history in this tale of corruption, and a lot of current issues, including human trafficking. Also another one which as it turns out was locally rather topical for me as the first female bishop has just been ordained at York cathedral this month!
I am very much looking forward to the third book.
You could put this in the same arena of books as the Millenium Trilogy. It's a crime thriller, but it's also about the culture and corruption of a particular country, and it's connections to the wider international world of politics, war-mongering and conspiracy. This time we're in Venice, Italy, and a dead woman in priest's clothing has washed up at the steps of a church. But this is no straight forward murder mystery.
There are three main characters who are important to the trilogy - Holly Boland, a US solider who is just moving to the massive US camp just outside of Venice in this book. There's Daniele, who is a recluse Italien who has created Carnivia, an online version of Venice that's encrypted and closed to the authorities, so people can use it for information sharing, conversations, hook ups or whatever - the thing is that the authorities can't spy on you here. And there is Kat Tapo, who is just such a cool character. She's a detective in the military police (I can't say I completely understand the Italian legal system, but they seem to have two sets of police, and the military type police deal with civilian crimes too). All of them get pulled into their own individual mysteries, which turn out to be the same mystery. They've got to pool resources and figure things out if they're going to survive.
There's a lot of recent European history in this tale of corruption, and a lot of current issues, including human trafficking. Also another one which as it turns out was locally rather topical for me as the first female bishop has just been ordained at York cathedral this month!
I am very much looking forward to the third book.
lostinfrance's review against another edition
3.0
My boyfriend knows I love a good book...and in Indo, they are hard to come by. When his friend was returning to Australia, he grabbed his books and brought them to me...I picked this one up because I wanted a paperback (not an e-book) to read while we travelled to Sumba.
The only reason I grabbed this book is because it took place in Venice...I knew nothing of this author or the story.
The story was interesting and well written. Each chapter jumped around to a different character. It starts out with the murder of a woman dressed as a priest...there are scenes on an American army base, an abandoned building in Croatia...and islands on the outskirts of Venice.
I found the book interesting, maybe not a "stay up late because I can't put it down"....but it kept my interest and I enjoyed reading the outcome.
Read if you enjoy Italy....or page turners/mysteries.
The only reason I grabbed this book is because it took place in Venice...I knew nothing of this author or the story.
The story was interesting and well written. Each chapter jumped around to a different character. It starts out with the murder of a woman dressed as a priest...there are scenes on an American army base, an abandoned building in Croatia...and islands on the outskirts of Venice.
I found the book interesting, maybe not a "stay up late because I can't put it down"....but it kept my interest and I enjoyed reading the outcome.
Read if you enjoy Italy....or page turners/mysteries.
kayteeem's review against another edition
After the first couple of chapters, I was expecting it to be an entertaining murder mystery. Instead, I got the DaVinci Code crossed with Tom Clancy crossed with an Italian restaurant menu. I had hopes for the Venetian Second Life, but something about the techie stuff didn't really ring true -- seemed to be awfully proud of all its buzzwords without smoothing them into the characters. Add in a bit of human trafficking and, well... really not my sort of book.
By the time all the threads started coming clear, I was far enough in to want to finish it up for the plot, and hopes that there would be a few more of the bits I found interesting.
Overall: not really for me.
By the time all the threads started coming clear, I was far enough in to want to finish it up for the plot, and hopes that there would be a few more of the bits I found interesting.
Overall: not really for me.
nlane2's review
3.0
⚠️ TW ⚠️ : R*pe
I was really excited to start reading the book, the plot sounded great so I had high hopes. However I can't say I was gripped throughout the book until the last quarter but even then, the ending felt very rushed. It felt like there were either a lot of edits made to shorten the book and detail was omitted or the author lost their way, personally I felt there was a lack of direction in the plot throughout the book, the author was trying to do too much and make it sound really complex (potentially intentionally trying to misdirect the reader) however for me it came across as a scattergun approach of topics wanting to be included without a logical approach and/or structure.
One of my biggest issues in the book was about half way through when r*pe was mentioned almost constantly until the end. Didn't add anything to the story by mentioning it that much and felt wholly unnecessary. The repetition of sexual assault I can imagine could be quite triggering for survivors and therefore I wouldn't recommend reading this book. Even if you didn't know a man wrote this book, you'd be able to tell from the laissez faire mentions of r*pe throughout.
To make matters worse, Kat warns Tapo that she'll be filing a formal complaint against him not because of their predictable affair but because he/his wife won't let her continue working with him on the case despite her being one of the main protagonists of the story (albeit quite briefly). It felt like the author panicked with the storyline, created a female protagonist but is still incredibly old fashioned regarding in gender roles and feminism.
Don't get me wrong, there were times throughout the book where I was still surprised and intrigued and that's why I've rated it 3 stars, but it wasn't gripping or descriptive enough for me, there were a lot of character holes and predictable storylines and a lack of depth to each storyline. In summary, I won't be reading anything else from the Carnivia trilogy.
I was really excited to start reading the book, the plot sounded great so I had high hopes. However I can't say I was gripped throughout the book until the last quarter but even then, the ending felt very rushed. It felt like there were either a lot of edits made to shorten the book and detail was omitted or the author lost their way, personally I felt there was a lack of direction in the plot throughout the book, the author was trying to do too much and make it sound really complex (potentially intentionally trying to misdirect the reader) however for me it came across as a scattergun approach of topics wanting to be included without a logical approach and/or structure.
One of my biggest issues in the book was about half way through when r*pe was mentioned almost constantly until the end. Didn't add anything to the story by mentioning it that much and felt wholly unnecessary. The repetition of sexual assault I can imagine could be quite triggering for survivors and therefore I wouldn't recommend reading this book. Even if you didn't know a man wrote this book, you'd be able to tell from the laissez faire mentions of r*pe throughout.
To make matters worse, Kat warns Tapo that she'll be filing a formal complaint against him not because of their predictable affair but because he/his wife won't let her continue working with him on the case despite her being one of the main protagonists of the story (albeit quite briefly). It felt like the author panicked with the storyline, created a female protagonist but is still incredibly old fashioned regarding in gender roles and feminism.
Don't get me wrong, there were times throughout the book where I was still surprised and intrigued and that's why I've rated it 3 stars, but it wasn't gripping or descriptive enough for me, there were a lot of character holes and predictable storylines and a lack of depth to each storyline. In summary, I won't be reading anything else from the Carnivia trilogy.
tobyyy's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
This was a mostly enjoyable read, a military slash legal thriller slash murder mystery.
The one thing that dinged my overall rating down from 4 stars was this sentence: “After his kidnap, he’d been diagnosed as having a form of autism which amongst other things made him incapable of empathising with other people” (p.364).
Ummm. WHAT.
1) People with autism/autistic people FEEL EMPATHY. I am so tired of hearing this stupid stereotypical assumption that neuro-atypical people are incapable of empathy just because they don’t demonstrate it the same way that neurotypical people do.
2) You don’t “develop” autism after a traumatic event. It’s not PTSD. Don’t make it sound like the two are linked.
And then later in the book, the brilliant hacker character is talking with an eminent psychiatrist who confronts the hacker’s “inability” to have close personal connections and suggests medication and CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) to address that.
Again — NO!!! CBT may be helpful to address fallacies and cognitive distortions related to not having close personal connections/relationships. Also helpful to address any self-esteem issues or loneliness/depression related to the world being an unforgiving place for people who are not neurotypical. But for someone with autism, to actually address the concrete lack of meaningful relationships? Social skills training and psychoeducation and DEFINITELY NOT MEDICATION unless it’s for a comorbid issue like clinical depression or anxiety (which was not made explicit in the book, so it’s just me extrapolating now).
Why do people try to use therapy, psychiatry, and related things in a book without actually doing their damn research? It’s NOT THAT HARD to find sources for the information I’ve provided. God. A huge pet peeve of mine is authors who skimp on their research and because mental health is a “popular topic,” they decide that the articles they’ve read on Facebook or Buzzfeed are sufficient. Ugh.
This was a mostly enjoyable read, a military slash legal thriller slash murder mystery.
The one thing that dinged my overall rating down from 4 stars was this sentence: “After his kidnap, he’d been diagnosed as having a form of autism which amongst other things made him incapable of empathising with other people” (p.364).
Ummm. WHAT.
1) People with autism/autistic people FEEL EMPATHY. I am so tired of hearing this stupid stereotypical assumption that neuro-atypical people are incapable of empathy just because they don’t demonstrate it the same way that neurotypical people do.
2) You don’t “develop” autism after a traumatic event. It’s not PTSD. Don’t make it sound like the two are linked.
And then later in the book, the brilliant hacker character is talking with an eminent psychiatrist who confronts the hacker’s “inability” to have close personal connections and suggests medication and CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) to address that.
Again — NO!!! CBT may be helpful to address fallacies and cognitive distortions related to not having close personal connections/relationships. Also helpful to address any self-esteem issues or loneliness/depression related to the world being an unforgiving place for people who are not neurotypical. But for someone with autism, to actually address the concrete lack of meaningful relationships? Social skills training and psychoeducation and DEFINITELY NOT MEDICATION unless it’s for a comorbid issue like clinical depression or anxiety (which was not made explicit in the book, so it’s just me extrapolating now).
Why do people try to use therapy, psychiatry, and related things in a book without actually doing their damn research? It’s NOT THAT HARD to find sources for the information I’ve provided. God. A huge pet peeve of mine is authors who skimp on their research and because mental health is a “popular topic,” they decide that the articles they’ve read on Facebook or Buzzfeed are sufficient. Ugh.
karenavila85's review
3.0
Actual Raing: 2.5
I have mix feelings about this novel. I enjoyed it, found it interesting and some parts were exciting that I couldn't put the book down. However, the plot line was too confusing for me. I felt like there were too many stories to keep up with. What started as a murder case about a priest turned into military cover up/violence against women/organized crime/internet fiasco. I'm sure it was all mixed in to throw you off but I'm really not sure I really understood it. The ending hints that the story continues but this is as far as I will go. As much as I loved reading about aspects of Italy and Carnivia, I'm not really interested in following Kate Tapo. She's so arrogant, rude, and selfish. I usually cheer for women detective because they do not take any crap from men but once she got caught up in her love affair, which I saw coming, I felt no sympathy or remorse for her.
I have mix feelings about this novel. I enjoyed it, found it interesting and some parts were exciting that I couldn't put the book down. However, the plot line was too confusing for me. I felt like there were too many stories to keep up with. What started as a murder case about a priest turned into military cover up/violence against women/organized crime/internet fiasco. I'm sure it was all mixed in to throw you off but I'm really not sure I really understood it. The ending hints that the story continues but this is as far as I will go. As much as I loved reading about aspects of Italy and Carnivia, I'm not really interested in following Kate Tapo. She's so arrogant, rude, and selfish. I usually cheer for women detective because they do not take any crap from men but once she got caught up in her love affair, which I saw coming, I felt no sympathy or remorse for her.