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A review by alice94
Natural Causes by James Oswald
4.0
This book was not a typical detective story, it always hinted between being a typical detective story with a typical killer and a supernatural story with a killer that may not be so ordinary. It isn't until the end that either of those is confirmed when the killer is finally caught and punished for their crimes. The title of the book is also interesting as it's a play on words of 'death of natural causes' and that of a life cut short.
It is written in a larger font then most books which makes reading it easier for viewers who struggle with reading smaller writing and the font that is use is one that is pleasant to read as well. The length of the chapters means that you can easily keep up with the skips between crime scenes or locations, even the in-chapter person skips are easy to notice with a line usually diving them or a page being a divider between the two characters. It is not a book that is written in first person neither, which means that you feel like more of an observer to the situation then someone who is apart of, the set is that appears almost as a movie which you are watching from above rather than putting yourself in the shoes of the detective.
The book gives you enough clues that you are able to follow and see the pattern for yourself, but at the same time with enough mystique that you are not 100% sure of the answer until the final 20 pages. It keeps you wanting to find out more and makes you want to turn the page over, just to find out if the main character saw the same connections that you have seen. In terms of descriptions, there are enough information to assist you with telling people apart but at the same time allows you to imagine them for yourself which is something that I like within a book.
I would definitely recommend to people who like detective stories as it is an easy one to read and has a nice ending which does leave you wondering what other stories would the detective come across. Out of all of the ones I have read recently however, this is one of the only ones who does take the supernatural world into perspective as well, so if you don't like the line being blurred between the real and fiction with enough coloration that it could be neither. If you don't like supernatural ending then I would not read the final chapter as this is where it unfolds and you may put you off the book completely despite the ending allowing it to be something less fictional then portrayed at the end.
It is written in a larger font then most books which makes reading it easier for viewers who struggle with reading smaller writing and the font that is use is one that is pleasant to read as well. The length of the chapters means that you can easily keep up with the skips between crime scenes or locations, even the in-chapter person skips are easy to notice with a line usually diving them or a page being a divider between the two characters. It is not a book that is written in first person neither, which means that you feel like more of an observer to the situation then someone who is apart of, the set is that appears almost as a movie which you are watching from above rather than putting yourself in the shoes of the detective.
The book gives you enough clues that you are able to follow and see the pattern for yourself, but at the same time with enough mystique that you are not 100% sure of the answer until the final 20 pages. It keeps you wanting to find out more and makes you want to turn the page over, just to find out if the main character saw the same connections that you have seen. In terms of descriptions, there are enough information to assist you with telling people apart but at the same time allows you to imagine them for yourself which is something that I like within a book.
I would definitely recommend to people who like detective stories as it is an easy one to read and has a nice ending which does leave you wondering what other stories would the detective come across. Out of all of the ones I have read recently however, this is one of the only ones who does take the supernatural world into perspective as well, so if you don't like the line being blurred between the real and fiction with enough coloration that it could be neither. If you don't like supernatural ending then I would not read the final chapter as this is where it unfolds and you may put you off the book completely despite the ending allowing it to be something less fictional then portrayed at the end.