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A review by fictionmajorette
Original Sins by Erin Young
4.0
Full thoughts: https://fictionmajorette.blogspot.com/2024/02/original-sins-erin-young.html
As usual with police procedural series, it isn't strictly necessary to read the books in order as the main investigation plots are self-contained. I did read the first book in the series - The Fields - and really enjoyed it (review linked here) - however, I think this would work very well as a stand alone.
Young writes in the acknowledgements section at the end that this was her quarantine book and the inspiration certainly comes through. We get a good amount of the political climate of the time coming into play and I liked the political suspense/thriller aspect which was also an aspect I enjoyed in the first book in the series.
Along with the political aspect, we also societal tensions around women and their 'place' in society. There is a lot of language around women knowing their place, and being punished if they step out of that very restrictive role that some men think they should be in. Also, we do see a number of Sin Eater attacks on page, and the viciousness of these attacks is not held back. For me, these parts were a pretty visceral reading experience, but I could see someone with personal experience in these types of situations having a hard time reading them.
I loved the Sin Eater investigation and was very invested in that plot line. I found it the perfect amount of twisty and it had a lot of areas for Riley and the team to look into.
We get multiple POVs and I think Young does a fantastic job at using the different POVs to deepen the story. The ending resolution is a little complex, but I think it would feel very messy and out of left field if we were only following Riley. Having the other POVs help give the reader some background information to give context to some of Riley's investigation threads which helped me feel like the ending reveal was more grounded than it might have otherwise felt.
Overall, this was another good procedural/mystery/political thriller read from Young and I look forward to reading on in the Riley Fisher series.
Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC. Expected publication date is February 13, 2024.
As usual with police procedural series, it isn't strictly necessary to read the books in order as the main investigation plots are self-contained. I did read the first book in the series - The Fields - and really enjoyed it (review linked here) - however, I think this would work very well as a stand alone.
Young writes in the acknowledgements section at the end that this was her quarantine book and the inspiration certainly comes through. We get a good amount of the political climate of the time coming into play and I liked the political suspense/thriller aspect which was also an aspect I enjoyed in the first book in the series.
Along with the political aspect, we also societal tensions around women and their 'place' in society. There is a lot of language around women knowing their place, and being punished if they step out of that very restrictive role that some men think they should be in. Also, we do see a number of Sin Eater attacks on page, and the viciousness of these attacks is not held back. For me, these parts were a pretty visceral reading experience, but I could see someone with personal experience in these types of situations having a hard time reading them.
I loved the Sin Eater investigation and was very invested in that plot line. I found it the perfect amount of twisty and it had a lot of areas for Riley and the team to look into.
We get multiple POVs and I think Young does a fantastic job at using the different POVs to deepen the story. The ending resolution is a little complex, but I think it would feel very messy and out of left field if we were only following Riley. Having the other POVs help give the reader some background information to give context to some of Riley's investigation threads which helped me feel like the ending reveal was more grounded than it might have otherwise felt.
Overall, this was another good procedural/mystery/political thriller read from Young and I look forward to reading on in the Riley Fisher series.
Thanks to NetGalley and Flatiron Books for the ARC. Expected publication date is February 13, 2024.