thereadingmum's reviews
772 reviews

Had a lot of elements from other books and tv shows so was entertaining. I saw the first twist coming from awhile away. The second twist not so much. However, I agree with many other reviewers that the ending was disappointing. It was unsatisfying and had me going "seriously?!" I personally don't like it when the evil people get away with stuff and it seems like a lot of others don't either. Also, for someone supposedly so intelligent, put together and a psychiatrist to boot, Dr Hale is impulsive, has no common sense and doesn't think ahead. It's just not believable for a character to be so contradictory.

This immediately brought to mind Holly Ringland's The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding. I enjoyed Down the Rabbit Hole a lot more. Here's why:
- I prefer Shaeden Barry's writing. It is contemporary yet well executed and the dialogue is believable but not annoyingly realistic.
- The plot is well-paced and I was sucked in to Hannah's spiralling obsession from the start. 
- I loved the Alice in Wonderland quotes and thought they were very appropriate.
But the main reason was that although Hannah is also a twenty-something woman with questionable morals and a track record of bad decision-making, her bad decisions aren't quite as bad (how is it ok to hook up with your dead sister's boyfriend so soon after her death?!), she is not as annoying or at least she is cognizant of her lack of consideration, and she actually redeems herself at the end. Esther did not IMO and I really could not stand her. 

I admit I had to skim a bit over Marnie and Rachel's stories as they were a teensy bit cliched and I didn't really need all the details. However, I think put together, their 3 stories do tie in very well. Alice's disappearance isn't solved though you get a very strong idea of what happened, but this is ok and I felt satisfied at the end. 

Excellent debut and I look forward to what she can do next and how she will develop as an author.

I have loved this whole series. However, a few of the books have leaned a bit too heavily on the architectural/music speak and the plots were a little hard to follow. 

Amongst Our Weapons is possibly my 2nd favourite of the series with the first book still standing as the only 5-star. 

There's more development of the team with a new "recruit", another female, and Lesley returns to stir things up. The plot is much more cosy mystery type with a serial killing "angel" from the Spanish inquisition on the loose. Meanwhile the looming birth of Peter and Beverley's twins add to the mayhem. 

Short stories are much harder to get right because you have so much less time to develop characters and plot and set up the scene. This is why I usually avoid them because I invariably end up cringing or shrugging with indifference. There are a few writers, however, that I know will not disappoint. Atwood is certainly one of them. 

The stories in this collection are longer in format and I would classify them as literary. I especially liked "True Trash" and "Hairball". These are not "easy" stories to read and most of them have a dark or tragic bent. However, the quality of the writing is such that it makes reading them a pleasure even if you're left feeling sad.

If you need a masterclass in the short form, I highly recommend any of Atwood's short story collections. 

All the reviews that said it was too "talky" for a mystery are accurate. The first "story" about the missing child is much too detailed. After all, half the characters die or disappear after that. Do we really need to know so much about them? The one character we should have had a bit more insight into was the father, but perhaps that was on purpose to obfuscate for a later plot point.

It took me awhile to warm to Jackson as well. He seems a bit inept for the first half of the book. However, I enjoyed it enough that I was willing to brave the second instalment. Helps that I could speed the reading up. 

I liked this Jackson Brodie a lot more than the first one. It follows a more traditional mystery format and thus is much faster paced and a lot less unnecessary detail. 

Jackson's side story with Julia compliments rather than distracts from the main storyline. Although the plot is a tad convoluted, it's still manageable. I like Jackson a lot more here, but feel like his relationship issues are a bit feminine.