As this is the third book in the series, I was a little bit concerned (as I usually am when I start a series in the middle) that it could be an uphill battle. Sometimes authors include so much detail from previous installments; it makes coming in late challenging. I’m happy to say, however, that this is not so much the case with this book.
Beck was a tough character to get to know. Without a baseline, it was jarring to have his personal demons come to light in the face of the case at hand. And what a doozy that situation is. As always, I don’t give plot points away here, and you can read blurbs for the background. Suffice to say that I thought this was a unique plot with sympathetic victims and a twisted perpetrator.
In spite of Beck being a tough person to crack, I thought he was also realistic. Given what police see every day, it is often no wonder when they can’t cope. How Beck tries to deal is very familiar to those in law enforcement across the globe. I also appreciated that he had an astute eye for details and evidence. That made him more likable.
I enjoyed the setting of this story. The small Irish town was quaint and appealing while still being the center of a twisted case. The size also added to the claustrophobic feel. In small towns, everybody knows everybody else’s business but are often loathe to share it, even when it’s vital to a criminal case. This hampers the investigation while also providing urgency to Beck’s investigation.
Despite a slow start, this book did take off, and it was quite a read to the final pages. I grew to appreciate Beck more, and I look forward to reading the first two books, as well as any others to come.
Author Bio
Michael Scanlon is a civilian employee of the An Garda Siochana (the Irish police force), but a life threatening undiagnosed illness that struck while travelling in Spain in 2014 has rendered him on long term sick leave. He is married to Eileen and has a daughter, Sarah. He lives in the countryside outside the town of Ballina in County Mayo. The town has arguably the best salmon river in Europe, called the Moy.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MScanlonAuthor
