Skip to main content

Left to Die By Lisa Jackson #inbetweeny SPOILERS

I've had this on the bookshelf for absolutely ages and in a concerted effort to get rid (or keep if good) some of the oldies, Left to Die was next on my hit list.

It seemed at first glance to be a typical American cop solves murder case but as time (and pages) went on there were a few subtle changes such as female cops and (spoiler alert) two killers.

I enjoyed Jillian Rivers story and at some points I was genuinely unsure who the killer was. I liked Zane and the way him and Jillian's story panned out (although Jillian's dream was very random and felt very 50 Shades of Grey as opposed to crime thriller). I was however disappointed by Jillian's 'killer' I thought it the weakest part of the book. It was clever and could have been a good twist to have two killers but the reasons behind Aaron's wife suddenly deciding to kill Jillian, who was none the wiser to Aaron's deception and to try to pass it off as a serial killer seemed far fetched.

I liked Regan and her single parent to teenagers issues but thought the attitude towards her social life quite unjust and for her son to go from 'Lucky is not my real dad' to 'I'm off to live with him' too about face. Although I suppose it provides the killer with the perfect window whilst her colleagues think she is sorting her kids...

I was surprised that the killer wasn't captured by the end of the book as didn't realise this was a series. I'm not sure whether I've read a series where the killer remains the same, there are plenty where it's the same cops but one certainly doesn't spring to mind where it's the same killer. It's an interesting concept but, not realising I was slightly disappointed. Especially as I have so many books to read that the chance of me buying and reading the next one are very slim.

I do have a prediction, Regan's bit on the side Nate, he is either the killer or will feature more in the next book as he seemed too much of a bit character in this one and I'm sure Regan's life will be pulled apart in the next one (Chosen to Die by the way) if she is in fact the star crossed killers next intended.

It was ok but didn't justify the 5 year wait on my book shelf.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lock down book club - books from a different country

So we continued with the Zoom version of book club this month and it was lovely to see so many of us tackle it. The theme was books set in a different country (if you can't travel, let a book take you).  I read The Accident on the A35 by Graeme Macrae Burnet, a detective story with an element of tricksy fiction set in France. I really enjoyed it and you can read my full review here. We travelled to America a couple of times most interestingly to see whether Hilary Clinton (or Bill for that fact) would have made President if they had not got married. Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld is out in hardback now. Norway was a popular spot - Norwegian Nights by Derek B Miller about a retired american marine who moves to Norway and intervenes to save a young boys life sounded interesting. So much so that at least one member of the group has gone on to buy the first in the series, American By Day. We even made it as far as Japan and Botswana (and discovered a Scottish connection for Alexander McCa

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanthi

I expected to be emotionally drained after reading this one and to be honest (in a weird kind of way) I didn’t mind the thought that I would be. This was backed up by the introduction describing a brilliant young man whose writing was breath taking and whose story was devastating. Emotional rollercoaster of epic proportions was surely in store. I didn’t mind the beginning of the book although I was slightly surprised when we delved so deeply into Kalanthi's past in what was only a slim book. I was willing to gloss over the large number of references to his search as a youth to finding the meaning of life and what makes us, us as after all this was written by someone forced to ponder that very question. I also found the medical training he did vaguely interesting, I appreciated the reverence he placed in relation to the cadaver he was required to cut open as part of his medical training. However when it became apparent the actual portion of the book to do with him receiving hi

Village Christmas: And Other Notes on the English Year by Laurie Lee #BookOfTheMonth #OneRuleOfBookClub

When suggested last month we snapped up this 150 page or so collection of Lee's descriptions, memoirs and musings. Consisting of Chapters of no more than a few pages, topics included the river Severn, a pub and the landscaping of a garden! Winter, including Christmas, was the opening section so more than met the one rule of book club requirement (we review a Christmas book at Christmas). Spring, Summer and Autumn sections followed and one of the group chose to stop reading after the Winter section in order to read each section in its correct season. I love this idea but would either forget and end up reading them all in Autumn or would get frustrated that I still hadn't finished such a slim book that I had started in 2018.  "Children trapped in new concrete estates will be denied the freedom we knew. They'll become prisoners of television, as most children are today, and as they grow up they'll start hanging about the streets in gangs and stealing cars."