Rating: 3/5
Review:
A bit of a struggle
This is the first Quintin Jardine I have read. I can see that many
people love this series and A Brush With Death was recommended by a
friend whose judgement I trust, but I though it was a bit plodding
and not very involving.
Here, DI Lottie Mann
and DS Dan Provan are called to the death of a very high-profile
ex-World Champion boxer. Their investigation throws up all sorts of
murky, tangled intrigues, both personal and in the dodgier end of the
boxing world, while dealing with their own domestic problems.
Retired Chief Constable Bob Skinner is called in to help and we get
almost two parallel investigations at times.
It’s OK. The
characters are well drawn and behave pretty rationally (which is
always a bonus). However, I thought the plot sprawled a bit and
there is too much clunky exposition, often by characters telling each
other what they already know. Just as an example: early on, a
character says to someone else who also knows Skinner very well, “His
media job’s using up all the time he can spare from helping Sarah
out with the new baby and getting to know Ignacio, the son he never
knew he had until the boy was eighteen years old and needed his
help.” I mean – come on! That’s about as clumsy as it gets,
and although most of it isn’t on that level, there’s enough of
this sort of thing to keep throwing me out of the story.
I am in a small
minority here, so don’t let my single review put you off, but I can
only give this a very qualified recommendation.
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