Rating: 4/5
Review:
An enjoyable read
I enjoyed The Puppet Show. It was a recommendation which I
approached with some dubiety; another serial killer, a maverick
detective brought back from suspension because of a personal message
from the killer...it all sounded very stale and clichéd to me, but
M.W. Craven writes well and manages to make this seem quite fresh.
There are a lot of
good things about it: principally a decently told story, the Cumbrian
setting, some well described and interesting police work, the fact
that for once the victims are men rather than women and a very
enjoyable character in Tilly Bradshaw. She is a mathematical genius
and data analyst who is socially naive and inept but very endearing
and who becomes Poe’s partner in the investigation. It all kept me
reading with enjoyment, but it did have its flaws, too. There are
some very crude targets for Poe’s wrath (pantomime bullies of one
sort an another) and the denouement is, as one can spot from very
early on, the inevitable One-To-One Stand Off In A Deserted Location
between the killer and Poe. The killer’s full explanation sounds
as though it’s written by a novelist rather than being spoken by an
ordinary person...and so on – although to be fair, Craven does put
a somewhat different slant on the encounter from normal.
In spite of these
reservations, I found The Puppet Show a good, absorbing read. The
setting and characters are convincing and I shall be reading more of
this series. Recommended.
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