Rating: 3/5
Review:
Well written but unengaging
I was expecting to enjoy this book very much. Maurice Leitch is a very good writer and it sounded like my kind of thing - a well written historical novel based on good research. Sadly, although it was well written and researched, it failed to engross me and I found it rather dull in quite large parts.
Leitch creates two very believable narrators in William Hare, the murderer and partner of William Burke, and Percival Speed the detective on his trail. Hare is violent and conscienceless but constrained by caution (and sometimes by lust) and is very well painted. Speed is less interesting as a character but still an interesting voice and commentator on the times. For the first hundred pages or so this was enough to keep me going, but I have to say that I just got a bit bored as the narrative carried on, and on, and on with things happening but little in the way of real development or tension. In truth, I ended up skimming sections (which is something I rarely do) and found that I had seldom missed much when I began to read in detail again.
Others have plainly enjoyed this book far more than I did, and for the reasons I expected to, so don't let me put you off - it may just be me. However, I found it all a bit of a slog and can only give it a lukewarm recommendation.
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