Books & Chocolate

The whole Dublin Murder Squad series has been a bit of an up-and-down ride for me. There have been things I've really enjoyed (which is what has kept me reading the series), and things I didn't. One of my continued criticisms is the pace - the books are soooo slow. This one and the previous were a bit faster, but still - snail's pace. 

Where to start with the issues I had with this one... Well, I already mentioned the pacing so there's that. While it was a bit quicker overall, there were moments when it just bogged down. 

Then there was the back-and-forth bit. It took me a while to figure out that the chapters were actually bouncing from the past to present. And that the past chapters were third-person omniscient. The present day chapters were third-person limited, so the switch was really jarring at times - even towards the end when I knew that was the style being used. 

I suppose next I'll mention the characters. I didn't connect with a single one of them. I really didn't care what happened to any of them. I've said before I don't have to like characters in books to enjoy the book, so that's not the issue. It's just there was no connection at all. Just indifference. 

Finally - the whole supernatural element was not necessary. In the previous books, there was always a hint of a supernatural element. I was OK with that. But this was obvious. I wish the author had just stayed in the vague territory on that one.

One more book to go in the series (at least as of the date of this post). I'll tough it out, even though the two main characters are the same as this story - and remember I didn't care about either of them...