Amd mot just for its masterful secret-filled plot. What really got me were the characters, so vibrantly alive and complex like real people are.
I loved it! Amd mot just for its masterful secret-filled plot. What really got me were the characters, so vibrantly alive and complex like real people are.
So much more than a crime novel, it made me understand the second half of 17th century England like never before. And it's a fascinating history, full of intrigue and subterfuge that had me hooked from page 1. So much that I easily forgive the use of Faulkner's Sound and Fury technique in the narrative style.
Even though I enjoyed the story, particularly given the serial killer twist and the obsession mania, this book of the Shardlake series isn't as well written as the other 3. The author seemed to be in a hurry to finish it, so I can't begin to describe the number of repetitions, the too many unnecessary adverbs and the rushed dialogues full of "he said, she said, he asked, she asked". But nothing was more disquieting than the word "quiet" in all its infinite variations. I stopped counting how many times "quiet" and "quietly" were used throughout the book, sometimes twice or even thrice in the same sentence. In any case, such is my fascination with this interesting and unique series that I will keep reading it. I just hope the next books return to the standard set by the first ones.