Hold Your Tongue

If I’m being entirely honest, I almost put this book down with the aim to never return to it. However, I’m so glad that I didn’t give up on it because I ended up really enjoying it. Now I’m ready to read the sequel and I intend to go and see the author do a reading at the Central Library.

Firstly, I need to address why I thought I needed to give up on the book. Near the beginning of the book, there was a flashback which described an extremely violent act which gave me the boak. It made me feel so nauseated but this was literally just a sentence or two and once I got past that, I was in for a good time.

I really enjoyed the setting of this book. Some people may not enjoy reading about a serial killer on the prowl in the city that they live in but the familiarity of the locations really enhanced my enjoyment. I especially loved that this book took place in winter, we’ve been having a heat wave and I just loved reading about the snow and slush on the streets that I frequent.

The murders were seemingly random and I really enjoyed trying to work out what linked them. This book was like a puzzle! I was so excited and a little bit smug when I worked out the link between the victims. Especially as I worked it out before the protagonist.

I don’t know if I liked the characters. At first, I really disliked most of them. I hated the way that some of the characters interacted with each other. I’m not into reading books about toxic work environments. I’ve lived that and don’t need it in my fiction. The toxicity was resolved which was good because that really did take away a huge part of my enjoyment.

This was a very interesting and well written crime novel. It was so full of mystery and intrigue. My interest was held from start to finish. While I worked out the links between the victims, I didn’t know who the killer was or why they were tormenting the women of the city. I really enjoyed the reveal as it took me by surprise.

I always think that I’m not really into crime novels from the police perspective but this book really was an enjoyable read. I really enjoyed getting to try to work out the crime and the police detectives didn’t annoy me, other than being unable to work together. Often I find that detectives bend the rules which irks me on fiction because these are the people I expect to stick to the rules, that’s what usually annoys me in police detective stories. That wasn’t an issue in this book though which I’m so please about.

I’m so excited to find out what happens in the next book and to read more book about fictitious crimes in my home city!