Monday, July 14, 2014

BOOK REVIEW: I finally read an Ann Cleeves book and it was pretty great

I love a British mystery. There are many British mystery series that I love to read, and plenty TV adaptations that I love to watch, but few that I love in equal measure. Either the show does no justice to the books, or else it's so good that I hate to admit I like it better than the original stories. But the ITV adaptation of Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope mysteries hits just the right balance, and I love them both.

Reading Silent Voices was like watching an episode of Vera, except all of my extra questions about the characters were explained (I know, this sounds obvious, but I'm not sure how else to say it). The tone was the same in the book as it is in the show, so if you've seen the show and hate it, you might not like the books at all.

This entry in the series is a story of a social worker and single mom whom Vera finds dead--a victim of strangulation--in the steam room of her gym. I love the moment when Vera realizes she'll have to call it in, meaning that everyone at work will know she's joined a health club. Realizing she has no choice, she at least takes the time to change back into her street clothes before her team arrives. No need to be seen in her swim suit, even if there is a crime scene!

The pace is somewhat slow, but I didn't find it dragged on. The pace made sense for the setting. Everyone is lying and everyone is at least a little bit depressed about something, so they don't make for very helpful witnesses. DI Stanhope, herself a little depressed and secretive, knows how to get things out of people eventually. These are, after all, her people. The bleakness of the setting is a big part of the charm.

Only Ann Cleeves could make a character as grumpy and frumpy as Vera Stanhope seem like the most capable, formidable, and oddly likeable detective ever. If I had a crime that needed solving, I'd want Vera to solve it. Unless of course I was the criminal, in which case I'd probably break down eventually, confessing everything to her over a cup of spiked tea and a good cry. She'd give me a biscuit, call me pet, and then cart me off to jail in handcuffs. She's made of stern stuff, our Vera.


BOOK DETAILS:
Silent Voices (A DI Vera Stanhope Mystery)
by Ann Cleeves
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: May 7, 2013
View on Amazon

Source: local library



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