Long Way Home by Eva DolanMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Time take to read - 3 days
Publisher - Vintage
Pages - 400
Blurb from Goodreads
A man is burnt alive in a shed.
No witnesses, no fingerprints - only a positive ID of the victim as an immigrant with a long list of enemies.
Detectives Zigic and Ferreira are called in from the Hate Crimes Unit to track the killer, and are met with silence in a Fenland community ruled by slum racketeers, people-trafficking gangs and fear.
Tensions rise.
The clock is ticking.
But nobody wants to talk.
My Review
Detective Zigic is our main character, along with Detective Ferreira, both work in the Hate Crimes Unit and have a killer to catch. The victim has been set on fire, there are no witnesses and no finger prints. Once they identify the victim as an immigrant, they find people are reluctant to talk and the more digging the detectives do the more corruption they uncover.
I really found this book hard to get into, although the prologue gives a gripping start to the story, an unnamed individual is being hunted by men with guns and then we go to four days before the incident at the beginning of the book. A body is found, locked in a shed and burned to death, Zigic and Ferreira investigate and soon the book uncovers human trafficking, abuse, racism, slum racketeers and danger for the detectives as this kind of business is big bucks and the law won't get in the way.
Despite having a good start and drawing you in, I felt it focused on far too many mundane things, certain police procedures and a lot of it was drawn on and at parts boring. However, other parts are really engaging and even brutal in how little disregard there is for human life. The end came around quite suddenly and was ok but for me, it was just a bit too little too late. That said, I am in the minority, it seems most people who read this loved it, I just didn't warm to any of the characters, well none of the main ones anyway. 2/5 for me this time, thanks to Dead Good books for sending me a copy, I would maybe try this author again but on another series, this just wasn't for me.
Interesting that you note there was a little too much focus on police procedure. Though I do not think that I have read any books like this, from what I have read on other blogs some folks love it when books dwell upon this.
ReplyDeleteI do not blame you for not appreciating it :)
Lainy, thanks for sharing your honest thoughts about this book. Although I don't read a lot of crime fiction, I can understand your sentiments.
ReplyDelete