This book opens with the horrific murder of a priest who is then left discarded in the church. Enter DCI Claire Winters who is juggling a somewhat unruly team, not helped by the fact she has mixed business with pleasure with her junior Sergeant Michael Diego.
I’ll be honest, it took me a little while to get into the swing of this book. I’m not a fan of explicit violence and Father Wainwright’s murder which occurred early on, didn’t help. As is the norm with police procedurals there was a whole cast of characters with the police eagerly questioning those who were known to see the priest on his last day. The man identified as being the last to meet the priest was one of his close friends, Mark Jenkins who was also involved in Shrovesbury Manor, a retreat for spiritual enlightenment, where Father Wainwright worked as well as being a regular at his church.
Alongside the police procedural we had flashbacks from the murderer as well as the mysterious Guardian whose identity is shrouded in mystery. The change in viewpoints can be quite brief which can be a little disconcerting, especially early on in the novel. With the team of detectives on the case being well-represented, with banter and egos cropping up in equal measure adding another layer of credibility to the novel. I liked Claire Winters who was strong without ever becoming overbearing and I felt a far more realistic portrayal of a woman in her role than other books in this genre. With the glimpses of her personal life leaking into her time at work was a great, and realistic way of giving the detective character without making the book more about her than the murders.
Despite putting the hours into the investigation it isn’t too long before another murder is committed! This time the victim is as far removed from a priest as is possible and the police struggle to find any commonality, except method, to link the two. As the police pick away at the few clues they have, they are left probing at half-truths and outright lies, with a few manipulative tears thrown in for good measure. With some of those they want to question are not willing to oblige, I felt we got a realistic view of a typical murder enquiry and the author handled this aspect really well, I felt involved rather than bored by the investigation because I was busy putting the same clues together, albeit with a bit of extra information.
Often when the identity of the murderer is half-revealed at the start, as in this novel, it is hard to keep the mystery element alive and kicking. After all we know the motive for the murders early on and we also know who is next on the hit-list but despite the author making life unnecessarily hard for herself, there was plenty still to discover and by the time I was a third of the way through I was busily turning the pages at a rate of knots to find out the missing parts of the puzzle. And I can reveal the ending… was terrific!
I’d like to thank Carina who sent me a copy of For All Our Sins which was published in paperback format on 6 October 2016.
First Published UK: February 2011
Publisher: Carina
No of Pages: 512
Genre: Crime Fiction
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Sounds interesting although not up to par of some of your recent reads. Happy Reading!
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It had an awful lot going for it and I enjoyed it enough to want to read the next in the series.
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Glad you thought there was a lot here to like, Cleo. Like you, I’m not much of a one for explicit violence. Still, it sounds like this one offers a good look ‘behind the scenes’ as the police investigate, and I find that interesting.
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There was a lot to enjoy and I’ll be interested to see what the second novel delivers
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To decide to have the culprit and motives revealed quite early in a book is a risky choice, I am glad it worked this time. Poor authors adding another layer of pressure on themselves to keep a story interesting! I have an issue with explicit violence, and I always I’m faint-hearted, so if you mention it, I’d better think twice before reading this book 🙂
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I’m glad my warnings help you – I know everyone’s tolerance levels differ and as long as it isn’t a complete gore fest I can cope – with the violence in this one being fairly explicit it could be a shock. The storyline is very good though 🙂
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I’m not sure this one is for me, but your review was so great that I’m tempted. Thanks for sharing.
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Aw thanks Laurel 🙂
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Nice review! I have this one to read – luckily I don’t mind explicit violence (in books that is…lol)
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We can compare notes when you’ve read it then 🙂
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A terrific ending can often make up for a weaknesses along the way. Is it a debut? Sounds like there’s quite a lot of promise in it…
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There was an awful lot of good in this one, I just felt the author made it hard for herself, yes it is a debut and I’m keen to read the next one for that very reason.
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I like that the main detective is realistic. It appeals to me and is more likely to connect me to the story. I know you have only given 3 stars, lower than some other recent reads but I still think I’d pick this up at the library.
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I’m recalibrating my star rating a bit in a bid to make the distinctions between my reads clearer – this had a lot going for it although I think the author could have made her life a little easier – I liked it enough to want to read the next one in the series.
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It’s always hard to rate. I find it a struggle. It’s the reviews that make me want to read or not normally.
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That’s what I do too 😊
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I just missed this on Netgalley,. Pity because it sounds so good.
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Oh what a shame 😦
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As much as I liked crime books, I’m with you on explicit violence
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I get that the genre is violent but I feel this is just as effective if hinted at rather than explicitly stated, although in this novel I understand why the author wrote it this way.
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