book review
Book Review: Deadly Shores
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This feature is in association with NetGalley.
Deadly Shores by Kerry Buchanan
Many thanks to NetGalley and to Joffe Books for letting me see an advanced reader’s copy of Deadly Shores by Kerry Buchanan.
Deadly Shores is the latest police procedural for Harvey and Birch, Buchanan’s pair of detectives, set in and around Belfast in Northern Ireland. It’s book 3, from what I can gather, and while I did enjoy it as a standalone story set within the series, I do feel I would have benefited more from reading the first two books.
I felt as though I was missing a few details and was failing to understand the chemistry between the two officers.
I loved almost everything about this story.
I loved the unusual setting, I loved getting to know how the Northern Ireland police force worked, I loved the characters, who felt nicely established, and I loved the storyline. It kept me turning the pages to find out what on earth was going to happen next.
I stalled when we ‘discovered’ who was behind the mystery, but I ploughed on in the hope that this was a massive red herring. It wasn’t, and in a way, I was also glad that it wasn’t. But I would have preferred to have been kept guessing until closer to the end, at least to give me half a chance of trying to work it out for myself.
There was also the usual lack of thought with characters’ names.
Having so many similar-sounding names was a bit confusing, especially at the very start where we had Aaron, Asha, Aiken, and Alistair in chapter one, closely followed by Jim and Tom in the same line, Steve and Steele in the same line, and Clara and Claudia in the same line.
This is such a quick and easy fix, I don’t know why so many authors let it happen.
But it’s a nice read, I presume a good continuation of the series. I enjoyed it so much, I bought book 1.
Four stars.
Originally published at https://www.dianewordsworth.com on October 10, 2023.
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