The Reaper

I've recently finished reading The Reaper by Peter Lovesey, chosen by Beth for our book club. I don't read a lot of Crime Fiction and this was one of those books that wasn't very deep but easy to read; something that you can just read lightly. It actually was pretty enjoyable but did suffer from some poor writing. While the main character was written quite well the female characters (particularly the main female character) were written poorly, as if the author thought all females were gossips and desperate for love. The book included at least one particular plot twist which wasn't exciting but instead was annoying because it was completely inconsistent with the character involved. It just seemed to come out of nowhere, whereas the plot twists involving the lead male character were much more believable and unpredictable.

There was also some annoying poor editing, where there was a whole part going on about burial rather than cremation and then an editing slip where it talked about people gathering after the cremation instead of the burial. Not a big thing but I find that kind of stuff really off-putting (no doubt the editor in me coming out).

I won't go out of my way to read any more Peter Lovesey books but it wasn't all bad, and certainly not the worst book I've ever read.

The Reaper - 2.5 stars.

The Reaper by Peter Lovesey