Customer Reviews

Fall Guy (Detective Inspector Carol Ashton Mystery)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can't actually say I "read" this book as I skipped several sections and got to the end as quickly as possibly. What I did read confirmed my initial fear: Carol Ashton has become a walk-on in her own life and, without an interesting, full life for the main character, the thin mystery has little to recommend it.

There is no longer anything remotely interesting about this series but, having read all the other books in the series (I should have stopped at about #10) I had a strange compulsion to revisit what used to be an old friend. The character is so disconnected as a mother that I wonder why the writer gave her a son in the first place but she is really not connected to anyone in her life -- least of all lovers past and present. It seems almost accidental that she manages to solve any mysteries because she is so generally clueless and unexpressive. After wading through so many of the books in this series, plus the other books of this writer, I can say there are probably four books in this particular series that are good (with the first two being top of the list), and the others seem to have been phoned in.

Claire McNab is a good enough writer that I can't help feeling there is a really good book lurking inside her, with characters who have depth and who express thoughts and emotions. I am not ready to give up on the writer but -- barring some future Carol Ashton book that garners rave reviews -- I have given up on this series and am looking askance at the other two series, Ms. McNab is now putting out, fearing more of the same. It's like the characters are stuck in the 1960's James Bond image of quick sex with no emotional connection.

There are too many writers putting out books showing deep connections, not to mention hot sex that lasts longer than one paragraph, for me to waste my time. Count me as very disappointed that a once promising character is content to wander in a haze.

In this 16th outing for Inspector Carol Ashton, she is called into the desert to determine whether a millionaire's death is accidental or murder. She has no shortage of suspects because the dead man was universally hated. Many of her suspects had both motive and opportunity to have cut the cords to his parachute causing him to plummet to his death.

This is one of the better Ashton books in recent years because it is more of a procedural than a romance. With the exception of one critical clue, the reader is privy to the clues as they come to Ashton and her team.

There were two things that detracted from my giving this book a higher rating. One was the over-use of the word "gesticulate" (and it's various uses - gesticulated, gesticulating, etc.). McNab used it so often during the first half of the book, I was ready to fling the book across the room hoping to hit the trash can and not the cat. However, McNab apparently got tired of using the word and moved on to other words.

The second thing that annoyed me was the fact that Ashton spent the first 99% of the book telling us how much she loved her house - even giving up her lovers for the house. How she couldn't possibly move and how it was the perfect house for her and Slinker (her cat). Then on the last page, she says to a woman that she'd be willing to sell the house and move in with the woman. Huh? What's with that? For years, we've heard about her house. We know what it cost to keep it both in terms of money and emotional sacrifice. And suddenly she's willing to give it up - without so much as an agonizing thought. No way.