Customer Reviews

Field of Blood: A Novel

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Over the past few years, Denise Mina has earned herself the reputation of being one of the best suspense writers currently published. With "The Field of Blood" she's done something very different from her previous books, and something slightly more ambitious. So that while "The Field of Blood" may not be her best mystery offering, ("GarnetHill" was definitely the best one so far) -- mainly because this is not a very suspenseful read --it was a very absorbing and emotionally charged read, and one that gave readers not completely familiar with the social history of Scotland in the '60s, '70s & and the '80s, an idea of the prejudices that somone from a poor, working-class Irish-Catholic background would have experienced in Scotland during that period.

Young "Paddy" Meehan longs for the day when she will be a real journalist, writing articles and being taken seriously by the male journalists she works with, feeling quite dismal about her current status as a glorified gofer for the Scottish Daily News. But she never expected that it would take the brutal murder of a child, and the ostracism of her family and her fiance, Sean, in order for her dreams to be realised. For when the body of Brian Wilcox is found, and two other children are arrested for the murder, Paddy realises that one of the suspects is Sean's young cousin. Unwittingly, Paddy confides in the wrong person, and the story is splashed all over the news. Her family and Sean are furious with her, but that's the least of Paddy's problems. For Paddy refuses to believe that the two boys were solely responsible for Brian's death, and begins to do some investigative work on her own, and in doing so makes a very dangerous and determined person very, very nervous...

I enjoyed "Field of Blood" immensely, though it probably will not be everyone's cup of tea. The subject matter is shocking and brutal, even with Denise Mina's restrained handling of the subject matter. The violence and brutality of the crime is, thankfully, never explicit or sensationalised. Could this be one reason why the book is not as suspenseful as other novels dealing with the murder of children? I'm not sure, and I would like to think not. The truth of the matter though is that "Field of Blood" is not so much about the investigation into the murder of Brian Wilcox, so much as it is an examination of Paddy's life, her identity and her ambitions and her sense of right and wrong. From that point of view, "Field of Blood" is a standout read. Paddy is the kind of protagonist that most will readily take to and find engaging. So that for me, it didn't matter that about two-thirds of the book was not very suspenseful or edge-of-your-seat gripping. It still was an engrossing and absorbing read. And if I had one criticism about this book, it was that I thought that the entire subplot dealing with the other Paddy Meehan, the safecracker who was found guilty of a high profile murder case, detracted from the smooth flow of the book. How this fitted into "The Field of Blood" was a bit of a mystery to me, and I really do think that the book would have been a much better one without it.

I own a country store and am a serious book junkie. I put all my stuff on the shelves, free for the taking, and encourage others to do the same. I just happened upon this book in this fashion, a dog-eared paperback left by a stranger.

For reference I am a Michael Connoly, Robert Crais, James Lee Burke sort of a person. Denise Mina is right up there with the best of them.

I always feel like apologizing for the time I give up to mysteries...but I have to say that I love the writing, the characters, the insights these authors bring to the table....it is not just plot and action.

Denise Mina writes about Glasgow. Her heroine is an Irish Catholic girl from a working class family....not an upwardly mobile LA male. Her heroine is quiet, self deprecating, subtle...and so is the writing. This was something completely different.....but I loved the characters, the insights, the writing.....Enough to drop everything and go out to Borders and buy the hardback of her new book.

Highly recommended.

This is a satisfying, well-written, dark and violent example of "tartan noir," beginning with a child's murder (based on the 1993 James Bulger case).

Paddy Meehan is overweight and insecure but deeply ambitious and verbally holds her own with the men at the newspaper where she works as a gofer. Paddy is perfectly willing to lie, break the law-- or shove a rival's head in a toilet-- as a means to a just end, or to jumpstart her career.

Paddy is shunned by her family, ridiculed by the police, rejected sexually by her staid Catholic boyfriend, and inadvertently causes one gruesome death while investigating another. She grows up a bit in the course of the novel; her desire for justice and her natural talent for journalism make her sympathetic in spite of her continual bad judgment.

This is a terrific read but a graphic and dark one.

"Field of Blood" moves slowly and the characters are flat, lacking the true-to-life punch and grit of Garnethill, Exile and Resolution. I gave up at page 140 and dove into a Val McDermid. I found myself so bored and daydreaming throughout, that I just decided to cut my loses and stop reading it altogether. What happened to Ms. Mina's writing? The Garnethill trilogy was so fantastic, so what gives now?

Denise Mina has created a truly original character in Paddy Meehan, the main character in FIELD OF BLOOD, an eighteen year old copyboy who dreams of being a journalist.

Through her own investigating, Paddy stumbles upon information that leads her to believe that the murder of a young boy is not all that it seems. Interspersed with this is the story of "another" Paddy Meehan, a man who was sent to prison years earlier for a crime he did not commit.

This was a very different sort of mystery, and a unique idea to have such a young, unglamorous heroine. I should note however, that the story is written with a great deal of Scottish dialect, which might bother some readers, but is still well worth reading.

I'd not read Mina before. She has created a wonderful character in "Paddy," who, in spite of her repressive upbringing and poor self-image, is smart, ambitious and determined. The story does have good suspense, but not until late in the story. The story of the real Paddy was interesting but I think the book would have been tighter and better without it. The book is good, but could have been much better.

FIELD OF BLOOD is being marketed as a fast-paced thriller, and it's anything but that. This is not a badly written novel, but most of the book revolves around the personal life of its protagonist, 18-year old aspiring journalist Paddy Meehan. The crime committed in this book is something of an afterthought.

This is a character-based book, so we learn about Meehan's strict Catholic family, her sexist colleagues, her obsesssions about her weight, her love life, and a whole host of other personal issues. Some of this is interesting, but it doesn't add up to a suspense novel, and that's what I thought I was buying.

There is also a historical subplot involving another character named Paddy Meehan that has nothing to do with the main story. This character is actually a real-life person, as Mina explains in an Author's note at the end of the novel. That's nice to know, but the story of this man's life added little to FIELD OF BLOOD, and mainly slowed the book down even further.

In the end, this novel reads more like a literary novel than a thriller. Overall, I was pretty disappointed with it. If you're looking for a suspense novel with more of a literary flavor, I would suggest Jacqueline Winspear or Lisa Unger instead.

cant say enough about these books, funny, insightfull, gripping, read it with a pie and chips

This is my first Denise Mina novel, so i came into this with no expectations or preconceptions. This is writing and character development that is in the very first rank of crime novels. Ms. Mina economy of language is outstanding. You rarely find authors today who know how to use words so efficiently.

There is a great story here, filled with some memorable characters and situations. I was done reading this so fast, i had to read it again because the pleasure was to good to walk away from.

I'll be delving into this young woman's remaining portfolio immediately, starting with "Garnethill"

Absolutely stunning, riveting throughout. I just could not put it down. Ms. Mina is a first class writer of crime drama. The only drawback is it's having been written for a British audience. The characters are incredibly real, the crime horrific, but not garishly told. The story flows from the first page, and has a well thought out excellent ending.