About a month or so ago, I was sent a copy of Oracle by the publisher, and was asked to do a review. It sat in my inbox for a while. I had too many books that I WANTED to read, and I really didn't want to trudge through a police-case style mystery.
Honestly, reading the blurb, the story didn't really interest me, but after being disappointed by a few novels that I actually paid for, I decided to give this one a try.
Overall, the characters in this story are very believable. We have a detective who is a single dad facing his own personal problems who is put on a murder case that develops into a serial killer case. JC Martin did a great job of portraying a man devoted to his family, but dedicated to finding a killer. The sideline characters are also well played out. None are stale and forgettable. Even the rough and tough boss gets to show her soft side, giving us a giggle. Well Done.
Points of view: (Minor Spoiler) The novel starts in the POV of a magician. It was fine, until the end of the first chapter. Let's just say he's no-longer in the story anymore. Okay... he's dead. I said it. Yes, he is victim #1.
From here, we are thrown into chapter #2. This chapter is first person "I" from the POV of the detective. To me, it was very jarring. Moving ahead, we will be inside the head of the detective, the killer, and also in the POV of each victim right before they get killed. After a while I got used to it, but it did bother me in the beginning.
Pacing: For the most part, the pacing was great, but I did get a little impatient in the middle. Somewhere right before the climax, I was thinking. "Wait, there's gonna be another murder? Get on with it." Now, I am perfectly willing to admit that I read a few novellas before this, and may have become accustomed to a faster read... but I did get a little impatient in the middle of the story. This could just be me, though, so I'm not faulting the author's style on this.
Believe it or not, I Actually liked this novel. Not loved, but liked it. On a great note, I thought I picked out the "killer" early on in the story. (I tend to do this a lot) And I thought I was right until the last few pages. If I was right, I would have been mad and hated the novel. I really enjoyed that JC Martin gave enough plausible suspects to keep us guessing. Well Done.
POV Switching... while I didn't like it at first, I did get used to the different POVs once I realized what she was doing. If I was suddenly thrust into a random person's head I thought: "Okay, this one's a gonner," and I moved on. It worked.
Writing style. JC Martin's style is sleek and very readable. She pulls you in to the story, and keeps you reading. Normally, I am a chapter a night kind of reader. Frequently, I'd read for longer. Especially during the climax. I didn't want to put the book down. I kept jumping and biting my nails. Nicely done.
