Customer Reviews

Red Bones (Shetland Quartet 3)

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Another terrific Shetland read from Ann Cleeves! Superior characterization, concise but effective description, and best of all, an intriguing plot that keeps the reader puzzling until the end. Please hurry with the next one!

This book is a novel, a detective story and a travel guide- in that order. It is about two malel detectives, inspector Jimmy Perez and his associate Sandy Wilson - and it is written by a woman, Ann Cleves. I suggest the following hypothesis: Woman writers having men as heroes (or main characters) add a flavor to a story - that, when read by men, could not have be added by a male writer. To compare; the stories of Peter Temple (The broken shore) and Ann Cleeves (Red bones) both concerns murders taken place in small communities where the indigenous people (aborigines in "The broke shore", local fishermen, or locals, in "Red bones" ) plays a central role. So the settings are sort of similar. However, whereas the aborigines are described rather schematically (to me), the description of the fishing society is emotional and detailed.

In Cleeves' story, both men and women are reflecting over their lives with equal intensity. Sandy (one of the policemen) reflects: "He couldn't face the stoic cheer of his father and his mother's restless energy. " (p. 203). And Hattie thinks: "I was never that comfortable with my body" she thought, "not even as a child". Why would any man want to sleep with me?" (p. 65) In Temples story the detective hero becomes a living character, but the women remains backgrounds for the male characters. (No critique, it is just another way of writing a story.) However, it is nice to read a story where both genders get equally insightful attention (maybe Cleeves is giving men too much credit for their reflections, but this is a novel, not reality).

Cleeves' writing style digs into our imagination in short sentences. Here is the essence of a marriage characterized in 24 words: "He said there was no point in taking on the world- He'd never win. Besides, he had Evelyn to do that for him." (p.91).

Cleeves detective story is (also) well written and has a surprising end - to me. Best of all, the solution gets its credibility from the character description. Now, if the character descriptions were real, one would probably not go for a visit to the island where the murder took place. However, the author assures us that the island is a friendly place (p. vii), and some of the characters claim they could not live in another place "You are lucky to have been borne here" (p. 202). Still, the island is described as barren, and covered in fog (not all the time). So, why does Cleeves' story still make you want to visit Shetland? Maybe this: " so she could smell the salt, feel the air on her skin.--"these days I don't feel I can breathe in the city"(p.371). Strangely, this book is also a nice travel guide.