Book review: Kill Chain

By
By Meg Gardiner
Reviewed by Natazzz

I'm a big fan of crime novels. In fact, it's one of my favourite genres when it comes to books. Over the years I must have read hundreds of crime novels and I have a pretty good idea of what they usually entail and what I like and dislike about them. I picked up the paperback of Kill Chain by Meg Gardiner (2006) at a book fair last year because the cover appealed to me and I thought I would enjoy it. The book didn't disappoint but it also did not stand out much.

Kill Chain tells the story of Phil Delany, whose car is found at the bottom of a ravine. The cops think Phil just wanted to disappear but his daughter Evan finds out he's been kidnapped by some very bad people. They tell Evan her father will die is she doesn't give them something they want within 72 hours. In order to do so she has to figure out what exactly they are looking for and where to find it. Evan ends up travelling all around the world, stopping at nothing to save her dad. But this isn't as straightforward as it seems and she finds out things about her dad's past she might wish she had never known.

I really liked this story and I read the first part of the book pretty quickly because it was fast paced and I was eager to find out what would happen next. However, the further I got into the book, the less excited I became. It's not that I did not enjoy the novel but the storyline became a little predictable. It's never good when you have already figured out what the deal is chapters before your main characters do. It kills all the suspense.

In addition, I thought too much space was devoted to details and background stories that did not even matter much. The chase scenes with the bad guys seemed never ending and could have been cut much shorter. Having said that, the novel was entertaining enough to help me through a long train ride home.

I don't consider this book as a must read but if you enjoy crime novels it's a great book to keep you company while travelling or if you have some time to kill.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book review: She’s Never Coming Back

By
Image
By Hans Koppel Translated by Kari Dickson Published by Sphere It is safe to say that my choice of reading material is not usually truculent. That’s why I surprised myself when I decided to read a novel whose front cover prominently displays a quote describing it as a ‘terrifying crime novel’. I started to read expecting the worse and - it being impossible to put the book down - a few hours later I was trying to understand what had hit me. Let’s be clear: I loved this book and I’m grateful to Sphere for publishing this Swedish novel by author Karl Petter Lidbeck who, being a children’s literature author, decided to have it published under the pen name of Hans Koppel. I can see why he doesn’t want to have the two genres mixing on the bookshelves! The plot is simple enough: one day after work, Ylva does not return home. When she hasn’t returned 24 hours later, her husband Mike starts to worry and calls the police. Ylva seems to have disappeared without a trace and, month after month, Mike
Read more

Booknet: a new platform for authors and readers

By
Image
‘Ooooh, what is Booknet ?’ I hear you ask… Booknet is a popular literary social media network, self-publishing platform, and Bookscription eBook sales model, all of which is being introduced to the UK following rapid growth in Latin America and Eastern Europe since 2015. How does it work? Booknet is both a successful literary self-publishing platform and a social network, founded by Ukrainian entrepreneurs in 2015. Booknet has gained significant traction in countries such as Ukraine, Russia (the Russian division was sold in the spring of 2022 because of the war between Ukraine and Russia), as well as Latin America. The company is now actively investing resources into the development of its English-language version. Authors can either publish their books with free access by readers, or sell them after obtaining commercial status through the platform. Booknet provides free advertising for eBooks sold by their authors on the platform. Booknet’s distinctive features (apart from being a pop
Read more

“Italy in books” - reading challenge 2011

By
Image
Why this challenge? This year I’ve decided to host a reading challenge because I think that they are a brilliant idea. They help to make reading a more collective experience and are a great way to find out more about any particular author / genre / topic and get to know about books you might never have come across. I chose this topic because - as an Italian who has been living abroad for many years now - I feel the need to learn more about my home country and I’m curious to see the difference between the way it is portrayed by native Italians and others. The details of the challenge The challenge will run from January, 1st 2011 to December, 31st 2011 . The aim of the challenge is to read at least 12 books that are set in Italy. Whether written by Italian authors or not, it doesn’t matter. They don’t have to be set exclusively in Italy but this country needs to play a significant role in the book. The challenge can include non-fiction books about Italy. You can also review Italian lea
Read more