Mini Reviews: March Violets by Philip Kerr and The Escape Room by Megan Goldin
3***
I FINALLY finished! I can't even explain why it took me seemingly forever to get through this book. It wasn't boring, but the pace wasn't as fast, nor the story or characters as absorbing as I had hoped. There were also a number of plot holes, not to mention the implausibility of it, which I didn't mind so much if it had been gripping. I wanted to love this as much as other readers, who say they couldn't put it down. However, I could put it down, as it happens, and so I suspect it will be rather forgettable in the scope of my reading year, I'm sorry to say. Maybe I didn't feel very engaged by this because it comes on the heels of the brilliant The Heart's Invisible Furies and at the moment it feels like nothing can quite measure up:-)
Thanks to Netgalley for supplying me with a copy of The Escape Room in exchange for an honest review!
4****
This is a solid start to what promises to be an engaging series! Bernie is quite the character, a caricature of his time in the setting of 1936 Berlin - sexist, blunt, definitely not PC. The story was good, but not great, with a few plot holes, but I didn't mind. I am a character-driven reader, and Bernie Gunther, with all his quirks delivered on that front. I also felt Kerr did a wonderful job of creating an almost palpable atmosphere of tension. I would definitely read another book in this series!