The Cleansing by Bill Rogers
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
★★★ 3 stars
** spoiler alert **
It's hard to rate a book you've enjoyed but still found difficult to get through. The original synopsis for the book was a little misleading in saying someone dressed as a clown was killing in Manchester, or words to that effect. Yes, he was dressed as a clown - but for the first murder only. When the second one came around you would expect him to don the clown costume again and leave his mark once again. But he did not. Especially disappointing since a whole rigmarole was spent in investigations that lead to a delivery of a clown costume, making it seem a significant part of the story. But it didn't amount to anything more than that. That aside, however, my biggest problem with the book was the fact that it was far too wordy. The author went into too much description about things where I felt fewer words were needed. When they visited Soaper's apartment I had to wonder if Caton was in the market for an investment property, the way every room and its furnishings were described. It was redundant. Dialogue and character thoughts trump furnishings. I'm reading a murder mystery, not a prospectus for inner city living.
But in all having said that, I did enjoy the book. I merely skimmed over the "too wordy" areas and concentrated on what I felt was more in line with the story. I did enjoy the relationship between Caton and Kate, and was pleased that there no descriptive focus on the bedroom. Again, this is a murder mystery not a Mills and Boon, so I was pleased on that score. They had good chemistry and flirting, but it wasn't overdone.
Three stars I think is fair, though I would lean towards three and a half, but not enough for four. There are many more books I've read and enjoyed a whole lot more worthy of a four, so three is fair.
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