A Murder of Crows by Ian Skewis
Genre: Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Noir
Read: 16th May 2018
Purchase: Amazon
★★★★ 4 stars
"Nothing ever ends, not really. Everything is a prelude, a prologue, to something else..."
I really liked this book. It has an eerie and sinister undertone to it that draws the reader in. I guess you could even say it had a kind of Noir feel to it. It definitely isn't your regular police crime procedural so if that's what you are after you will be disappointed.
It begins with a "prologue" told by one half of the missing couple who disappeared during a torrential thunderstorm one night just outside of Hobbs Brae, overlooking the eerie Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands, on their way to meet his mother. It is told primarily in the third person from various perspectives - with only the opening Prologue, the second last chapter and the closing Prologue (you have to read it to understand its relevance) told in the first person (of three different people). Still with me? It may sound a little confusing but it really isn't. it is just a little different. Like I said, it has a noir feel about it, very dark and eerie. And it gives you a sense of loneliness just reading it.
The main players are Alistair and Caroline, the missing couple; Alistair's mother Alice, who has dementia and you wonder whether her narration can be believed...or can it? The dogged detective in charge of the case approaching retirement, DCI Jack Russell; his colleagues DC Colin Clements, and Driscoll and Campbell - funnily enough their ranks are not mentioned but I can only assume they are DCs; Matthew White, Caroline's ex who follows them to Hobbs Brae; Helen, Alice's carer; Margaret Crawford, the owner of the Warm and Friendly B&B; and finally Jerome and Scott Jennings, father and son from nearby farm who just don't get along at all. Each of these characters has some skeleton rattling around in their respective closets.
I really enjoyed this book but the ending was somewhat different to what one would normally expect and leaves you wanting more! But with no sign of when Ian Skewis' follow up book to this one is coming out or even what it will be called, I will have to just wait. My only real flaw with this book is that there really doesn't appear to be any closure on any front - for anyone. The last few chapters kind of veered off how you wouldn't exactly expect and ending with a prologue kind of felt a little strange at first, but in the context of one of the often repeated lines in the book it was both revealing and relevant...
"Nothing ever ends, not really. Everything is a prelude, a prologue, to something else..."
I really liked this book. It has an eerie and sinister undertone to it that draws the reader in. I guess you could even say it had a kind of Noir feel to it. It definitely isn't your regular police crime procedural so if that's what you are after you will be disappointed.
It begins with a "prologue" told by one half of the missing couple who disappeared during a torrential thunderstorm one night just outside of Hobbs Brae, overlooking the eerie Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands, on their way to meet his mother. It is told primarily in the third person from various perspectives - with only the opening Prologue, the second last chapter and the closing Prologue (you have to read it to understand its relevance) told in the first person (of three different people). Still with me? It may sound a little confusing but it really isn't. it is just a little different. Like I said, it has a noir feel about it, very dark and eerie. And it gives you a sense of loneliness just reading it.
The main players are Alistair and Caroline, the missing couple; Alistair's mother Alice, who has dementia and you wonder whether her narration can be believed...or can it? The dogged detective in charge of the case approaching retirement, DCI Jack Russell; his colleagues DC Colin Clements, and Driscoll and Campbell - funnily enough their ranks are not mentioned but I can only assume they are DCs; Matthew White, Caroline's ex who follows them to Hobbs Brae; Helen, Alice's carer; Margaret Crawford, the owner of the Warm and Friendly B&B; and finally Jerome and Scott Jennings, father and son from nearby farm who just don't get along at all. Each of these characters has some skeleton rattling around in their respective closets.
I really enjoyed this book but the ending was somewhat different to what one would normally expect and leaves you wanting more! But with no sign of when Ian Skewis' follow up book to this one is coming out or even what it will be called, I will have to just wait. My only real flaw with this book is that there really doesn't appear to be any closure on any front - for anyone. The last few chapters kind of veered off how you wouldn't exactly expect and ending with a prologue kind of felt a little strange at first, but in the context of one of the often repeated lines in the book it was both revealing and relevant...
"Nothing ever ends, not really. Everything is a prelude, a prologue, to something else..."
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