As usual, Anne Cleeves creates a wholistic world and community with loveable characters and characters you love to hate. A complex weave of relationships and connections creates a surprising and titillating crime drama novel.

I always find that Anne Cleeves books move so slowly, yet so fast. I always have to put it down and take a break because I feel myself being pulled into a sense of false security in the characters and situations: I usually come back to it ten seconds later because I have to know the end but as many cliff hanger ends there are for each chapter there are equally ends that are easy to put down, they seem closed off and finalised. I think this is why I have to give it five stars as I find that with these novels I don’t have the same voraciousness as I do with other novels or other crime novels. It would be just as easy for me to put this book down as it is to read it and sometimes the slower parts of the novels I prefer to find something else to read. Again, her characters are so well developed and she does a fantastic job of creating a community but the crime drama itself can feel a little lacking at times. This is the first novel in this series, however, so from here it may change! And I see good things as the end of this novel picks up the pace and is on edge, you read until y oh know and keep reading till the end. The ending is also a major plot twist! For real! I feel that Anne Cleeves is very good at giving you an ending you did not expect.

I like watching the series alongside the books and while they keep most of the characters, I was disappointed to see the Whitewashing of Perez. They also limit the characters and have Fran already dead. They can’t have as many characters is the tv show because there isn’t enough time to develop the complexities that the novels have- I am guessing that’s why they eventually turn the episodes into one case per 6 episodes for the television show. It still has the core story and the same deaths and I think it’s a very close adaption, with the necessary aspects changed to create a cohesive show. But there are some choices that I can’t agree with and think is disappointing on the shows behalf.

However, I highly recommend reading these crime dramas- as an adult novel (in comparison to ya) these are ones I definitely recommend as faster paced but still more relaxed novels. It isn’t a thriller and won’t scare you, you can enjoy the characters and relationships and the town and the location while also enjoying the police procedure. I do highly recommend them as an adult crime drama- probably one of my favourites, this and Agatha Christie’s (I know old school).

Highly recommend reading and then watching the series as it’s really interesting to see the adaptions.