(I received this book for free as part of Goodreads First Reads giveaways).
(This review may contain spoilers).
I wavered a bit on how many stars to give this book, but I found that the more I read of it, the more I was pulled into the mystery surrounding the murder… though I did have quite a bit of confusion with some of the characters’ names.
I liked the setting of this book. Although it was a bit hard to follow at times (there were references to places and events I had little to no knowledge of), I felt that the danger some of the characters were in, particularly Vincent, came across really well. There was one particular scene towards the end of the book that caused a great deal of concern as I was reading it.
I thought it was good to learn about Vincent’s past and motivations as the book went on, rather than having it all thrown at me at once when it wasn’t relevant. I was quite intrigued by the friendship Victor had with Renard and it would have been good to see more of that. I didn’t really like the romantic feelings, since I couldn’t see any chemistry between him and the other character… but it at least didn’t interfere with his work.
One of the things I felt worked really well in this book were the obvious differences in how the police force worked in comparison to nowadays. The protection of those in higher up positions was quite clear… as was the obvious desire to punish someone for the murder, even if that person wasn’t actually who was responsible for the crime.
I didn’t like Voltaire much as a character at first, I have to say. He was clearly hostile to Vincent and I thought he had a lot to hide… especially with the woman he had visiting him. (I didn’t see much of her children, I have to say, which seemed a little strange). As the book went on, I did find Voltaire to be a more intriguing character.
I didn’t feel that there was a lot of mystery in this book. There weren’t too many surprises, but the characters were interesting and it was good to get a glimpse into how the police force worked. I would probably be interested in reading more books involving this setting and characters in the future.
Ink of Blood 