(This review may contain spoilers).
I was very intrigued when I read the blurb of this book and even though the very first scene didn’t immediately have anything to do with the plot, it was still enough to pique my interest in the rest of the book.
While I did find MacReady an interesting character and it was good to see his relationship with his wife, I kind of lost an emotional connection with him due to his interactions with the other characters. Apart from Beck, I wasn’t really able to differentiate between the characters; and Beck kind of seemed the token female police officer. She was also a bit too much with the attitude at times, especially when she seemed to expect her partner to drive and answer his cell phone at the same time.
The secondary plot of the story was more interesting to read, but it wasn’t really detailed enough to work with what was revealed at the end of the book. I felt some of the characters could have been expanded upon a lot more; and there was quite a bit of repetitiveness when it came to MacReady being the new guy. There were times I felt like I was reading about the new kid at school trying to fit in and the conflicts from some characters didn’t really make a lot of sense.
The most interesting part of the book was the conflict MacReady was experiencing within his own family, but I didn’t get to see a lot of the tension between him and his wife. And while there were issues between him and his brother, those were also told, rather than me being able to see and make those judgements for myself.
There were some moments of tension, but I felt those were somehow lost until towards the end of the book. However, although the loose ends were kind of tied up, I was left wondering how it was all kept hidden in the town.
I would have liked more details on the secondary characters and less of the sole focus being on piling on the new guy. I didn’t have much of an emotional connection to any of the secondary characters and I would have liked to see more of the actual case. At the moment, I don’t plan to read the next book/s in this series.
Ink of Blood 