Compared to the previous two books in this series, I found this one took me more time to get through. I’m not sure why; maybe the events of book two had traumatised me in the same way they had Pip? That was one of the really good things about this book, I felt. It was really good, if heartbreaking, to see how badly Pip was affected by everything that happened…to the point of her having to go to a drug dealer just to get medication in order to be able to sleep.
I really liked the scenes of Pip and Ravi together. I honestly truly love their relationship; they’re so incredibly sweet together, and it’s really obvious that Ravi accepts Pip no matter what…and there’s no time more clear with that than reading towards the end of the book.
I found it interesting how Pip’s idea of ‘saving’ herself was to find a case that was more black and white, with no shades of grey. The previous two books did a really good job of showing the shades of grey in the cases in the previous books…and I liked the fact that this book not only came full circle with Andie’s involvement, but also allowed a deeper glimpse into her character and motivations. In this book, Andie was actually a character who I regretted not being able to learn more about in the first book.
It was a bit disappointing not to see as many of Pip’s notes and interview transcripts, which I thought worked so well in the previous two books. I did really like seeing Pip interacting with Nat, thogh, and them actually being friends by the time the third book came along. Nat was a character who really suffered in book one, only to have it all dredged up in the second book…and part of me felt that she got some closure in this third book. Plus, I liked seeing Cara appear more in this book, along with her sister…though I absolutely hated seeing Lauren and Anthony, who were almost worse than the killer in this book. After all, they accused Pip of making everything up about Jamie in book two…something that could have been extremely damaging to the whole case.
While this book was harder to read than the previous two, I still did find it good to read, although I ended the book with some very mixed feelings. Still, I’d say that it’s definitely worth reading. I love Pip and Ravi, and I’d love to read more books with them in. Plus, my understanding is that there will be a TV series of the books soon…and I definitely intend to watch that when it comes out.
Ink of Blood 