Sign in with FacebookJustin Sorbara-Hosker's Reviews > Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China
Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China
by Paul French
by Paul French
** spoiler alert **
It's fine, not great. I do love finding an ambitious work of true crime, rather than 'let's kill granny for her double-wide trailer,' and with history? Bonus. French has certainly found a good story to tell, with good atmosphere, but this too often feels like a litany of facts rather than writing. I get the sense he did good research, but I have to wonder how his footnotes are so brief.
I have to say, I saw the perpetrator a mile away, & the detectives, both of them, must be dumb as posts. Besides running an inept investigation (although their hands are somewhat tied), as soon as French dropped the signal about Prentice painting his apartment in winter, it certainly set off alarm bells for me; why not for them?
The lack of real resolution is also problematic - no official solving of this crime, & Werner's own investigations are certainly not conclusive. It certainly seems like he was right (& I understand that killers often evade justice), but I finished this somehow wanting to know for sure who did it, and I don't, not really.
Penguin certainly got good blurbs for him, but unlike John Berendt, I could put it down, & not just because of the two passages that are super-graphic - I knew who did it from about 1/2 way through. From then on, was reading to find out if they would be caught, & of course they weren't. This is not my problem; I didn't want this tied up with a neat bow ... I just wanted a little more.
Still a good accomplishment, & I think it will do well, & its better than any book I've written, but I expected more.
PS - I just figured it out, a couple of days later - I was expecting Devil in the White City before I picked this up, & it wasn't. Larson's best book is one part true crime murder procedural, one part the exploration historical backdrop of its setting (World's Fair) - in alternating chapters. This book is one part historical true crime, not told as well, & not enough historical backdrop. I think most people liked DITWC for the murder element, though I am not one of them - this book only has the murder element, not pulled off as well.
I have to say, I saw the perpetrator a mile away, & the detectives, both of them, must be dumb as posts. Besides running an inept investigation (although their hands are somewhat tied), as soon as French dropped the signal about Prentice painting his apartment in winter, it certainly set off alarm bells for me; why not for them?
The lack of real resolution is also problematic - no official solving of this crime, & Werner's own investigations are certainly not conclusive. It certainly seems like he was right (& I understand that killers often evade justice), but I finished this somehow wanting to know for sure who did it, and I don't, not really.
Penguin certainly got good blurbs for him, but unlike John Berendt, I could put it down, & not just because of the two passages that are super-graphic - I knew who did it from about 1/2 way through. From then on, was reading to find out if they would be caught, & of course they weren't. This is not my problem; I didn't want this tied up with a neat bow ... I just wanted a little more.
Still a good accomplishment, & I think it will do well, & its better than any book I've written, but I expected more.
PS - I just figured it out, a couple of days later - I was expecting Devil in the White City before I picked this up, & it wasn't. Larson's best book is one part true crime murder procedural, one part the exploration historical backdrop of its setting (World's Fair) - in alternating chapters. This book is one part historical true crime, not told as well, & not enough historical backdrop. I think most people liked DITWC for the murder element, though I am not one of them - this book only has the murder element, not pulled off as well.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read Midnight in Peking.
sign in »
Reading Progress
| 04/21/2012 | page 110 |
|
40.0% |
