March 2016 Value Book Read - For All Our Sins, by T.M.E. Walsh

[David]

For All Our Sins, by T.M.E. Walsh

Years ago there was a silent witness to an act of evil. Now, a twisted killer is on the loose fuelled by revenge.

Called to the brutal murder of a priest, it is immediately clear to DCI Claire Winters that the victims death was prolonged, agonising…and motivated by a lust for revenge.

The killer has been clever, there are no clues, no leads. But Claire Winters has never let a killer remain on the streets. Looking for an answer at any cost Claire begins to get closer to the victim’s family, but what it reveals turns her murder case into something far more sinister…

When one body becomes two, and then three, Claire finds herself in a race against time to connect the dots between a host of devastating secrets, before the killer strikes again.

Discussion Leader: David Gooch

[David]

OK then a few little bits on this for you all.

The authors website is at http://tmewalsh.com/

The Book itself is still only 99 pence on Kindle at Amazon UK and the link for that is http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0...

The author herself is on Twitter at Noon this Friday at https://twitter.com/UKCarina, if you have Twitter and want to chat.

[Bill]

I am on board.

[David]

I've got my copy and started it yesterday.

[David]

I am a third of the way through and have to say it is keeping me wanting to read on.
The start was good and captured my attention but it wavered a little after and picked up again.
There is a tension between the main two detectives and you can feel that in the book quite.
We now have a second body (not ruining anything as it tells you this in the blurb) and things hopefully may get really interesting.

[Clare]

Just finished Rebound and I will start For All Our Sins now.

[David]

just finished it will write a review in next day or so.

[Clare]

I think this will be a good book. The murder of the priest reminds me of White Bones.

I like the relationship between Claire Winter and Michael Diego. There will obviously be a will they?/won't they? thread running through the book.

Thank you to whoever nominated this book.

[Karen]

Have started All Our Sins and having trouble sticking with it. Not exactly sure why.
More of a thriller than detective perhaps. Switched to the new Richard Jury novel. Will go back to AOS when I'm done.

[Juliann]

I'm having trouble with book too; so far about 1/3rd of the way through and I'm not much liking any of the characters. For me, there is way too much Gratuitous Contentiousness and I am
almost beyond caring if Claire and Michael D. hit or miss. I will stick with it because maybe the GC is a plot device after all. Maybe.
And I want to know what is distracting Claire.

[Bill]

Only 6% in but this is an attractive villain - why is as mysterious to me as who. Have 0 sympathy for Diego: it is usually a mistake to have an affair with a colleague, especially if she is a superior officer. He should shut up & carry on as tho it didn't happen,

[David]

Right so before the books change for the new month I thought I'd see how we all rated it.

1) What rating did you give the book?
2) Would you read another book by the author?

For me it was a 4 and yes

[Bill]

Not going to finish for a couple of day, but definitely enjoying it & like villain.

[Clare]

I really enjoyed For All Our Sins and I was surprised by the ending. I had to move this month rather unexpectedly and i am not on line at present, once i am i can post my backdated reviews.

[Bill]

Having been asked to help moderate a group may entail shortening one’s DNF list, if only to avoid letting down the members of the group who voted the book in as a group read. Like Jane Casey’s The Burning, this was one of those stories where I found the principal villain much more attractive than the detective. In the case of For All Our Sins, tho’, it was unnecessary to finish to gain the artistic, spiritual & moral benefits it offered. Unfortunately, most of these bennies were examples of what not to do.
Some caveats: Don’t introduce a character & then pretend that the narrators not only doesn’t know said character’s name, but keep referring to said character as ‘they’ to avoid indicating whether ‘they’ are (is?) a man or a woman - especially when the character is obviously acting alone. The reader will not only feel annoyed, but linguistically @ a loss. In this story T. M. E. Walsh is following the recent practice of having two villains, a (very attractive) villain known from the the start, & a hidden bad-hat to be revealed later. In this case, both the sex & the identity of villain no. 2 are very easy to spot & revealed long before the end, but not before the reader feels treated like an illiterate & a toady.

In the case of the principal detective, Claire, we also learn that if you are the SIO it is not a good idea of have had an affair with a junior colleague, especially if it’s someone you didn’t even like (for good reasons). Creates bad morale on the team (including punch-ups). Add divorced parents who hate each other - esp. a non-compliant & querulous dad who is going to find out @ a care home either to become the most cheerful & compliant patient he can be or how debility & dependence can be absolute hell & a mum who ought to remember that it was she who chose to marry him. Of course Claire could reflect as well that she owes her existence to them. In favour of the villains we can say that all their victims deserve killing, tho’ to have not just one but three paedophile abusive priests as victims seemed a trifle OTT. (For good measure, couple of thugs, a nasty rental agent, & a vicious dog also get what they deserve.)

In short, this story is thoroughly unpleasant & tho’ cheap to buy, the time spent reading it can never be recovered. If you’ve read Erin Kelly or Angela Marsons, you’ve done a lot better. If like me, you are an aspiring fiction writer, you will also be encouraged to persist with your efforts. You can probably write @ least as good a story as this.