Holy Island: A DCI Ryan Mystery (The DCI Ryan Mysteries Book 1)

There are so many wonderful detective series that are well-written and rewarding but this is not one of them. Please spare me the impossibly good looking detective who immediately falls in love with the impossibly good looking potential victim in the middle of ridiculous melodrama and kinky rituals. So sorry I purchased this.

This book can't decide if it wants to be a police procedural, a Harlequin romance, or a Stephen King horror story. The writing is startlingly uneven and riddled with factual errors. It goes along like a perfectly decent murder mystery for a time, but then you hit some jarring error like the tide going out when it needed to be coming in (to cut off access to the tidal island); or the attraction between the two lead characters veers off into ridiculous internal dialogue or bodice-ripping action; or a seemingly decent, sympathetic character is revealed to be a drug-using Satan-worshipper. I began to wonder whether three different authors had alternated sections, challenging each other to find a way to continue the narrative after ever-more-bizarre plot turns. The plot becomes progressively more preposterous as it goes along, generating lots of eye-rolling on the part of this reader, and culminates in a cartoon-ish last-second rescue (on a dark and stormy night!). The mystery is that whole sections are written quite competently, and I have to think that with the help of a good editor, this could have been a dramatically better book.

I am a long time mystery reader, but this book like many current mysteries wasn't worth the money. I look for good character development and a good sense of place. This story had neither. The attempts at twists were weak and the ugliness of serial murders holds no interest to me. I didn't finish the book.

Aside from wanting to smack a female character for being such a head strong twit, this book was really slow reading. And I think I may have missed a clue or two because I was lulled into near coma by the pace. I figured out who did it, I figured out why, and was satisfied when the pace finally picked up and DCI Ryan closed in. The last pages ruined the entire book for me. I hated the twist. I may have missed the clues, but that doesn't help. Last pages are not the place for nasty discoveries.After a couple days thinking about it, I went back and dropped the score to one star. I remember the good books I've read. But I will also remember this nasty, rotten, surprise on the last pages.

Authors work hard so I’ll be brief and not too harsh. This book has a hackneyed, childish group of police. The man and woman ordered to work together who instantly dislike each other but fall in love within a day’s time. Then he tries to protect her and she is too stupid to realize there is actual danger and so puts herself in the hands of her enemies. Big climax which one sees coming a mile off. Just a poorly plotted book with boiler plate ideas. Oh yes, the protagonist smirks and leaves the food provision to the woman. So tired and oblivious. Sorry to be so negative but would like to save someone the price.

the plot is good, but the language is filthy and the book is full of immorality (homosexuality, child abuse, sexual abuse, & way too much emphasis on all the crude evils of the world). I am no prude, but I will not be buying anything by this author again. It could have been an excellent book if the author had just focused on writing a good storyline.

I’m cross posting this review for all 7 books in the series as I read them back-to-back. Detective Chief Inspector Ryan is the star of this series, although there are several fantastic supporting characters as well.The first book introduces you to the main characters, their flaws and strengths, as well as the Northumbrian landscape. This author clearly knows the territory in which her books take place and does a beautiful job of describing each location, so much so, that I’ve put the region on my “must visit” list.Each book is a fast paced journey to find the criminal and bring him or her to justice. They’re sprinkled with the emotional details, trials and tribulations of the characters’ lives, which makes each of them real and believable. I had a very difficult time putting each and every one of these books down and now that I’ve finished the last one, I’m desperate for the next…Typically I receive books for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased review, however this is a verified purchase. See all our reviews at our Book Explosions page on Goodreads.

I finished the book, so I have to grant that there was suspense enough to keep me going. Thought the romance was contrived and silly. Ryan is portrayed as very sexist, both in his initial reaction to the heroine and to the female lawyer who plays a small part. Gory murders are well described. The epilogue turned me off reading any more in the series both because I'd suspected the two bad guys early on, and because I didn't enjoy the Paganism enough to read more. Not a bad writer, just not a story line or characters I care to follow.

I have absolutely no idea why this book has any good reviews - it’s terrible. Extremely badly written with a poor plot and even worse characters. As you read it you are very aware that someone has written the words - has tried to write a story - it’s quite stilted and amateurish. When you’re reading a well written book you don’t even notice the writing, it just flows. It’s hardly even a crime novel as it’s written in the style of an easy to read romance with excruciating descriptions of the main character feeling jealous when his love interest is described in connection with another male. I never write reviews for books but this one is so bad I had to. If you enjoy well written crime novels then this book is not for you. Try Brian Freeman , Michael Connolly, John Connolly, Craig Russell. But not this drivel .....Ps. It’s published by Amazon.

This is essentially a tick-box exercise designed to hoover up sales in the mass thriller market - clearly with more than one eye on the US. Although the prose is mostly OK, the confusion of "hoards" for "hordes" only a few pages in wasn't a good sign. Then there are the bizarre explanatory asides about well-known cities and towns, which can only be aimed at American readers who know nothing of the geography of the UK.In the same vein, SOCOs are described using the American term CSI, and the weight of characters is repeatedly defined in pounds. And then there's the strange assertion that crime scene photos have to be "developed" - as if digital photography had never been invented.Good luck to Ms Ross who has clearly tapped into a rich seam of readers whose expectations aren't particularly high..... but I'm afraid I won't be contributing any further to her sales figures.

Apart, of course, that everyone would be dead of liver failure before they got to the end of chapter four.Imagine it:Take one drink for a cliched description (jaws are always set, brows are always furrowed, women "have curves in all the right places" and I even spotten a "you're magnificent when you're angry" in the wild, which I had previously thought to be extinct)Take one drink for a bonkers substitution for "said" (words are rarely "said" on Lindisfarne, apparently (and even more rarely are they 'said' without the adornment of an adverb); instead, they are "bit out", "gushed" "harrumphed""prevaricated" "smiled" "started" or "chuckled.")Take one drink each time a murderous attack is telegraphed a page ahead by the prose.Take a gigantic drink every time the 'hero' behaves like a sexist ass.Take a drink of something a lot more palatable every time a character is portrayed voluntarily drinking "Northumbrian Mead"Take a drink every time the sun comes up a lot earlier than it's supposed to for the winter solstice in NorthumberlandTake a drink every time the tide.... no, hell, when it comes to the tide, take the bottle.Take a drink every time a female character is characterised by her 'slim ankle', weight, generally eye colour, hair colour, underwear, legs, breasts, or waist measurement.Have something to eat and a soft drink every time a female character is characterised in any other wayTake a drink every time a corpse behaves in an unexpected way (the one killed about midnight and discovered at about eight in the morning after a night in sub-zero temperatures which is already smelling of decay is a particular highlight.)Take a drink every time the weather changes to support a plot development or mood swing.Take a drink each time an occurrence of crime scene snoggage occurs.Trust me, this is not a book to be lightly tossed aside.

Wow, it isn't often such poor police knowledge is exhibited in a procedural novel. Obviously there is always some licence to keep interest and story flow but this was almost comedy. Few pages failed to jar horribly and the whole thing was like a cross between Enid Blyton and Mills and Boon.How could anyone coud this drivel.

first and last L J Ross book I shall ever buy ... uninspired ... turgid ... uninteresting writing style ......