This was a okay read. Set in Britain just a after WWI, it has a quaint feel to it. The story itself is good, however the book could have ended about 30 pages earlier than it does. I was enjoying the story and writing enough that I reserved book two of the series when I reached the halfway part. I did feel the last 30 pages took away from the story. It was overly obvious how it would end and took away from the rest of the book

So good I stayed up way too late last night to finish it!

River of Darkness takes place in England shortly after WWI. Scotland Yard is investigating a murder outside of London and stumbles on a terrifying serial killer - now they have to catch him before he strikes again.

I really liked the characters, even though there were a lot of them, I felt like they were each pretty interesting and well rounded. The plot was well done and the pacing was great. The author doled out breadcrumbs at a steady pace, which really kept me interested in the story.

The only thing I didn't like was the Freudian psychology angle. I know it's accurate to the time period, but Freudian psychology and theories just creep me out because we now know they're so, so wrong. That being said, it's a fairly small part of the book, and I know that that's my own personal issue, so I just moved past it and didn't let it ruin a really excellent mystery novel.

If you like mysteries, I'd definitely recommend this one.

More like 3.5 stars. Good setting, well paced. Main detective was likable but the plot jumped to multiple characters so it was hard to get to know him very well. Killer seemed too "superhuman" to be believable.

As a fan of the mystery genre, I am consistently on the eternal quest to discover a great new mystery series that I can get swept up into. While this mystery by Rennie Airth (whom I had never heard of before, so thank you Goodreads recommendations!) is not a thriller, per se, it's definitely a suspenseful throwback to the classic "whodunit" and for anyone who is especially a fanatic for detective stories and detective work will absolutely enjoy this novel as I did!

Given the novel is set in the early 1920s and partly deals with the aftermath of WWI in England, I was surprised that the amount of police work in the novel closely resembles how cases are investigated today. Perhaps I'm just ignorant, but I didn't realize that fingerprinting and early forensic work was possible in the early 20th century. The amount of detail the author devotes to the process of the detective work and the flashbacks to the horrors of WWI is amazing, and I actually found these aspects much more engaging and intriguing than the characters in the novel. The pacing is brisk and I completely appreciated the author keeping to short chapters, which made the story move along swiftly. Airth also delves into early experiments and study of psychology and trauma with regards to criminology, and it just made for a very fascinating read. WWI occurred nearly 100 years ago (wow!)but the novel does have a slightly anachronistic feel to it, which I suppose is partly due to societal change, technology, and values that were rapidly evolving during this era.

If I have one complaint, it would be that the love story between Inspector Madden and Helen Blackwell was a tad silly and definitely underdeveloped. As I mentioned above, while the murder case and subsequent search for the killer is particularly intriguing, the characters themselves are surprisingly uninteresting . We hardly get to know these people. John Madden is described as "haunted" several times, and while we get a glimpse into what he suffered during the war, we are barely given any details as to the death of his wife and child before the war. He has carried these supposed emotional wounds with him daily since the end of the war four years prior, but within moments of his introduction to Dr. Blackwell, she rapidly unravels his dark past. It just seemed to happen so fast and it made the relationship between the two of them completely unbelievable. And because we didn't really know who these people were, it also made the sex scenes appear almost shockingly too graphic. John Madden seemed heartsick and desperate for an emotional connection while Helen Blackwell just came off as purely lustful and nothing else. Seriously, she goes on and on nearly every time they are alone that she's got "the house to herself" so why don't they get it on?! When he tells her he loves her and then she brings up marriage out of the blue, I did a major eye roll.

HOWEVER, the silly love story aside, I would still follow this series. And I do highly recommend it for anyone who loves historical fiction and mysteries!

Well, I loved this book. A fun roller coaster mix of police procedural and serial killer thriller that was incredibly hard to put down. The characters were memorable, the scenes well-drawn, and the story fascinating and not over-burdened with needless asides and tangents. Can't wait to get my hands on the other two books in the series as this was an absolute blast.

England between the wars is a setting that I somehow find hard to resist. There is something about the devastation of a whole generation and the struggles of those who remain that lend every plot an additional edge. This is especially true in the crime fiction set in this period, such as the series books by Charles Todd and Jacqueline Winspear, both of which deal with characters struggling with the psychological havoc of WWI. This novel is another fine addition to this historical mystery subgenre. It focuses on the investigation of a brutal murder in the British countryside that appears to be the work of a former WWI soldier. Another vet, an Inspector from Scotland Yard, works to stop this killer before he strikes again. This is a familiar thriller plot, but the period details and psychological insights elevate it to a sterling example of a historical mystery.

I really enjoyed this mystery from the very beginning. The ending was a little formulaic but the dialogue throughout, the characters and the story were very, very good.

3.5/5 stars. The writing was a little OTT at times for me - especially when it involved the relationship between Madden and Helen.