A review by ebbiebooks
A Murder of Crows by Sarah Yarwood-Lovett

informative mysterious tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

I'm giving this book some grace as it's a debut. But I've been frustrated with some of the things throughout the pages. Luckyly, there were redeeming quality that made me enjoy it enough, and I can recognize some literary strenght when I see them.

The Issues
  • Some of the tertiary characters (*cough ERIN *cough) are extremly unidimensionnal, cliché and bad caricature. It's not funny, it's annoying. And the reason for it is weak, as the contrast that is "built" through this specific character flaws is a very silly details, that could have been thrown away without affecting said contrast. We can build contrast without it (and we do later in the book, hence it was superfluous).
  • The MC's motivation to tell eveything to the cops or to keep some information from them makes her look stupid. The way it's presented is not clever. The fact she had issues with justice in the past should make her more savy on the matter.
  • The MC is an ecologist, yet she let her cat go outside unsupervised, saying it's ok because it's during the day. This is extremely idiotic.
  • The police don't follow up on key suspects (that are not the MC) quickly enough sometimes, and it's driving me insane. It makes them look incompetent.
  • There's a mistake at some point where a character that isn't there intervenes in a dialogue.
  • The trial is weirdly written (long statements from lawyer while witness are on the stand, no or very little objections, etc.)
  • The resolution of the conflict with Adam is silly (but the conflict is silly as well, so...)
  • The almost 180° from Nell on assuming her background is poorly motivated.

The Good stuff
  • There were a few times where I was really moved by the struggles the MC went/goes through. Her longing for connection, but having been badly burned before and the feeling like she cannot trust other was masterfully presented. It became a little weak around the last part of the book, where the self-pity feels a little forced somehow. There are a few instances where she's not believed, on things that calls into question her character, her intentions and her feelings, and it hits hard. I could feel the frustration and hopelessness in my bones. I did cry a few times.
  • THE TENSION. This book is immensely readable. The sense of urgency is well crafted and made me want to know what was coming next.
  • I wasn't exactly surprised by who was the culprit in the end, but I thought the whole thing was very interesting and intricate enough to keep me guessing (at least until a certain point). Some misdirections were clever, and I didn't feel betrayed by the book as some of the subtilities were found out later on by the detectives.

I'm going to keep going with the second book. I think I was in the right mindset to enjoy this book however, so I hope some of the issues will be corrected because I might not be as merciful in the future.