Reviews

A surprisingly disappointing read. None of the characters really came to life for me, the writing style was clunky and disjointed and awkward. A lot of the plot was “all men are evil, using and abusing women for no other reason than that they’re women”. It felt to me like a rather desperate attempt at writing Strong Women, except that our Strong Women are constantly talking about men, and all the other women are Victims who need saving from these evil men.
It all fizzled out at the end, nothing really resolved, but no cliffhangers either; no doubt there’s a sequel planned, but I won’t be picking that up. Would not recommend to anyone.

floderten's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.25

the_reading_vvitch's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

4.0

I didn't realise this book followed on from another with the same characters when I first started reading it, so the mentioning of the previous case and lack of starter information about the characters threw me a little. I think I found a typo so the editing could have been better but I enjoyed the themes and the storyline. I will have to now read the book that came before it, and I hope after that ending, there will be another to come.

novelshire's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

2.75

At the start of the new century, two women are opening their own detective agency. Soon the find themselves involved in two cases both relating to strange happening in Paris.

There's a lot of stuff going on this book, probably too much. It's a supernatural, gothic mystery with weird cults and spiritualism, tarot, the begins of cinema, missing persons, cameos/name checks from real historical figures and events.

I found the narration to be occasionally confusing- sometimes it would switch to another person's thoughts without warning - and it felt a bit cluttered - sometimes less is more.

I thought the characters had potential and the main storyline was interesting but there were quite a few threads left hanging or just not resolved (I assume there will be a sequel).

I also wasn't a fan of the occultist, spiritualism stuff. It was far too hazy for my liking - was any of it real? Who knows, none of the main plots points related to it seemed to be explained.

Not a bad book but sadly not for me - there's only so much explanation of a tarot reading that I can tolerate.
Also, I'm still not sure where the title fits in.

Thank you to titanbooks for providing a netgalley review copy.

cazxxx's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.0

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