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lisa_setepenre's review against another edition
4.0
Lake of Sorrows is the second book in Erin Hart's series of crime/mystery novels featuring pathologist Nora Gavin, this time focusing on the discovery of a man's body in a bog that seems to be an Iron Age ritual killing, similar to a very recent find in the same bog. The only thing that differs, however, is that this body comes with a wristwatch, marking it as belonging to the modern era.
In all honesty, I thought Lake of Sorrows was a better novel than [b:Haunted Ground|905451|Haunted Ground (Nora Gavin, #1)|Erin Hart|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1412217096s/905451.jpg|240718]. The strengths found in that novel remained constant and the weaknesses were improved on. Hart's work still comprises of great characters who drive the story forward and who each become endearing in their own way. The mystery this time around was a lot more suspenseful with a real sense of danger, there are fewer information dumps, the character arcs tie up pretty damn well by the end of the book and the romance between Nora Gavin and archaeologist Cormac Maguire worked better this time around, mostly because they were an established couple this time.
The only complaint I have is the lack of the double mystery. In Haunted Ground, Nora and Cormac had two mysteries to solve, one ancient, one modern-day, but Lake of Sorrows only features the modern-day murder mystery. This isn't a flaw – Lake of Sorrows works perfectly well without the ancient mystery and I do think that it's realistic that the mystery of the Iron Age man is left unsolved. That said, for a history nut like me, I was a little sad not to have the historical mystery play an important part and the ancient remains that brings Nora into the story do come across as little more than a convenient plot device.
All in all, Lake of Sorrows is an excellent follow-up to Haunted Ground, containing the almost all the qualities that made it so enthralling whilst correcting the flaws from that book
In all honesty, I thought Lake of Sorrows was a better novel than [b:Haunted Ground|905451|Haunted Ground (Nora Gavin, #1)|Erin Hart|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1412217096s/905451.jpg|240718]. The strengths found in that novel remained constant and the weaknesses were improved on. Hart's work still comprises of great characters who drive the story forward and who each become endearing in their own way. The mystery this time around was a lot more suspenseful with a real sense of danger, there are fewer information dumps, the character arcs tie up pretty damn well by the end of the book and the romance between Nora Gavin and archaeologist Cormac Maguire worked better this time around, mostly because they were an established couple this time.
The only complaint I have is the lack of the double mystery. In Haunted Ground, Nora and Cormac had two mysteries to solve, one ancient, one modern-day, but Lake of Sorrows only features the modern-day murder mystery. This isn't a flaw – Lake of Sorrows works perfectly well without the ancient mystery and I do think that it's realistic that the mystery of the Iron Age man is left unsolved. That said, for a history nut like me, I was a little sad not to have the historical mystery play an important part and the ancient remains that brings Nora into the story do come across as little more than a convenient plot device.
All in all, Lake of Sorrows is an excellent follow-up to Haunted Ground, containing the almost all the qualities that made it so enthralling whilst correcting the flaws from that book
thuja's review
3.0
While this was definitely a murder mystery, it was also so atmospheric that it almost seemed like some sort of gothic horror story. The characters are all rather depressed and troubled, the setting is dark and lonely, and people keep dying. Still, it was well written, if rather overly descriptive at times.
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