Reviews

Gallows Court by Martin Edwards

thom3320's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

atsundarsingh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Very gripping and so. Many. Twists. Really good mystery. 

1mpossiblealice's review against another edition

5.0

I loved this - and the plotting was excellent. I didn't see most of the solutions at all, and the ending was very satisfying. I'd read the second book in this series before this, and I do wish I'd read this first as there may have been more of a question around some of the elements. But it was a really good read with excellent, interesting characters. There's stuff about magic and illusions in the book, and the whole plot is like an illusion in itself.
It is a crime novel of sorts, with golden age influences, but it's also a gothic mystery novel, with a backstory involving a remote island and a young girl arriving there, and some mysterious circumstances that are revealed as the book goes on. 
 I loved it and will definitely be picking up the third book. 

beccafinney3's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It was okay but just really didn’t grip me like I had hoped! 

melissa_who_reads's review

4.0

First time I've read a Martin Edwards book, and I enjoyed it. Twisty, turny, lots of misdirection, and a lot of the brutality of the upper classes - with characters you care about even if you aren't always sure they are on the side of angels or devils. Lots of mystery tropes turned on their heads - very clever in so many ways. The body count is VERY high - don't get too attached to any one character, as a lot of people end up dead.

mrcreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

jessiexmay's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

georgeeporge's review

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

This book felt better placed in the YA category as the story is relatively basic and language easy to understand. It was a predictable storyline — bar the final twist about

the illegitimate older sister

— and was better in the last half. However the ending felt rushed, the diary entries a little shoehorned in, and so many characters are briefly introduced without enough depth to be memorable then mentioned later as a key part of the plot. Also, as with so many books written by men, the women are described through a painfully obvious male gaze and feel like objects.

hannahmariebrankley's review

5.0

I picked this book up in The Works, on a 3 for £6.00 offer, last year! This is the book that had been sitting on the shelf. When sorting through my physical TBR pile, I just fancied a crime, mystery, thriller kind of story.

This was so hard to put down each evening.

Set in 1930’s London, a young journalist called Jacob Flint is on the scoop. With a killer or killers on the loose, we also meet Rachel Savernake. Labelled as “no ordinary woman”, she puts Scotland Yard to shame with her detective skills. There is more to Rachel’s story. But with murder by murder occurring as the story unfolds, we also uncover deception and corruption with the truth.

I am really happy to have found Gallows Court. Having never read anything by Martin Edwards, he’s fast become an author I want to read more from. I currently have another book in the Rachel Savernake series. It has also been sitting on my shelf for the last year!

I rate this a massive 5 star read. The plot twists, the character assassinations and the descriptive scenes, make you feel like you are there. Like you’ve bought a paper off a lad in the street. I highly recommend this.

knittyreader's review

4.0

This is a great piece of historical crime fiction, with a fast pace. The characters are so interesting! Even when they are aloof or not that likeable, Edwards made them in such a way that I as a reader liked them anyway somehow. The whole mystery and structure took some nice turns.

I received a free copy through Netgalley in return for an honest review.