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shantti's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
whatvictoriaread's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
thetiammaria's review against another edition
5.0
Great 3rd book in the series! I love the personal development and character arcs of both Luc and Ava. This storyline was brilliantly throughout out and I honestly didn’t know how it would end, it kept me on tenterhooks the whole way through. The murders were awful, with such a cruel reason behind them and it really made you think about how society shapes individuals and that we can cause people to be cruel in this way. I love how the other characters are also growing on me more as I read more of their series, and I just want more of Lively. Would definitely recommend
juliehunt77's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
ellelainey's review
4.0
Perfect Death (D.I. Callanach, Book 3)
by Helen Fields
★★★★☆
448 Pages
3rd person, multi-character POV with some brief omnipresent slips
Themes: murder, crime, investigation, mental health, violence/torture
Genre: Crime, Murder Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary
Triggers: * see end notes
~
Perfect Death is the third book in the D.I. Callanach series, and I'm of two minds. For some reason, I couldn't really get into the story, at first. I'd say the first 50% was a struggle, for me. A case of too many POV's, too many characters, too many interlinked, cross-ways crimes, and also too much of Ava in comparison to Callanach. It is his series, after all, and I found Ava to be quite annoying in this book, though I've found it hard to articulate why.
It was definitely a tale of two halves – with the second half being far more exciting, engaging, and familiar within the scope of the previous books – so, I had to decide whether to drop down to a 3* because of the problems I had, or stick with a 4* because the story managed to redeem itself.
I decided on the second option.
Let's start with the execution, in terms of POV. There were SO MANY of them.
Killer
Joe
Mark
Jeremy
Christian
Callanach
Bradley
Sean
Jackson
Ava
Randall
Mina
Lively
and I can't remember if I imagined it or forgot to note DC Tripp's POV, or if that was the last book. Honestly, there were so many, it was hard to keep track at times. And, these POV's were omnipresent more often than not, which is my pet peeve.
Now that's out the way, what about the characters? Well, Callanach was great, as usual. He had some struggles to face here, discovering secrets about his mother, finally facing her and the past. However, I'm bummed that we never ever got to find out what happened to Astrid. Was she sacked, for hiding her past from her current work? Did someone suggest she leave? Is she STILL there, haunting Callanach from the top floor? We don't know.
The book begins five months after Ava's promotion, and a lot has changed, especially within her relationship with Callanach. Book 2 ended with him about to ask her out, but that became impossible when Ava was promoted above him. Now, he's got a new love interest, but I don't imagine she'll be around long. I didn't take to Dr Pushy, from page one, and hope she doesn't keep coming back. I like the dynamic between Ava and Callanach, and how it never feels forced.
More than the other books, so far, I feel this one CAN'T be read as a standalone. The others could, but this one has too much history. The whole back story with George Begbie, Ava and Callanach's friendship, Callanach's history with Astrid, his relationship with his mother, and so on, would all be really hard to follow if this was your first book.
Because of the MANY POV's, I found myself constantly being knocked out of the story. A lot of the POV's felt unrelated to the main story, and it didn't matter if it made sense later, because it was laborious to get through. It made me mentally tired, trying to keep track of the many people, personalities, plots, and crimes that were running concurrently, and I honestly didn't read it for a day and a half, to give myself some distance from the mass of information being thrown at me. It felt excessive, for the entire first half of the book.
The good news was that the series doesn't run to a formula. I've recently read another crime series where every book had a similar theme, or formula for how the chapters and plot were organised, every book almost like a carbon copy of the next. However, that didn't happen here. Each book stands out on its own, with its own methods and process.
The plot itself was smart, cleverly devious, and intricate. The motives were sadly realistic, the execution seriously sophisticated and well researched, and the investigation realistically frustrating. The killer is a high-functioning sociopath, but slightly sympathetic as well as relatable.
As well as the serial-killer aspect, there are also a few more investigative aspects, like the discovery of dirty cops, historical criminal activity, the Glasgow criminal underground, and various violent encounters with, and torture by, a criminal gang. Sometimes this jolted me out of the main story of the serial killer, and I often found those POV chapters – usually in Ava's POV – more lagging and not as interesting as the main story.
However, alternatively, the multiple various POV's within the serial killer storyline was exhausting to keep track of. So, while I wasn't as interested in Ava's investigation, it gave some breathing room from the many, many POV's. But, that too got exhausting after a while, having to juggle the two different timelines and investigations, which often had me putting the book down for some breathing space.
I found Ava to be...odd, this time. I felt she was colder, not thinking rationally, not behaving as she should. She made some reckless decisions that other people paid for, and I really didn't understand her pushing Callanach about his mother, after the way she'd criticised him for pushing about her mother, in the previous book. I really felt her POV's took over the book, and made it lack that human element that Callanach's POV's are full of.
I can't really explain the difference between the two, but when Callanach had those scenes with his mother, you could feel his pain, his horror, his struggle. But, with Ava, when I was meant to feel those things, that's when I felt the disconnect between the two, because I just didn't feel it, even though I've really liked Ava until now.
As for the other characters, I loved that Tripp and Lively got a much bigger part of the story, to really shine. And they did. Lively really stepped up and proved he's not an ass 100% of the time, and Tripp really got to show his independence and smarts.
~
There are some triggers in this book, and I've never seen warnings for any of them where I've been looking, so I want to run through them here:
* brief mentions of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, historical rape, historical false rape allegation, pregnancy by rape
* mentions of suicide, faked-suicide, forced drug use, organised crime and mild violence.
~
Overall, I definitely found this to be an unbalanced story, with one half feeling disorganised and overly-complicated, the other half being far more well planned, thought through, and exciting. In the end, the story came together, with some POV's proving necessary, in the end, but it definitely felt excessive at the time. I weighed my thoughts of the story as a whole, and found that the second half really made up for the problems in the first half.
I'm still eager to read the next book, I still love Callanach, and I still want Ava and Callanach to get together. I still love Tripp, and I still want to see more of Lively's classic Scottish fiery nature.
~
Favourite Quote
Lively had some brilliant clap-backs, and I really liked quite a few. But, I couldn't choose them all, so I had to find the one that stood out.
“‘[...]don’t call DC Tripp a pain in the arse to me again or I’ll promote him over your head, understand?’ Ava said.
‘Do I at least have your permission to continue being disrespectful to DI Callanach, ma’am? Only without that I can’t see the point of continuing to work in MIT?’”
Last, I really had to cut this down, because it contained a spoiler, but this really grabbed me, as a Scot.
“My personal feelings about you aside, sir, a team’s a team. You’re in Scotland now. This is how we do things.’”
by Helen Fields
★★★★☆
448 Pages
3rd person, multi-character POV with some brief omnipresent slips
Themes: murder, crime, investigation, mental health, violence/torture
Genre: Crime, Murder Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary
Triggers: * see end notes
~
Perfect Death is the third book in the D.I. Callanach series, and I'm of two minds. For some reason, I couldn't really get into the story, at first. I'd say the first 50% was a struggle, for me. A case of too many POV's, too many characters, too many interlinked, cross-ways crimes, and also too much of Ava in comparison to Callanach. It is his series, after all, and I found Ava to be quite annoying in this book, though I've found it hard to articulate why.
It was definitely a tale of two halves – with the second half being far more exciting, engaging, and familiar within the scope of the previous books – so, I had to decide whether to drop down to a 3* because of the problems I had, or stick with a 4* because the story managed to redeem itself.
I decided on the second option.
Let's start with the execution, in terms of POV. There were SO MANY of them.
Killer
Joe
Mark
Jeremy
Christian
Callanach
Bradley
Sean
Jackson
Ava
Randall
Mina
Lively
and I can't remember if I imagined it or forgot to note DC Tripp's POV, or if that was the last book. Honestly, there were so many, it was hard to keep track at times. And, these POV's were omnipresent more often than not, which is my pet peeve.
Now that's out the way, what about the characters? Well, Callanach was great, as usual. He had some struggles to face here, discovering secrets about his mother, finally facing her and the past. However, I'm bummed that we never ever got to find out what happened to Astrid. Was she sacked, for hiding her past from her current work? Did someone suggest she leave? Is she STILL there, haunting Callanach from the top floor? We don't know.
The book begins five months after Ava's promotion, and a lot has changed, especially within her relationship with Callanach. Book 2 ended with him about to ask her out, but that became impossible when Ava was promoted above him. Now, he's got a new love interest, but I don't imagine she'll be around long. I didn't take to Dr Pushy, from page one, and hope she doesn't keep coming back. I like the dynamic between Ava and Callanach, and how it never feels forced.
More than the other books, so far, I feel this one CAN'T be read as a standalone. The others could, but this one has too much history. The whole back story with George Begbie, Ava and Callanach's friendship, Callanach's history with Astrid, his relationship with his mother, and so on, would all be really hard to follow if this was your first book.
Because of the MANY POV's, I found myself constantly being knocked out of the story. A lot of the POV's felt unrelated to the main story, and it didn't matter if it made sense later, because it was laborious to get through. It made me mentally tired, trying to keep track of the many people, personalities, plots, and crimes that were running concurrently, and I honestly didn't read it for a day and a half, to give myself some distance from the mass of information being thrown at me. It felt excessive, for the entire first half of the book.
The good news was that the series doesn't run to a formula. I've recently read another crime series where every book had a similar theme, or formula for how the chapters and plot were organised, every book almost like a carbon copy of the next. However, that didn't happen here. Each book stands out on its own, with its own methods and process.
The plot itself was smart, cleverly devious, and intricate. The motives were sadly realistic, the execution seriously sophisticated and well researched, and the investigation realistically frustrating. The killer is a high-functioning sociopath, but slightly sympathetic as well as relatable.
As well as the serial-killer aspect, there are also a few more investigative aspects, like the discovery of dirty cops, historical criminal activity, the Glasgow criminal underground, and various violent encounters with, and torture by, a criminal gang. Sometimes this jolted me out of the main story of the serial killer, and I often found those POV chapters – usually in Ava's POV – more lagging and not as interesting as the main story.
However, alternatively, the multiple various POV's within the serial killer storyline was exhausting to keep track of. So, while I wasn't as interested in Ava's investigation, it gave some breathing room from the many, many POV's. But, that too got exhausting after a while, having to juggle the two different timelines and investigations, which often had me putting the book down for some breathing space.
I found Ava to be...odd, this time. I felt she was colder, not thinking rationally, not behaving as she should. She made some reckless decisions that other people paid for, and I really didn't understand her pushing Callanach about his mother, after the way she'd criticised him for pushing about her mother, in the previous book. I really felt her POV's took over the book, and made it lack that human element that Callanach's POV's are full of.
I can't really explain the difference between the two, but when Callanach had those scenes with his mother, you could feel his pain, his horror, his struggle. But, with Ava, when I was meant to feel those things, that's when I felt the disconnect between the two, because I just didn't feel it, even though I've really liked Ava until now.
As for the other characters, I loved that Tripp and Lively got a much bigger part of the story, to really shine. And they did. Lively really stepped up and proved he's not an ass 100% of the time, and Tripp really got to show his independence and smarts.
~
There are some triggers in this book, and I've never seen warnings for any of them where I've been looking, so I want to run through them here:
* brief mentions of non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma, historical rape, historical false rape allegation, pregnancy by rape
* mentions of suicide, faked-suicide, forced drug use, organised crime and mild violence.
~
Overall, I definitely found this to be an unbalanced story, with one half feeling disorganised and overly-complicated, the other half being far more well planned, thought through, and exciting. In the end, the story came together, with some POV's proving necessary, in the end, but it definitely felt excessive at the time. I weighed my thoughts of the story as a whole, and found that the second half really made up for the problems in the first half.
I'm still eager to read the next book, I still love Callanach, and I still want Ava and Callanach to get together. I still love Tripp, and I still want to see more of Lively's classic Scottish fiery nature.
~
Favourite Quote
Lively had some brilliant clap-backs, and I really liked quite a few. But, I couldn't choose them all, so I had to find the one that stood out.
“‘[...]don’t call DC Tripp a pain in the arse to me again or I’ll promote him over your head, understand?’ Ava said.
‘Do I at least have your permission to continue being disrespectful to DI Callanach, ma’am? Only without that I can’t see the point of continuing to work in MIT?’”
Last, I really had to cut this down, because it contained a spoiler, but this really grabbed me, as a Scot.
“My personal feelings about you aside, sir, a team’s a team. You’re in Scotland now. This is how we do things.’”
ann1ina's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
danjulique's review against another edition
5.0
I think this may be my favorite book of the installment. The serial killer in this one is way sicker than in the previous books. In the previous books, we had a brief glimpse into the psyche of the serial killer to kind of explain how they became how they were; with this killer, we get an explanation but it is so creepy. But along with the serial killer, there is the death of one the team members of the detective squad. I really enjoyed traveling between both cases.
I am personally done with D.I. Callanach and D.I. Turner’s unspoken attraction with one another. I am at the point where I just want them to either be together or for it to be dropped. Another topic I would appreciate to be dropped, is the reason Callanach moved from France to Scotland, leave it alone, it is dead!
Perfect Death is about three random victims dying from what appears to be natural causes. But after a closer look, alll victims have been poisoned by a different drug to make it look like natural causes. Like I stated above, I love the way the killers motives were revealed, as well as the way the two mysteries were intertwined.
I am personally done with D.I. Callanach and D.I. Turner’s unspoken attraction with one another. I am at the point where I just want them to either be together or for it to be dropped. Another topic I would appreciate to be dropped, is the reason Callanach moved from France to Scotland, leave it alone, it is dead!
Perfect Death is about three random victims dying from what appears to be natural causes. But after a closer look, alll victims have been poisoned by a different drug to make it look like natural causes. Like I stated above, I love the way the killers motives were revealed, as well as the way the two mysteries were intertwined.