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tangleroot_eli's review
3.0
All right, Katherine Forrest, ya got me. You wrote a book I spent 7/8 of wanting to throw the protagonist out the window and then pulled the rug out from under me. For most of the book, I was so angry at this character: the Kate Delafield who justified and denied her alcoholism, blamed everyone and everything but herself for her relationship problems, sleepwalked through her investigation, and showed a startling lack of understanding and empathy toward her trans nephew, wasn't the Kate Delafield I remembered from [b:The Beverly Malibu|879749|The Beverly Malibu (Kate Delafield, #3)|Katherine V. Forrest|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328758780s/879749.jpg|865043] and [b:Liberty Square|956233|Liberty Square (Kate Delafield, #5)|Katherine V. Forrest|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1361659857s/956233.jpg|941143].
Then! In the 11th hour, Kate has her come-to-Jesus epiphany, the moment where she--and we as the reader--realize that all of this asshaberdashery was a very deliberate choice on Forrest's part, that the chickens of Delafield's years of drinking, being closeted, and investigating gruesome homicides had finally come home to roost. Which was kinda cool. And while her complete 180 is somewhat implausible, Forrest portrays it with a deft touch that made it seem less so.
The problem is that, by that point, I was so disengaged from Delafield--and the story--that the reversal was too little too late. It doesn't help that, while Forrest shines at the police investigation parts of police procedurals, the courtroom parts were so. flipping. boring. that I could barely drag myself through them.
I also had a huge problem with the way the jacket synopsis in no way meshed with what the book was actually about. That's not Forrest's fault, but it is a problem with how the publisher chose to put the book forward, which makes it a problem with the book-as-object that I can't entirely overlook.
I will say that I'm quite looking forward to reading the next (and currently last) book in the series, [b:High Desert|18051981|High Desert (Kate Delafield, #9)|Katherine V. Forrest|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1385522421s/18051981.jpg|25335731], to see if we get to hold onto the new and improved Kate Delafield.
ksparks's review
2.0
I was sorry not to like this book more as I like this author. The problem is, it is a totally straightforward procedural--reading it is like watching paint dry. There's a tiny little twist at the end but overall there is not enough to the plot to sustain interest.
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