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A review by gphemsley
A Cruise to Die For by Aaron Elkins, Charlotte Elkins
3.0
There is very little story here
So much of the contents of this book is a rehashing of various backstories already covered in the previous book, often nearly word for word. On top of that, there are a number of tangents into extraneous detail that have nothing to do with the story, and a particularly verbose character from a different series was brought back in this book seemingly just to pad it out even further.
And then, to add insult to injury (which seems to happen a lot to someone who usually just has a bad feeling about a picture), the mystery isn't solved by Alix or even Ted having a major aha moment. Instead, the narration suddenly switches to the point of view of the criminal for the big reveal at the end.
There are kernels of a good story here, with generally well-developed characters, which probably still makes it worth reading, but seriously better editing would have been necessary to make that experience an enjoyable one.
So much of the contents of this book is a rehashing of various backstories already covered in the previous book, often nearly word for word. On top of that, there are a number of tangents into extraneous detail that have nothing to do with the story, and a particularly verbose character from a different series was brought back in this book seemingly just to pad it out even further.
And then, to add insult to injury (which seems to happen a lot to someone who usually just has a bad feeling about a picture), the mystery isn't solved by Alix or even Ted having a major aha moment. Instead, the narration suddenly switches to the point of view of the criminal for the big reveal at the end.
There are kernels of a good story here, with generally well-developed characters, which probably still makes it worth reading, but seriously better editing would have been necessary to make that experience an enjoyable one.