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Necessary Evil
185 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1965
2 people want to read
About the author
Kelley Roos
54 books6 followersJoint pseudonym. Audrey Kelley Roos [1912-1982] & William Roos [1911-1987] were a married couple who wrote about a a married couple; their series detectives were Jeff and Haila Troy, aided by NY Lieutenant George Hankins. Roos also wrote some non-series mysteries.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 17, 2021
This book is delightfully silly.
I honestly wasn't expecting a lot... it doesn't even have a cover image here on Goodreads, and the first chapter or so I kept thinking "wait, why are we doing all this backstory stuff.. surely we could have jumped into the story quicker".
But no, I was definitely wrong. That slightly slow burn is absolutely worth it.
The one flaw, if there is one, is that the book never really settles on a protagonist, or at the very least, what you would call a "lead". It keeps jumping perspective, introducing interesting characters that in other books would absolutely take over the story and be the focus, and then it more or less dumps them by the side of the road. And I'm actually kind of okay with that.
There are also moments when characters make "book logic decisions"... as in decisions that no sane human person in the history of the universe would actually make, but because it's a book, they totally do. While at the same time, more than once, rejecting ideas that in a lesser book would totally have resulted in the Deus ex Machina ending.
And I totally wouldn't be adverse to reading a little more of the work of the husband and wife team of Kelley and Roos.
I honestly wasn't expecting a lot... it doesn't even have a cover image here on Goodreads, and the first chapter or so I kept thinking "wait, why are we doing all this backstory stuff.. surely we could have jumped into the story quicker".
But no, I was definitely wrong. That slightly slow burn is absolutely worth it.
The one flaw, if there is one, is that the book never really settles on a protagonist, or at the very least, what you would call a "lead". It keeps jumping perspective, introducing interesting characters that in other books would absolutely take over the story and be the focus, and then it more or less dumps them by the side of the road. And I'm actually kind of okay with that.
There are also moments when characters make "book logic decisions"... as in decisions that no sane human person in the history of the universe would actually make, but because it's a book, they totally do. While at the same time, more than once, rejecting ideas that in a lesser book would totally have resulted in the Deus ex Machina ending.
And I totally wouldn't be adverse to reading a little more of the work of the husband and wife team of Kelley and Roos.
September 9, 2019
For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews