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Anna McColl Mystery #2
Feeling Bad
Anna McColl has been telling lies…
She told her patient, Luke Jesty, that his violent fantasies were nothing to worry about.
She told her boss that Luke was stable.
And when the police called her, telling her that one of Luke’s friends had been killed, Anna lied to them as well.
So when Luke goes missing, Anna must solve the case herself and get to the bottom of what really happened.
Did Paula really fall into the path of traffic…or did Luke act out one of his own fantasies?
Luke’s parents are no help at all, but Luke’s brother Michael is only too eager to lend a hand.
As Michael and Anna grow closer and Anna learns more of Luke’s past, it seems less and less likely that she will ever see her patient again.
And more and more likely that he’s gone on the run…
Feeling Bad is full of twists and turns and every page has revelations that will leave any reader desperate to solve the mystery.
Penny Kline taught in a London school. She then re-trained and worked in a health centre, seeing patients with psychological or emotional problems. Later she ran the Student Counselling Service at Exeter University. She has written six crime novels about Bristol psychologist, Anna McColl, and also had radio plays broadcast on Radio 4. She currently lives in Bristol.
She told her patient, Luke Jesty, that his violent fantasies were nothing to worry about.
She told her boss that Luke was stable.
And when the police called her, telling her that one of Luke’s friends had been killed, Anna lied to them as well.
So when Luke goes missing, Anna must solve the case herself and get to the bottom of what really happened.
Did Paula really fall into the path of traffic…or did Luke act out one of his own fantasies?
Luke’s parents are no help at all, but Luke’s brother Michael is only too eager to lend a hand.
As Michael and Anna grow closer and Anna learns more of Luke’s past, it seems less and less likely that she will ever see her patient again.
And more and more likely that he’s gone on the run…
Feeling Bad is full of twists and turns and every page has revelations that will leave any reader desperate to solve the mystery.
Penny Kline taught in a London school. She then re-trained and worked in a health centre, seeing patients with psychological or emotional problems. Later she ran the Student Counselling Service at Exeter University. She has written six crime novels about Bristol psychologist, Anna McColl, and also had radio plays broadcast on Radio 4. She currently lives in Bristol.
210 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2001
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44 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 30, 2016
Meh. This book did not work for me.
In a good crime novel, the main characters are interesting, fully formed and fleshed out. If they are not, the story leaves me cold, because I do not care what happened to them. Also, the pacing has to be right. No matter how interested I become in a story, if it does not move forward and instead loses itself in unimportant details, I will quickly lose interest or, at worst, get enormously frustrated. Even if an author ticks both these boxes for me, they will still have to deliver an intriguing plot. Nothing is more frustrating than knowing whodunnit after the second chapter (except in novels where you are supposed to know who committed the crime and other aspects become more important).
"Feeling Bad" did not deliver on any of these aspects. I could not root for the psychologist Anna McColl, who to me seemed like a bad cardboard copy of psychologist Frida Klein (the excellent heroine created by Nicci French). She is unprofessional, flimsy, at times even vapid, and her motives for embarking on her quest for the truth where construed at best. I also did not care for her client Luke, nor for the dead Paula. Anna herself admits that she did not know Luke very well before the accident that kickstarted the whole story - and he remained a stranger to me as well. So why should I care what happened to him? Apart from that, this novel is peopled with unlikable characters I also don't really care about. So far, so bad. But it gets worse. The pacing is completely wrong. What a slog it was. Yawn. And the solution? Really? No surprises here, mate. Frankly, "Feeling Bad" made me feel nothing but bored and frustrated.
Netgalley provided me with a copy of this novel in return for an honest review.
In a good crime novel, the main characters are interesting, fully formed and fleshed out. If they are not, the story leaves me cold, because I do not care what happened to them. Also, the pacing has to be right. No matter how interested I become in a story, if it does not move forward and instead loses itself in unimportant details, I will quickly lose interest or, at worst, get enormously frustrated. Even if an author ticks both these boxes for me, they will still have to deliver an intriguing plot. Nothing is more frustrating than knowing whodunnit after the second chapter (except in novels where you are supposed to know who committed the crime and other aspects become more important).
"Feeling Bad" did not deliver on any of these aspects. I could not root for the psychologist Anna McColl, who to me seemed like a bad cardboard copy of psychologist Frida Klein (the excellent heroine created by Nicci French). She is unprofessional, flimsy, at times even vapid, and her motives for embarking on her quest for the truth where construed at best. I also did not care for her client Luke, nor for the dead Paula. Anna herself admits that she did not know Luke very well before the accident that kickstarted the whole story - and he remained a stranger to me as well. So why should I care what happened to him? Apart from that, this novel is peopled with unlikable characters I also don't really care about. So far, so bad. But it gets worse. The pacing is completely wrong. What a slog it was. Yawn. And the solution? Really? No surprises here, mate. Frankly, "Feeling Bad" made me feel nothing but bored and frustrated.
Netgalley provided me with a copy of this novel in return for an honest review.
Displaying 1 of 1 review