Steel Witches

by Patrick Lennon

Tom Fletcher has left the police force. Working as a private investigator in Cambridge, Tom is dragged back into his own troubled family history by an enigmatic message from his missing father. Somehow, he seems to be connected to the disappearance of a young student who was working in a hostess bar.

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Thriller, Crime

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Bettie]

Bettie's Books

[Adam]

I'll have to paraphrase Opus's review of George Phblat's new film Benji Saves the Universe. To whit:

"This book has brought the word bad to new levels of badness. Bad plot. Bad mystery. Bad everything. This book just oozed rottenness from every bad scene . . . simply bad beyond all infinite dimensions of possible badness.

Well, maybe not that bad. But Lord, it wasn't good!"

I picked this book out of one of the library's book kiosks/vending machines because it looked cooler than any of the romances available. The writing wasn't terrible per se, but it made me angry. Characters occasionally acted stupidly to give the author an excuse to split them up. The central mystery wasn't that compelling. Arg!

[Sarah Mellington-Smith]

very clever!

[Dominika]

I was initially super thrilled by the concept of the book. However, as soon as I started delving deeper into the book, I felt a huge disappointment. While the writing is straightforward to get through—I finished it in a week while spending 1-2 hours per day on reading—the plot is underwhelming. Key elements of the story seem to be abandoned halfway through, and the ending left me regretting that I had picked it up at all. While I love the concept of the steel witches and their characters, the regular "human" characters feel shallow and poorly developed. Thankfully, I bought it second-hand for only 15 DKK, because I would have been upset if I had paid the full price.

[El]

Started well but lost the plot towards the end. The characters needed development as they didn't engage my interest at all and the ending was a mass of loose ends. I waited for an Epilogue to explain various plot points but there was just silence. In addition, I listened to the audiobook version and the reader emphasised random words which was really irritating, he read women's roles as either simpletons or seductresses and his American accents had to be heard to be believed. I don't think I'll be pursing this author.

[Barry]

Grabbed almost at random from the library. I found it hard to warm to the main character - there just wasn't much of anything to warm to. A few dodgy plot moments one has to navigate as well. However, the unfolding of the mystery itself is done well enough to make it worth continuing to end once started. And I did out of curiosity end up finding some interesting websites about old WWII airbases in Britain as a result of reading this book.

[Jo]

Fletcher gets involved in a case relating to the United States Air Force and the Witchfinder General. Yeah, that was my reaction too. It was okay, nothing sparkling but not terrible either.

[T.A.]

A good read that keeps you guess up to the end as to what the secret of the steel witches is and how it all links together.

[Melody]

Ellen and Craig are making me read it.

[Sarah]

The story really grabbed me and I wanted to know the ending but when I got there it was OTT and disappointing

[Deborah Theasby]

Huge disappointment. An interesting premise, some good descriptions and seeming to build up to- what? An incoherent climax and a mass of loose ends. A waste of time.

[Saki Piranha-fish]

I liked this one, thought it was a lot better than the reviews I read suggested.

[Naomi]

I had quite high expectations by the time I reached half-way, but it seems as though lots was left unsolved in the end. Unsatisfactory ending but I enjoyed reading it.