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Ragged Alice
In Gareth L. Powell's Ragged Alice a detective in a small Welsh town can literally see the evil in people's souls.
Orphaned at an early age, DCI Holly Craig grew up in the small Welsh coastal town of Pontyrhudd. As soon as she was old enough, she ran away to London and joined the police. Now, fifteen years later, she’s back in her old hometown to investigate what seems at first to be a simple hit-and-run, but which soon escalates into something far deadlier and unexpectedly personal—something that will take all of her peculiar talents to solve.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Orphaned at an early age, DCI Holly Craig grew up in the small Welsh coastal town of Pontyrhudd. As soon as she was old enough, she ran away to London and joined the police. Now, fifteen years later, she’s back in her old hometown to investigate what seems at first to be a simple hit-and-run, but which soon escalates into something far deadlier and unexpectedly personal—something that will take all of her peculiar talents to solve.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
202 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 23, 2019
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767 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
April 24, 2019
If an evening's worth of whiskey kept her from killing herself, it was the next morning's tea that truly kept her alive.
I'm truly torn on the rating for this one, because it has so much potential, and it got a lot of things right. The Welsh setting is fantastic, and used well - all mountains and sheep and lonely coastlines - there's even a decent smattering of Welsh throughout. It's decently creepy, too, which is always a plus on the scale.
But there's just a little too much here that didn't work for me to get any higher than a three. It's too short, for a start, for the story that it wants to tell. With all the detail and characters we're introduced to, I can see the ground laid here being useful in future books, but it made the ending feel chopped off, with a whole bunch of loose ends left waving. Pair that with the central conceit being left mainly unexplored, and it was frustrating - Holly's abilities could have been left out of this story entirely, and it wouldn't have altered anything significantly. She's also - again, so far - a remarkably forgettable character. She needed something for me to connect with, and what we were given was skimmed over too fast for that to happen.
So, gripes aplenty, but mostly because I can see what this book could have been, and it's like having an underperforming child. You can't force it into your vision for all that lovely potential, but the waste is just maddening! But I really mean it when I talk about the bits that were done well - that setting, and the general idea behind this book, are both truly fantastic. I'll stick with this series, because by the time there's two or three books, I'll be able to binge read, and I suspect that'll bring it all into balance.
I'm truly torn on the rating for this one, because it has so much potential, and it got a lot of things right. The Welsh setting is fantastic, and used well - all mountains and sheep and lonely coastlines - there's even a decent smattering of Welsh throughout. It's decently creepy, too, which is always a plus on the scale.
But there's just a little too much here that didn't work for me to get any higher than a three. It's too short, for a start, for the story that it wants to tell. With all the detail and characters we're introduced to, I can see the ground laid here being useful in future books, but it made the ending feel chopped off, with a whole bunch of loose ends left waving. Pair that with the central conceit being left mainly unexplored, and it was frustrating - Holly's abilities could have been left out of this story entirely, and it wouldn't have altered anything significantly. She's also - again, so far - a remarkably forgettable character. She needed something for me to connect with, and what we were given was skimmed over too fast for that to happen.
So, gripes aplenty, but mostly because I can see what this book could have been, and it's like having an underperforming child. You can't force it into your vision for all that lovely potential, but the waste is just maddening! But I really mean it when I talk about the bits that were done well - that setting, and the general idea behind this book, are both truly fantastic. I'll stick with this series, because by the time there's two or three books, I'll be able to binge read, and I suspect that'll bring it all into balance.
February 27, 2020
Ragged Alice, a novella by author Gareth L. Powell is a whole lot of information in a tiny package. It is one of the novellas that had me shouting, "why aren't you a full novel?" A problem that novellas and short stories can run into is trying to do too much in a small amount of narrative time. When doing too much, and covering to much ground, it can come off flat because of the lack of character definition, exposition, and world-building. Powell's novel is such a good premise but comes off as rushed because there is not enough of it to connect thoroughly to everything.
The premise is thus, "Orphaned at an early age, DCI Holly Craig grew up in the small Welsh coastal town of Pontyrhudd." Holly is a damaged inspector type character. She has been broken by her past and is held together with tea and whiskey in equal parts. After fifteen years in London, Holly is back on assignment in Pontyrhudd. A town full of all sorts of ghosts, both literal and figurative. Holly has a peculiar "gift" that helps her solve cases and determine the innocence of suspects, and now she gets to use this gift on a hit and run case in her hometown.
Ragged Alice is a good story, Powell is an excellent author but try as I might this story came off as midgrade. Enjoyable, but didn't stay with me. I did not care as much about Holly as I wanted to, and due to the format of a novella, there wasn't enough meat to bring more story elements in that would allow me to connect. Don't let this put you off this story or Powell in general. He is a killer author, but this book didn't allow him to shine.
The premise is thus, "Orphaned at an early age, DCI Holly Craig grew up in the small Welsh coastal town of Pontyrhudd." Holly is a damaged inspector type character. She has been broken by her past and is held together with tea and whiskey in equal parts. After fifteen years in London, Holly is back on assignment in Pontyrhudd. A town full of all sorts of ghosts, both literal and figurative. Holly has a peculiar "gift" that helps her solve cases and determine the innocence of suspects, and now she gets to use this gift on a hit and run case in her hometown.
Ragged Alice is a good story, Powell is an excellent author but try as I might this story came off as midgrade. Enjoyable, but didn't stay with me. I did not care as much about Holly as I wanted to, and due to the format of a novella, there wasn't enough meat to bring more story elements in that would allow me to connect. Don't let this put you off this story or Powell in general. He is a killer author, but this book didn't allow him to shine.
April 11, 2019
"That was the thing about death, though. It affected different people in different ways, and you could never really predict how anyone was going to react to a mangled corpse. In her time, she'd seen strapping six-foot coppers go weak at the knees while attending their first RTA. Others fell apart afterwards, when all the mess had been cleaned away and their minds started chewing over the horrors they'd seen. You'd have to be made of stone not to let that part of the job get to you. Sometimes flippancy and an obstinate lack of imagination formed a shield against such trauma. The less you allowed yourself to care, the fewer times you got hurt."
This is the first of a few mini reviews I'm planning on doing. Which might be difficult for me, because you may have noticed that I do indulge in the vomiting of the words. Just a wee bit. It's fine. I'VE GOT THIS!!
Ragged Alice is about Holly Craig, a detective who returns to her small hometown to investigate a hit and run, which ends up being the first of many murders. Holly has a gift/curse.. she has the ability to see into peoples souls. Literally.
Gareth L. Powell is an author that I've heard about over the years, mostly associated with science fiction. I'm wicked excited to read Embers of War, because that sounds like it will be right up my alley!
Because there are just.. SO MANY BOOKS out there in the world and disposable time is limited for all of us, I've been enjoying reading standalones (and especially novellas) by already established authors to get a taste of what their writing is like. It helps to somewhat narrow down the writers that have been on my TBR list for ages, whether or not I want to prioritize them more, etc.
Except this strategy did nothing to help in regards to Ragged Alice.
Don't get me wrong, I liked this. I did.
I just didn't love it. It didn't blow me away. I didn't feel much once I finished. I'm someone that needs to FEEL something (ANYTHING) while reading. There was a slight disconnect for me in this story. It would have had more of an impact on me if we had spent more time getting to know and care about the characters, especially Holly. It just seemed like these were people populating the story, without much development or purpose.
Ragged Alice had a Miriam Black/Bill Hodges vibe, but without the interesting characters. This wasn't a bad book, but it didn't resonate much with me. There were also some plot holes that I had issues with. However, it's not all negative! It was a quick read with an interesting mystery and some twisty supernatural elements.
YMMV.
(Thanks to Tor.com Publishing for sending me a copy!)
**The quotes above were taken from an ARC & are subject to change upon publication**
This is the first of a few mini reviews I'm planning on doing. Which might be difficult for me, because you may have noticed that I do indulge in the vomiting of the words. Just a wee bit. It's fine. I'VE GOT THIS!!
Ragged Alice is about Holly Craig, a detective who returns to her small hometown to investigate a hit and run, which ends up being the first of many murders. Holly has a gift/curse.. she has the ability to see into peoples souls. Literally.
Gareth L. Powell is an author that I've heard about over the years, mostly associated with science fiction. I'm wicked excited to read Embers of War, because that sounds like it will be right up my alley!
Because there are just.. SO MANY BOOKS out there in the world and disposable time is limited for all of us, I've been enjoying reading standalones (and especially novellas) by already established authors to get a taste of what their writing is like. It helps to somewhat narrow down the writers that have been on my TBR list for ages, whether or not I want to prioritize them more, etc.
Except this strategy did nothing to help in regards to Ragged Alice.
Don't get me wrong, I liked this. I did.
I just didn't love it. It didn't blow me away. I didn't feel much once I finished. I'm someone that needs to FEEL something (ANYTHING) while reading. There was a slight disconnect for me in this story. It would have had more of an impact on me if we had spent more time getting to know and care about the characters, especially Holly. It just seemed like these were people populating the story, without much development or purpose.
Ragged Alice had a Miriam Black/Bill Hodges vibe, but without the interesting characters. This wasn't a bad book, but it didn't resonate much with me. There were also some plot holes that I had issues with. However, it's not all negative! It was a quick read with an interesting mystery and some twisty supernatural elements.
YMMV.
(Thanks to Tor.com Publishing for sending me a copy!)
**The quotes above were taken from an ARC & are subject to change upon publication**
July 15, 2021
Originally posted to I Should Read That
I hadn’t read anything by Powell before, but he just won the British Science Fiction Award for his full-length space opera Embers of War. I wanted to give him a try, and Ragged Alice look great! It is a totally different kind of book from his space opera, but it showcases his excellent writing. Ragged Alice follows DCI Holly Craig as she returns to her hometown in Wales to investigate gruesome murders. The catch? Holly can essentially see people’s souls and thereby their guilt.
I ended up really enjoying this book. Powell does an amazing job of taking a well-worn crime fiction trope and twisting it on its head. Holly Craig, at first glance, seems like the stereotypical fictional detective. She’s a solitary person, an alcoholic, and running from her past. However her paranormal talents, although a light touch, add an incredibly interesting layer to her character and the story. She's such a captivating person and I really loved reading her point of view.
I did feel that the police bits were more interesting than the paranormal bits, especially when more layers of the story are uncovered. However, I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a short and thrilling read.
CW: Gruesome murder
I hadn’t read anything by Powell before, but he just won the British Science Fiction Award for his full-length space opera Embers of War. I wanted to give him a try, and Ragged Alice look great! It is a totally different kind of book from his space opera, but it showcases his excellent writing. Ragged Alice follows DCI Holly Craig as she returns to her hometown in Wales to investigate gruesome murders. The catch? Holly can essentially see people’s souls and thereby their guilt.
I ended up really enjoying this book. Powell does an amazing job of taking a well-worn crime fiction trope and twisting it on its head. Holly Craig, at first glance, seems like the stereotypical fictional detective. She’s a solitary person, an alcoholic, and running from her past. However her paranormal talents, although a light touch, add an incredibly interesting layer to her character and the story. She's such a captivating person and I really loved reading her point of view.
I did feel that the police bits were more interesting than the paranormal bits, especially when more layers of the story are uncovered. However, I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a short and thrilling read.
CW: Gruesome murder
May 4, 2019
It was... fine. I enjoyed the writing and the setting (seriously, it gets all the stars for being set in Wales with Welsh characters occasionally speaking Welsh with NO translations). I thought the characters were okay, if a little cliched at times.
But I think the book falls victim to its length (it's around 200 pages but definitely needed more imo) and the possibility that it's book 1 in a series. There's a lot of set-up but not equal payoff. Plot holes that left me scratching my head. Conveniences and inconsistencies regarding the paranormal aspect. And all of it combined left me wishing it would have committed more to deciding what it wanted to be.
Also there was a super weird (for me, anyway) bit where a secondary character was reminiscing about when she was younger and she was spit-roasted by two men who did it because they were trying to pretend they weren't gay. And I was like... okay? Random bit of information much? And I get that piece of random information but not a fully coherent ending that I didn't have to read three times because I didn't understand it? Behave.
But I think the book falls victim to its length (it's around 200 pages but definitely needed more imo) and the possibility that it's book 1 in a series. There's a lot of set-up but not equal payoff. Plot holes that left me scratching my head. Conveniences and inconsistencies regarding the paranormal aspect. And all of it combined left me wishing it would have committed more to deciding what it wanted to be.
Also there was a super weird (for me, anyway) bit where a secondary character was reminiscing about when she was younger and she was spit-roasted by two men who did it because they were trying to pretend they weren't gay. And I was like... okay? Random bit of information much? And I get that piece of random information but not a fully coherent ending that I didn't have to read three times because I didn't understand it? Behave.
May 2, 2019
2.5 stars -- I would try again with this author, but I don't think this one came together particularly well. A lot of good ideas, but it needed to be shorter/more focused, longer/more expansive, or have a better pay off in the ending. The atmosphere it painted was very well executed & I was intrigued by the characters (enough to finish the book), but it didn't work fully as a mystery nor as speculative fiction
September 22, 2025
★★★★ 1/2
This is a wonderful novella that’s got all the spooky and atmospheric vibes. It takes place in Wales, in the small Welsh coastal town that DCI Holly Craig grew up in. She never thought she would return to the place where her mother was murdered but now she’s back after spending time in London finishing University and then working her way up the chain of command in the London police.
When a local girl is left by the side of the road to die, Holly thinks the case is open and shut. When her prime suspect is murdered in the same way as Holly’s mother was years ago however, the case gets turned on its head.
I really enjoyed this story. It’s short and fast-paced and the descriptions of the small Welsh town and surroundings are really well done. There is some ambiguity in the ending and not everything is explained but I enjoy it when creepy and magical things are not fully explained. For some reason, it makes them more scary to me.
I read this for the GENRE: HORROR square on my 2025 Halloween Bingo card.
This is a wonderful novella that’s got all the spooky and atmospheric vibes. It takes place in Wales, in the small Welsh coastal town that DCI Holly Craig grew up in. She never thought she would return to the place where her mother was murdered but now she’s back after spending time in London finishing University and then working her way up the chain of command in the London police.
When a local girl is left by the side of the road to die, Holly thinks the case is open and shut. When her prime suspect is murdered in the same way as Holly’s mother was years ago however, the case gets turned on its head.
I really enjoyed this story. It’s short and fast-paced and the descriptions of the small Welsh town and surroundings are really well done. There is some ambiguity in the ending and not everything is explained but I enjoy it when creepy and magical things are not fully explained. For some reason, it makes them more scary to me.
I read this for the GENRE: HORROR square on my 2025 Halloween Bingo card.
October 22, 2019
I love all the ideas in this little package, but it is also one of those novellas that has me yelling WHY AREN'T YOU A NOVEL DARLING all the way through.
100% would read novels about DCI Holly Craig. Now want to know all about her mysterious London Case of Awful and her even more mysterious future of Ooh Blimey Really That's Interesting.
Full review to follow.
100% would read novels about DCI Holly Craig. Now want to know all about her mysterious London Case of Awful and her even more mysterious future of Ooh Blimey Really That's Interesting.
Full review to follow.
April 26, 2019
In this fast paranormal crime novel, we meet Holly Craig, London Detective, who travels back to her sleepy coastal home town in Wales. She is here to take a breather from a big job back in London, and this crime seems like an easy open shut case- a woman is hit and her partner was seen following her after a dispute. Should be a walk in the park, but there is something larger and more sinister at work here, that is going to go back into Holly's own history, a past she has spent her whole life running from.Ragged Alice is Hollys mother, brutally murdered decades prior, and now a witchy legend used to spook the children in the area to stay out of the woods. Holly has been running from this horrible tale her whole life, unsolved. But now she is being forced to investigate the past to solve the future.Holly also possesses a special gift, where she is able to see the evil in a persons soul.I rated this book highly, its a very fast and action packed story, I was creeping up to the final chapters still waiting for the ending, with anticipation growing as the remaining read counted got smaller and smaller. As much as I enjoyed this I wish it had gone longer, firstly it was so good that I didnt want it to end, and secondly I really want more of Holly Craig as my superhero.The only thing stopping this book from getting the 5 star rating was the hype around Hollys special ability, it was well explained, but she didn't really get to use it, or in any way that I noticed. I also felt this could have been explored a lot further and drawn out, there are many unanswered questions for me- this may be part of the appeal to the ending or a great set up to a series. I hope it becomes a series, Holly has so far to go with her tenacity and abilities.
to-read-so-bad-it-hurts
June 28, 2018If you 'can literally see the evil in people’s souls,' you'd obviously become a detective. Amazing.
Also, this is a 'tale of horror set in the Welsh valleys' and I'M HERE FOR IT \O/
Another win for Tor.com, TBH
Also, this is a 'tale of horror set in the Welsh valleys' and I'M HERE FOR IT \O/
Another win for Tor.com, TBH
June 7, 2019
3.5/5
I liked the characters, they would make a great detective series, but I don't think it is in the meantime.
Scott was lovely, I really liked him even if he didn't show up a lot.
(I'll give it an actual review after the exams. I hope so.)
I liked the characters, they would make a great detective series, but I don't think it is in the meantime.
Scott was lovely, I really liked him even if he didn't show up a lot.
(I'll give it an actual review after the exams. I hope so.)
May 26, 2019
Interesting short novella about horror in a small town
https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...
May 5, 2019
Ragged Alice is a smooth blend of police procedural and supernatural thriller with an authentic Welsh setting and lyrical descriptions.
I consumed the 202 pages of "Ragged Alice" in a single sitting, partly because I needed to know where Gareth Powell would take the story and partly because I was beguiled by the language.
"Ragged Alice" is the start of a new series featuring DCI Holly Craig, No, don't groan and say "not another one?" True she's a police officer who drinks too much and has poor social skills but trust me, she's not the typical Brit cop. She has an ability (you might call it a gift, she often calls ita curse held at bay only by whisky) to look into a person's eyes and know how far they've been eroded by guilt, shame and dissolution.
She's returned to her native Wales fifteen years after escaping it with the intention never to return and immediately finds herself investigating a murder in the small seaside town she grew up.
This is a short, fast-moving story, where the body count seems to rise with every tide, the violence is graphic and the spirits of the dead are always with those who have the eyes to see them.
One of the joys of the book for me was the wonderful language used to describe the place and its people. One chapter starts with a single sentence evoking a rainy day in Wales in a way that reminded me of Dylan Thomas:
RAIN FELL ACROSS THE bracken-brown hills like a biblical punishment. It dripped from the town’s slick slate roofs, overflowed the gutters and ran in gurgling torrents down the steep-sided streets.
The story features, Mrs Phillips, a flamboyant woman in her nineties who makes an immediate impression. Here's how her first meeting with DCI Craig is described:
An old woman waited on the hotel steps. She wore a man’s white tuxedo jacket over a lilac ball gown and was smoking a cigarette.
´Are you the detective, love?”
Holly paused. The old girl must have been « ninety if she was a day. Her hands looked like sausage skins filled with walnuts. She leant her weight on a silver-topped cane and had slicked back her silver hair with fragrant pomade.
Isn't that a wonderful way to describe hands?
Later, when Holly Craig thinks back on Mrs Phillips, she describes her to herself as:
the living personification of the Victorian buildings on the seafront—their facades once proud and enthusiastic but now washed out, half-forgotten and clinging to past glories, their lungs ravaged by years of smoke, black mould and neglect.
I admire the aptness and exuberance of that.
I also like the small but telling ways in which life in a small town in Wales was evoked, for example, when DCI Craig is surprised that Mrs Phillips knows of something that happened only a few hours ago, the irrepressible old woman says:
“Oh, you know what this place is like, love. If you lose your virginity at lunchtime, someone will have found it and brought it home to your mam in time for tea.”
I recommend "Ragged Alice" if you're in the mood for a trope-twisting police procedural with a supernatural edge, a distinctive Welsh flavour and language that makes you go "I wish I'd written that".
I consumed the 202 pages of "Ragged Alice" in a single sitting, partly because I needed to know where Gareth Powell would take the story and partly because I was beguiled by the language.
"Ragged Alice" is the start of a new series featuring DCI Holly Craig, No, don't groan and say "not another one?" True she's a police officer who drinks too much and has poor social skills but trust me, she's not the typical Brit cop. She has an ability (you might call it a gift, she often calls ita curse held at bay only by whisky) to look into a person's eyes and know how far they've been eroded by guilt, shame and dissolution.
She's returned to her native Wales fifteen years after escaping it with the intention never to return and immediately finds herself investigating a murder in the small seaside town she grew up.
This is a short, fast-moving story, where the body count seems to rise with every tide, the violence is graphic and the spirits of the dead are always with those who have the eyes to see them.
One of the joys of the book for me was the wonderful language used to describe the place and its people. One chapter starts with a single sentence evoking a rainy day in Wales in a way that reminded me of Dylan Thomas:
RAIN FELL ACROSS THE bracken-brown hills like a biblical punishment. It dripped from the town’s slick slate roofs, overflowed the gutters and ran in gurgling torrents down the steep-sided streets.
The story features, Mrs Phillips, a flamboyant woman in her nineties who makes an immediate impression. Here's how her first meeting with DCI Craig is described:
An old woman waited on the hotel steps. She wore a man’s white tuxedo jacket over a lilac ball gown and was smoking a cigarette.
´Are you the detective, love?”
Holly paused. The old girl must have been « ninety if she was a day. Her hands looked like sausage skins filled with walnuts. She leant her weight on a silver-topped cane and had slicked back her silver hair with fragrant pomade.
Isn't that a wonderful way to describe hands?
Later, when Holly Craig thinks back on Mrs Phillips, she describes her to herself as:
the living personification of the Victorian buildings on the seafront—their facades once proud and enthusiastic but now washed out, half-forgotten and clinging to past glories, their lungs ravaged by years of smoke, black mould and neglect.
I admire the aptness and exuberance of that.
I also like the small but telling ways in which life in a small town in Wales was evoked, for example, when DCI Craig is surprised that Mrs Phillips knows of something that happened only a few hours ago, the irrepressible old woman says:
“Oh, you know what this place is like, love. If you lose your virginity at lunchtime, someone will have found it and brought it home to your mam in time for tea.”
I recommend "Ragged Alice" if you're in the mood for a trope-twisting police procedural with a supernatural edge, a distinctive Welsh flavour and language that makes you go "I wish I'd written that".
April 26, 2019
This was fine. I enjoyed the writing and the setting. I really liked the descriptions of the different places and could picture the surroundings very easily. I also like the premise, having the ability to see the evil in someone and using that to solve crimes, sounds pretty interesting to me.
However there were a lot of inconsistencies with the characters, particularly with Holly. I felt the way she was described in the text was at odds with the way she acted, and I thought her handling of the case was pretty incompetent. I also felt that her ability to see the bad in people wasn't really used at all. In general the characters behaved rather illogically in most situations. There were also some plot holes and factual missteps that probably should have been caught by an editor.
This is clearly the beginning of a series and maybe they'll improve but while this was fine for a rainy afternoon I probably wouldn't rush to get the next one.
However there were a lot of inconsistencies with the characters, particularly with Holly. I felt the way she was described in the text was at odds with the way she acted, and I thought her handling of the case was pretty incompetent. I also felt that her ability to see the bad in people wasn't really used at all. In general the characters behaved rather illogically in most situations. There were also some plot holes and factual missteps that probably should have been caught by an editor.
This is clearly the beginning of a series and maybe they'll improve but while this was fine for a rainy afternoon I probably wouldn't rush to get the next one.
June 2, 2025
3 1/2 stars.
Ragged Alice is a good police procedural with a paranormal flavour. It’s a short novel, meaning a quick, enjoyable read. The language is concise and sharp as a tack; no words are wasted. We have an interesting, restless, complicated main character in DCI Holly Craig. The murder of her mother still fresh in her mind after 30-odd years, she is sent to her hometown of Pontyrhudd, Wales, to investigate a series of new, similar murders. Is there a 30 year old connection? The story is a bit predictable (I had a good idea who the killer was before the police), and the paranormal aspect could have been used a bit more effectively earlier on. Still, a good read.
Ragged Alice is a good police procedural with a paranormal flavour. It’s a short novel, meaning a quick, enjoyable read. The language is concise and sharp as a tack; no words are wasted. We have an interesting, restless, complicated main character in DCI Holly Craig. The murder of her mother still fresh in her mind after 30-odd years, she is sent to her hometown of Pontyrhudd, Wales, to investigate a series of new, similar murders. Is there a 30 year old connection? The story is a bit predictable (I had a good idea who the killer was before the police), and the paranormal aspect could have been used a bit more effectively earlier on. Still, a good read.
September 25, 2021
DCI Holly Craig is brought back to her home town of Pontyrhudd to investigate the apparent hit and run of a young woman, but soon finds herself drawn into a tangled web which is connected to the decades old murder of her own mother.
Part police procedural, part ghost story, Powell has created a fascinating character in Craig, whose special gifts have driven her to drink and hard work. The writing style is clear and the plotting is straightforward, delivering the chills in all the right places.
Part police procedural, part ghost story, Powell has created a fascinating character in Craig, whose special gifts have driven her to drink and hard work. The writing style is clear and the plotting is straightforward, delivering the chills in all the right places.
November 3, 2019
A very good supernatural police procedural with a compelling flawed protagonist and very creepy worldbuilding that unfortunately spends too much time on setup and while it does have a concrete ending it just comes so very fast, leaving me with the thought "What? But I was just getting into it!"
I hope for a sequel, perhaps as a full novel :)
I hope for a sequel, perhaps as a full novel :)
April 28, 2019
More, please.
May 30, 2019
Interesting, and promising for a potential sequel, though quite rushed at the end.
January 8, 2021
Interesting mystery and the writer obviously has talent, its just the story never seemed to take off. I lost interest in it despite the setting and characters.
Read
August 21, 2023Cute.
August 11, 2019
Urban Fantasy set in small town Wales, with a series of deaths being investigated by a hard-bitten police office returning to her roots after a traumatic time in London. Oh, and she can see into people’s souls. Interesting stuff, and evoked a really good sense of place, but if you write in the mode of gritty police procedural you need to get things right, and the lack of intervention from above given an ongoing sequence of enough deaths to be making national news really wasn’t plausible.
June 27, 2019
Thanks to Netgalley for providing a copy of this book for review.
I wanted to read this novella because I'd heard good things about the author's Ack-Ack Macaque series, and this didn't seem like a huge time investment. Plus I like paranormal detectives. And Wales.
Unfortunately, this book wasn't especially memorable. Holly Craig seemed like she should be an interesting character- she can see the stains of evil deeds past on people's souls! However, this ability really didn't come into play in any fashion that moved the plot forward. Holly likes to drink and is basically a female version of the burned-out police officer, which wasn't original enough for me on its own. I didn't care enough about Holly to want to learn more about her after it became evident that her supernatural ability wasn't going to be made useful.
The murders seemed like they should be grisly, but despite graphic descriptions I wasn't too moved. Holly didn't seem to be a very effective detective, and murders continued to happen while she half-heartedly followed leads that didn't pan out. Holly didn't have many resources, just people breathing down her neck wanting results. I've read police procedurals that get into the nuances and relationships of different law enforcement agencies in a more interesting manner.
And finally, the mystery's solution was kind of handed to Holly.
Also, randomly- there is an elderly lady character in the book whom I liked- a bit eccentric, a bit fey, and it turns out she can see ghosts. There was one passage in the book from her point of view. It consisted of her thinking back fondly on the days when she was a racy young thing, and how much she enjoyed playing the part of Chinese fingercuffs with two not-quite-gay sailors ala the movie Chasing Amy. It was weirdly graphic, had nothing to do with the plot, and I couldn't understand what it was doing in this book. I don't mind a graphic sex scene, but why out of the blue do we need one that's a memory of a very elderly woman that has absolutely no bearing on the rest of the story and that is different in tone than anything else in the book? It was jarring.
So, in short, this novella did not make me want to read more about Holly Craig or more by Gareth L. Powell.
I wanted to read this novella because I'd heard good things about the author's Ack-Ack Macaque series, and this didn't seem like a huge time investment. Plus I like paranormal detectives. And Wales.
Unfortunately, this book wasn't especially memorable. Holly Craig seemed like she should be an interesting character- she can see the stains of evil deeds past on people's souls! However, this ability really didn't come into play in any fashion that moved the plot forward. Holly likes to drink and is basically a female version of the burned-out police officer, which wasn't original enough for me on its own. I didn't care enough about Holly to want to learn more about her after it became evident that her supernatural ability wasn't going to be made useful.
The murders seemed like they should be grisly, but despite graphic descriptions I wasn't too moved. Holly didn't seem to be a very effective detective, and murders continued to happen while she half-heartedly followed leads that didn't pan out. Holly didn't have many resources, just people breathing down her neck wanting results. I've read police procedurals that get into the nuances and relationships of different law enforcement agencies in a more interesting manner.
And finally, the mystery's solution was kind of handed to Holly.
Also, randomly- there is an elderly lady character in the book whom I liked- a bit eccentric, a bit fey, and it turns out she can see ghosts. There was one passage in the book from her point of view. It consisted of her thinking back fondly on the days when she was a racy young thing, and how much she enjoyed playing the part of Chinese fingercuffs with two not-quite-gay sailors ala the movie Chasing Amy. It was weirdly graphic, had nothing to do with the plot, and I couldn't understand what it was doing in this book. I don't mind a graphic sex scene, but why out of the blue do we need one that's a memory of a very elderly woman that has absolutely no bearing on the rest of the story and that is different in tone than anything else in the book? It was jarring.
So, in short, this novella did not make me want to read more about Holly Craig or more by Gareth L. Powell.
April 8, 2020
https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3366809.html
I liked this a lot - police procedural meets horror, as with a lot of popular UK-based writing at the moment, but this time in Wales rather than London (Cornell/Aaronovitch). Some bits didn't quite make sense, in terms of police procedure - how come the protagonist gets called in so quickly? How come nobody in her chain of command spots the resonances with her own personal history? - but it was a compelling if chilling read.
I liked this a lot - police procedural meets horror, as with a lot of popular UK-based writing at the moment, but this time in Wales rather than London (Cornell/Aaronovitch). Some bits didn't quite make sense, in terms of police procedure - how come the protagonist gets called in so quickly? How come nobody in her chain of command spots the resonances with her own personal history? - but it was a compelling if chilling read.
June 22, 2020
Second read: I very much enjoyed this on the reread. This time I knew what to expect and was able to immerse myself in the story. The dialogue is very well-written, so much that I can hear the Welsh accents in my head and the plot is firmly anchored in the landscape. I like the nods to folk horror and there are some brilliant lines to find, like easter eggs amongst the prose. I'd love to read a prequel or sequel to this.
First read through: This wasn't my favourite. It was well-written and a decent way to pass an hour or two but once I put the book down, none of it stayed with me.
First read through: This wasn't my favourite. It was well-written and a decent way to pass an hour or two but once I put the book down, none of it stayed with me.
June 6, 2019
Nothing super original in here -- it's really more of a remix of supernatural/paranormal tropes, but it's done very well. Mr. Powell certainly has a gift with words, and I thought the atmosphere was very convincing. I didn't find it scary (my local library has it stamped with a 'horror' sticker), but I thought it was a good ghost story and an excellent study in small town character dynamics. I loved DCI Craig the most when she was reflecting on her relationship with place.
March 30, 2020
I am always on the lookout for suspense/thrillers that are cogent, believable, and truly suspenseful. Many of the most popular titles are really not. Ragged Alice starts out fairly well. Good mysterious murder. Detective comes back home to where she had a troubled past. There's even a murder in her background, one that's never been solved. Not super original, but intriguing enough. Then it all goes haywire. She has an ability to "see" into people's minds, and know if they are guilty (like an aura, but inside the person) but for some reason she still doesn't know who did the murder. [The setting is Wales, and I am immediately put in mind of the GREAT Fiona Griffiths books, which also take place in Wales and which feature a detective with an unusual psychology. Except this story just disintegrates.] There is very little police work. The detective and her second talk over possible suspects -- not via evidence, but just who is around town and might have a motive -- and go talk to them. Then the second goes home and the she drinks and sits around. Even her alcoholism isn't believable. All day she longs for a drink. She goes back to the hotel and drinks an entire bottle and blacks out. The next morning, she must have...tea. She can't function without her morning tea. What??? Another time, she goes to her grandfather's house (he's been dead for a while), and realizes she can't have tea there because the milk in the fridge is "two years old." Um...yeah. It would be. At another point, she contemplates whether or not she "should" fall in love with the other detective. He is younger, married, and she is not particularly attracted to him. But she contemplates this question at length. She allows a young woman reporter to follow her everywhere, even though she is against the whole idea and the reporter's argument in favor are dumb. There are other dumb things, but let me just say this is a huge disappointment.
December 29, 2024
I'm Welsh, and like to pick up books set in Wales/based on Welsh mythology from time to time, to see how close to home it hits.
This was a bit mixed for me. It started strong. Descriptions of the countryside, pepperings of Welshisms and Welsh language felt quite natural for the first few chapters. Then I started to see more errors, like looking out from Cardigan Bay at the Atlantic (not the Irish sea) and a strange use of "by here" that just rang very wrong.
Then there's the fact that the supernatural element is (from what I can tell) entirely made up (based on the internal story rather than any folklore, which would have been nice to see), and not really explained all that well (possibly some scifi weirdness that is only briefly touched on). It was haphazard and the ending felt incomplete. A bit "1, 2 skip a few, 99, 1000."
The premise of the main character's ability to "see souls" also turned out to serve no function other than the occasional comment about someone's personality (not really sticking to the promise made by the blurb). And there were a lot of stray threads to the story-telling that didnt really tie in to anything else. Like the random trip to a lighthouse for a chapter with a different POV character that gave us no progression to either characters or plot.
All that isnt to say I didnt enjoy the book. It had a very bleak gritty crime drama feel to it, and as a puzzle solver I kind of enjoy when I manage to pin the murderer through a single sentence early on and then spend the rest of the book watching for signs that Im correct (I was). But I wouldnt say go into this thinking its going to be groundbreaking. It's fun, but not as fun as I'd hoped it would be.
This was a bit mixed for me. It started strong. Descriptions of the countryside, pepperings of Welshisms and Welsh language felt quite natural for the first few chapters. Then I started to see more errors, like looking out from Cardigan Bay at the Atlantic (not the Irish sea) and a strange use of "by here" that just rang very wrong.
Then there's the fact that the supernatural element is (from what I can tell) entirely made up (based on the internal story rather than any folklore, which would have been nice to see), and not really explained all that well (possibly some scifi weirdness that is only briefly touched on). It was haphazard and the ending felt incomplete. A bit "1, 2 skip a few, 99, 1000."
The premise of the main character's ability to "see souls" also turned out to serve no function other than the occasional comment about someone's personality (not really sticking to the promise made by the blurb). And there were a lot of stray threads to the story-telling that didnt really tie in to anything else. Like the random trip to a lighthouse for a chapter with a different POV character that gave us no progression to either characters or plot.
All that isnt to say I didnt enjoy the book. It had a very bleak gritty crime drama feel to it, and as a puzzle solver I kind of enjoy when I manage to pin the murderer through a single sentence early on and then spend the rest of the book watching for signs that Im correct (I was). But I wouldnt say go into this thinking its going to be groundbreaking. It's fun, but not as fun as I'd hoped it would be.
February 23, 2020
With such an incredible premise, wonderful creativity, and quick-paced prose, It was surprising to me how Ragged Alice simply didn't work. I love authors that trust readers with brevity, but in the 199 pages of this novel, I wanted more and wanted it to be over at the same time. The premise of a detective that has the ability to see "evil" in people is promising and interesting. Powell barely uses this idea throughout the novel though. Other characters are given the opportunity to interact with the supernatural much more than the protagonist detective.
I think another 100 pages and many of the ideas could develop in complex and interesting ways. There simply wasn't enough within the text. Large gaping wounds were left unfilled or healed within the story, characters were barely more than a "type"... It simply doesn't work.
Powell is a strong writer of paced prose, but plot working and character development was so lacking in this space the entire piece felt stilted and redundant. But I would read him again. There is a lot of talent in his words and as frustrated as I am with the outcome of the missing holes, the immature characterization there is still interesting and entertaining story.
I think another 100 pages and many of the ideas could develop in complex and interesting ways. There simply wasn't enough within the text. Large gaping wounds were left unfilled or healed within the story, characters were barely more than a "type"... It simply doesn't work.
Powell is a strong writer of paced prose, but plot working and character development was so lacking in this space the entire piece felt stilted and redundant. But I would read him again. There is a lot of talent in his words and as frustrated as I am with the outcome of the missing holes, the immature characterization there is still interesting and entertaining story.
March 12, 2020
I agree with the other reviewers that the story felt undeniably short for what the plot was trying to do. The premise was interesting, the writing itself superb, but I felt like the approach to law enforcement seemed vague. The mentioning of Holly's 'gift' had nothing to do with the story-- she didn't even use it. The reporter's presence didn't seem to add a whole lot, but I like her. It was unclear who sent Holly the final note. The ending with her mother was awkward. Who ran her off the road? Perkins seemed surprised she asked if he wanted to kill her, so was this him? The plot devices seemed disjointed. I think all of this could have been fixed had the book had time to develop. I really think if efforts are made going forward with these characters or writing crime, the author could be very successful if it's not rushed, characters are developed more (Holly is more a series of events that happened to her rather than a relatable personality), and the attention to how a police investigation is carried out is given proper attention. Forensics, evidence, process... all seemed lacking. I liked the paranormal addendum, but it needs to be integrated in a way that moves the story forward.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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