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Constable Twitten #2
The Man That Got Away
In the second instalment of Lynne Truss's joyfully quirky crime series, our trio of detectives must investigate the murder of a hapless romantic; an aristocratic con man on the prowl; and a dodgy Brighton nightspot...
It is summer in Brighton and the Brighton Belles are on hand to answer any holidaymaker's queries, no matter how big or small. The quickest way to the station, how many pebbles are on the beach and what exactly has happened to that young man lying in the deckchair with blood dripping from him?
Constable Twitten has a hunch that the fiendish murder may be connected to a notorious Brighton nightspot and the family that run it, but Inspector Steine is – as ever – distracted by other issues, not least having his own waxwork model made and an unexpected arrival, while Sergeant Brunswick is just delighted to have spied an opportunity to finally be allowed to go undercover…
Our incomparable team of detectives are back for another outing in the new instalment of Lynne Truss's joyfully quirky crime series.
It is summer in Brighton and the Brighton Belles are on hand to answer any holidaymaker's queries, no matter how big or small. The quickest way to the station, how many pebbles are on the beach and what exactly has happened to that young man lying in the deckchair with blood dripping from him?
Constable Twitten has a hunch that the fiendish murder may be connected to a notorious Brighton nightspot and the family that run it, but Inspector Steine is – as ever – distracted by other issues, not least having his own waxwork model made and an unexpected arrival, while Sergeant Brunswick is just delighted to have spied an opportunity to finally be allowed to go undercover…
Our incomparable team of detectives are back for another outing in the new instalment of Lynne Truss's joyfully quirky crime series.
285 pages, Hardcover
First published July 11, 2019
114 people are currently reading
2135 people want to read
About the author
Lynne Truss
113 books1,002 followersLynne Truss is a writer and journalist who started out as a literary editor with a blue pencil and then got sidetracked. The author of three novels and numerous radio comedy dramas, she spent six years as the television critic of The Times of London, followed by four (rather peculiar) years as a sports columnist for the same newspaper. She won Columnist of the Year for her work for Women's Journal. Lynne Truss also hosted Cutting a Dash, a popular BBC Radio 4 series about punctuation. She now reviews books for the Sunday Times of London and is a familiar voice on BBC Radio 4. She lives in Brighton, England.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews
July 10, 2019
The second book in this light hearted crime series set in Brighton, England in the late 1950's. The enthusiastic Constable Twitten returns to irritate the lazy Inspector Steine with his determination to actually solve crimes.
These books are very, very English and I think you may need to be above a certain age and born in the UK to really appreciate all of the references and witticisms. However there is still lots of fun to be had by any reader as Twitten continues to try and convince everyone that Mrs Groynes, the police station charlady, is actually a master criminal.
This was a fun read but I must admit to losing track of things in the middle when the plot seemed to take off in so many different directions I could not keep up. Serious readers might want to keep notes. I just let it flow past and waited for the author to link it all up at the end in a very satisfactory manner.
I am very much looking forward to another episode in the life of the Brighton Constabulary. Will Sergeant Brunswick get shot in the leg again? Will Twitten come to regret embracing the devil? Is it possible to exceed the body count achieved in this book? We can only wait and see.
These books are very, very English and I think you may need to be above a certain age and born in the UK to really appreciate all of the references and witticisms. However there is still lots of fun to be had by any reader as Twitten continues to try and convince everyone that Mrs Groynes, the police station charlady, is actually a master criminal.
This was a fun read but I must admit to losing track of things in the middle when the plot seemed to take off in so many different directions I could not keep up. Serious readers might want to keep notes. I just let it flow past and waited for the author to link it all up at the end in a very satisfactory manner.
I am very much looking forward to another episode in the life of the Brighton Constabulary. Will Sergeant Brunswick get shot in the leg again? Will Twitten come to regret embracing the devil? Is it possible to exceed the body count achieved in this book? We can only wait and see.
July 1, 2019
2.5 stars. I wish to thank NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing me with an ARC in return for an honest review. I regret that I had difficulty maintaining interest in this book. I usually enjoy quirky characters, humour and mystery, and am sorry that this didn't work for me.
The language and witticisms belonged to Britain of the 1950s and the references were sometimes lost on me. I put effort into checking out unfamiliar words and names. Jumping from one clever witty passage to another disrupted the hilarity I should have been feeling and became tiresome. I did enjoy the quirky characters in the police department and in the criminal underworld. I think many readers would appreciate this book, but it's style didn't appeal to me.
Set in Brighton in 1957, the police force is mostly in denial about a rising crime wave. Constable Twitten is aware that a criminal mastermind is at work. While Inspector Steine is getting measured for a wax effigy of himself at a tacky museum, Twitten steps outside the room and overhears a conversation between two young lovers planning to meet and run away together. He makes notes of the details. Soon the young man is found dead on a beach chair. Twitten tries to convince Inspector Steine that he knows the identity of the man and his plans. Since the police department refuses to recognize criminal activity, they promptly close cases as unsolved, much to the frustration of Constable Twitten. Another body, this one headless, has been discovered in luggage. This case is closed as lacking in clues, but Twitten knows some clues exist.
There is much to enjoy in the interaction of the idiosyncratic characters, but I regret that much of the clever repartee failed to resonate with me.
The language and witticisms belonged to Britain of the 1950s and the references were sometimes lost on me. I put effort into checking out unfamiliar words and names. Jumping from one clever witty passage to another disrupted the hilarity I should have been feeling and became tiresome. I did enjoy the quirky characters in the police department and in the criminal underworld. I think many readers would appreciate this book, but it's style didn't appeal to me.
Set in Brighton in 1957, the police force is mostly in denial about a rising crime wave. Constable Twitten is aware that a criminal mastermind is at work. While Inspector Steine is getting measured for a wax effigy of himself at a tacky museum, Twitten steps outside the room and overhears a conversation between two young lovers planning to meet and run away together. He makes notes of the details. Soon the young man is found dead on a beach chair. Twitten tries to convince Inspector Steine that he knows the identity of the man and his plans. Since the police department refuses to recognize criminal activity, they promptly close cases as unsolved, much to the frustration of Constable Twitten. Another body, this one headless, has been discovered in luggage. This case is closed as lacking in clues, but Twitten knows some clues exist.
There is much to enjoy in the interaction of the idiosyncratic characters, but I regret that much of the clever repartee failed to resonate with me.
April 2, 2022
Like millions of others, I adore Lynne Truss’ grammar guide Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. I even loved Truss’ offbeat horror novel, Cat Out of Hell, featuring a literal cat from hell and his dimwitted owner. But The Man That Got Away, the second in a mystery series was just a bridge too far.
I did not read the debut in this series, A Shot in the Dark; however, I don’t think that would have made a difference. Stop reading now if you plan to read the series from the beginning, and you don’t want spoilers.
Twenty-two-year Constable Twitten lives up to his name: He is a total twit. However, sadly, he is, by far, the smartest policeman in Brighton’s force in 1957. This blockhead brigade is so stupid that it has hired the king pen of the local crime syndicate as their cleaning lady, confuse obvious murders as suicides, and bungle their job in every possible way. In a choice between an obvious clue or fact and the most far-fetched fantasy, they’ll go with the latter every time.
Why was this premise hilarious in Simon Pegg’s film Hot Fuzz and simply frustrating here? Perhaps because you could see the movie’s Officer Nick Angel making progress in convincing his half-witted comrades; Truss makes it clear in this novel that poor Twitten, like the poor rabbit in the Trix commercial, is never going to get anywhere with this imbecilic constabulary. Or perhaps Pegg’s treatment was more deft. Regardless, I couldn’t force myself any further than one-fifth of the way through before I abandoned the novel.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing in exchange for honest, if painful, review.
I did not read the debut in this series, A Shot in the Dark; however, I don’t think that would have made a difference. Stop reading now if you plan to read the series from the beginning, and you don’t want spoilers.
Twenty-two-year Constable Twitten lives up to his name: He is a total twit. However, sadly, he is, by far, the smartest policeman in Brighton’s force in 1957. This blockhead brigade is so stupid that it has hired the king pen of the local crime syndicate as their cleaning lady, confuse obvious murders as suicides, and bungle their job in every possible way. In a choice between an obvious clue or fact and the most far-fetched fantasy, they’ll go with the latter every time.
Why was this premise hilarious in Simon Pegg’s film Hot Fuzz and simply frustrating here? Perhaps because you could see the movie’s Officer Nick Angel making progress in convincing his half-witted comrades; Truss makes it clear in this novel that poor Twitten, like the poor rabbit in the Trix commercial, is never going to get anywhere with this imbecilic constabulary. Or perhaps Pegg’s treatment was more deft. Regardless, I couldn’t force myself any further than one-fifth of the way through before I abandoned the novel.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing in exchange for honest, if painful, review.
January 24, 2020
This is the second entry in the Constable Twitten series, and my fourth book by this writer. Truss is a reliably funny author, but this is her best yet. My thanks go to Bloomsbury and Net Galley for the review copy. You can buy this comic masterpiece now, but first you should read A Shot in the Dark if you can, because the background information you will find there will make this book even funnier.
Constable Twitten is the only capable, driven cop in Brighton, a small seaside tourist town in England. Steine, his boss, is unwilling to recognize that crime exists here at all; he is possibly the most gullible character to appear in fiction. For example, he believed an April Fool’s Day newscast about the spaghetti weevil, said to be ruining the spaghetti harvest. The other officer is slightly better, but when his dream of going undercover finally comes true, he becomes so immersed in his new role that he forgets he is supposed to be fighting crime. He is posing as a musician and spends all his time at the club performing or practicing; he doesn’t even bother to check in at the station. Twitten is left virtually alone to deal with Brighton’s crime wave.
Here is a pattern I’ve seen with Truss’s novels. The beginning is usually lame. The first time I read her work, I saw so many not-funny lines in the first ten percent that had I not owed a review, I might have been tempted to abandon it. However, even though I had decided that this was probably a pretty stupid book, I noticed a change as it went on, and by the last thirty percent or so, I was laughing out loud. Consequently, I was expecting a progression in this novel, from not-funny to slightly-funny to actually-pretty-funny to gut-splittingly-funny. I reminded myself that patience would pay off here, and I opened the book…and laughed on the first page. This book starts out at ten and it stays there all the way through.
There are several threads that are good here; we have the blind wax sculptor that makes dreadful likenesses for the wax museum, and there’s Inspector Steine being duped into believing a con woman is his long lost niece. But the most memorable, achingly funny bits are centered around Mrs. Groynes, the police station’s secretary who is also the janitor, and also the brains of an organized crime ring. Twitten knows this, and Groynes knows that he knows, but he cannot persuade another living soul that it’s true, and so there she remains, unhindered, using her job to obtain intelligence that in turn helps her underworld minions avoid detection.
It isn’t difficult.
Those that love excellent satire need look no further. I highly recommend this hilarious book to everyone.
Constable Twitten is the only capable, driven cop in Brighton, a small seaside tourist town in England. Steine, his boss, is unwilling to recognize that crime exists here at all; he is possibly the most gullible character to appear in fiction. For example, he believed an April Fool’s Day newscast about the spaghetti weevil, said to be ruining the spaghetti harvest. The other officer is slightly better, but when his dream of going undercover finally comes true, he becomes so immersed in his new role that he forgets he is supposed to be fighting crime. He is posing as a musician and spends all his time at the club performing or practicing; he doesn’t even bother to check in at the station. Twitten is left virtually alone to deal with Brighton’s crime wave.
Here is a pattern I’ve seen with Truss’s novels. The beginning is usually lame. The first time I read her work, I saw so many not-funny lines in the first ten percent that had I not owed a review, I might have been tempted to abandon it. However, even though I had decided that this was probably a pretty stupid book, I noticed a change as it went on, and by the last thirty percent or so, I was laughing out loud. Consequently, I was expecting a progression in this novel, from not-funny to slightly-funny to actually-pretty-funny to gut-splittingly-funny. I reminded myself that patience would pay off here, and I opened the book…and laughed on the first page. This book starts out at ten and it stays there all the way through.
There are several threads that are good here; we have the blind wax sculptor that makes dreadful likenesses for the wax museum, and there’s Inspector Steine being duped into believing a con woman is his long lost niece. But the most memorable, achingly funny bits are centered around Mrs. Groynes, the police station’s secretary who is also the janitor, and also the brains of an organized crime ring. Twitten knows this, and Groynes knows that he knows, but he cannot persuade another living soul that it’s true, and so there she remains, unhindered, using her job to obtain intelligence that in turn helps her underworld minions avoid detection.
It isn’t difficult.
Those that love excellent satire need look no further. I highly recommend this hilarious book to everyone.
October 14, 2019
I read Truss’s first Constable Twitten mystery, but it wasn’t until I read this one that I realized she appears to be writing an homage to Colin Watson’s Flaxborough detective novels published from the late 50s to the early 80s. Both series feature an Inspector who is a decent man but who has at least a couple of dozen IQ points fewer than his underlings, and a conwoman hiding in plain sight of the police force. The Man That Got Away even has a bit of background plot about a matchmaking con, which was the main plot of Colin Watson’s best novel, Lonelyheart 4122.
Both series are comic novels, and we don’t all enjoy the same type of comedy. Truss’s comedy is largely based on poor Constable Twitten’s frustration that none of his superiors pay attention to his theories and even outright facts. A little of that goes a long way, and I can definitely understand that it’s too silly for some readers. But behind the silliness is an action-filled multifaceted plot, and an evocative depiction of Brighton in the late 1950s.
Both series are comic novels, and we don’t all enjoy the same type of comedy. Truss’s comedy is largely based on poor Constable Twitten’s frustration that none of his superiors pay attention to his theories and even outright facts. A little of that goes a long way, and I can definitely understand that it’s too silly for some readers. But behind the silliness is an action-filled multifaceted plot, and an evocative depiction of Brighton in the late 1950s.
April 5, 2021
Another 5 star trip with Constable Twitten and the insufferable Inspector Stein. I am just loving this fun series.
I got number 3 as an arc a little while ago, and I've just been granted number 4 as an arc also, but I wanted to read the missing ones first! This is number 2 in this fantastic series and it is as good as the others I've read.
Full of British seaside humour, innuendo and quips at our own police force, Truss writes with such a clever way with language. The subtle mockery of language and colloquialisms is presented in such a fun and easy read. Constable Twitten is too clever for his own good, fresh out of police school and desperate to solve crimes off his own ingenuity he is coming to terms with having to share his police office with Mrs. Groynes - criminal mastermind and day time charlady. (I picture Mrs. Groynes as the tealady from Father Ted!) Twitten is stuck working with a force of terrible coppers, which only adds to his frustration not only trying to convince the rest of his team that Mrs. Groynes is a master criminal, but also to solve crimes in Brighton.
Such a hilarious and fun read. I honestly can't wait to read the newest book, but I'm going to reread number 3 in preperaration.
I got number 3 as an arc a little while ago, and I've just been granted number 4 as an arc also, but I wanted to read the missing ones first! This is number 2 in this fantastic series and it is as good as the others I've read.
Full of British seaside humour, innuendo and quips at our own police force, Truss writes with such a clever way with language. The subtle mockery of language and colloquialisms is presented in such a fun and easy read. Constable Twitten is too clever for his own good, fresh out of police school and desperate to solve crimes off his own ingenuity he is coming to terms with having to share his police office with Mrs. Groynes - criminal mastermind and day time charlady. (I picture Mrs. Groynes as the tealady from Father Ted!) Twitten is stuck working with a force of terrible coppers, which only adds to his frustration not only trying to convince the rest of his team that Mrs. Groynes is a master criminal, but also to solve crimes in Brighton.
Such a hilarious and fun read. I honestly can't wait to read the newest book, but I'm going to reread number 3 in preperaration.
October 18, 2019
You don’t have to have lived in the 1950s to enjoy The Man that got Away. However, it is eminently easier to understand if you’re from England.
There is a murder, a con man, and a criminal mastermind in Brighton, a beach town on the English coast in1957. Only young Constable Twitten has a chance to solve the crime if his bungling co-workers don’t stop him.
I read many British mysteries. But this series continues to confuse me with Briticisms and product names available only in England. Possibly only in the past. My Kindle dictionary doesn’t even know what they mean. I also don’t like or relate to the bumbling policemen. They have an office cleaner who is really a master criminal. Their chief didn’t notice he was being conned by the local wax museum. Reading The Man that got Away forces the reader to totally suspend disbelief.
While I enjoyed this entry, the second, more than the first, I still believe it was only good—not great. Still the mystery itself was entertaining. Plus I enjoyed the delights and surprises of an English beach town. 3 stars.
Thanks to Bloomsbury USA and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
There is a murder, a con man, and a criminal mastermind in Brighton, a beach town on the English coast in1957. Only young Constable Twitten has a chance to solve the crime if his bungling co-workers don’t stop him.
I read many British mysteries. But this series continues to confuse me with Briticisms and product names available only in England. Possibly only in the past. My Kindle dictionary doesn’t even know what they mean. I also don’t like or relate to the bumbling policemen. They have an office cleaner who is really a master criminal. Their chief didn’t notice he was being conned by the local wax museum. Reading The Man that got Away forces the reader to totally suspend disbelief.
While I enjoyed this entry, the second, more than the first, I still believe it was only good—not great. Still the mystery itself was entertaining. Plus I enjoyed the delights and surprises of an English beach town. 3 stars.
Thanks to Bloomsbury USA and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.
January 10, 2022
This was a lot easier to follow along but most likely cause I’m getting used to British language again 🤭
Love the humor, unique author👏🏼
Love the humor, unique author👏🏼
February 15, 2020
Delightful send up of noir detective novels. Set in1950's Brighton with a zany and complicated plot. Recommend reading the first book in series to get the full story.
April 23, 2023
Some novels land in that liminal space exactly between really good and really annoying. There is so much that is good about this novel. It's kind of charming and is staged very well. However, the characters have the depth of a puppet, and the dialogue repeats and repeats and repeats. The intentional humor feels stilted and also repetitious, while the overall concept is hilariously absurd.
I found myself alternately wanting to put the book down and avidly wanting to know what happened next. It's a whiplash experience. The pieces of the plot are under-described and confusing, but the culmination is wonderful. Then there is a moment of Deus Ex Machina to spoil the beauty of that moment.
So uneven as to be maddening.
I found myself alternately wanting to put the book down and avidly wanting to know what happened next. It's a whiplash experience. The pieces of the plot are under-described and confusing, but the culmination is wonderful. Then there is a moment of Deus Ex Machina to spoil the beauty of that moment.
So uneven as to be maddening.
May 14, 2023
Quite entertaining but generally found this just a bit too silly!
February 9, 2022
What a delightful series this is turning out to be. I read the 1st (A Shot in the Dark) last summer and am happy to report that the 2nd one in the series builds on the 1st in an effective way. Set in the British seaside (Brighton) in 1957 this is an inverse procedural satirizing police procedurals and is madcap hilarious. The word play is delicious, the main CHs especially neophyte smarty pants Constable Twitten, oblivious Inspector Steine, and naive Sargeant Brunswick, and the incomparable and incorrigible charlady Mrs. Groynes all shine, as do a plethora of 2nd CHs both sweet and sour. The plotting is magnificent, the Setting detailed and allows the reader to feel the sun and sand, see the edifices both grand and dilapidated, and smell the humbugs and sewers. The dialogue is endlessly funny. You'll figure it out and then laugh when you're wrong--numerous times. The descriptions of what happens in the station house, the Maison du Wax, the Black Cat night club, and the environs will have you in stitches as you picture them perfectly. Excellent (multiple) caper novel, as well as a comedy of manners. Nancy Mitford's Noblesse Oblige is a CH! I'm saving the next one for when I really need the laugh. Nothing is quite like this--but Anthony Horowitz and Richard Osman come to mind, but I have not laughed this hard at a mystery since Lutz's The Spellman Files.
August 20, 2019
The Man That Got Away is a 2019 parody whodunit whose title comes from a Judy Garland song.
Set in Britain, it could almost be a noir mystery given some of the dialogue, although there were plenty of corny characters that would have no place with the jaded cast of a true old time detective novel. There’s also the minor fact that the book is clearly meant to be laugh-out-loud funny, which it is. It’s a comedic mystery.
“Weedy Petey” is murdered and a bumbling group of keystone cops nearly prevents the only two people in the constabulary with brains from figuring out the whole mess.
“The Brighton Constabulary are utterly, shockingly obtuse, so expect no help there.”
There are a huge number of characters in the book, which is fairly typical in mysteries where you need plenty of possible suspects. The law enforcement in this book are skewered for being easily distracted by tea and sweet treats. One man is killed and police can’t determine who the body belongs to despite finding the man’s initials on his belongings.
Very enjoyable book for those who like to laugh while reading mysteries.
Set in Britain, it could almost be a noir mystery given some of the dialogue, although there were plenty of corny characters that would have no place with the jaded cast of a true old time detective novel. There’s also the minor fact that the book is clearly meant to be laugh-out-loud funny, which it is. It’s a comedic mystery.
“Weedy Petey” is murdered and a bumbling group of keystone cops nearly prevents the only two people in the constabulary with brains from figuring out the whole mess.
“The Brighton Constabulary are utterly, shockingly obtuse, so expect no help there.”
There are a huge number of characters in the book, which is fairly typical in mysteries where you need plenty of possible suspects. The law enforcement in this book are skewered for being easily distracted by tea and sweet treats. One man is killed and police can’t determine who the body belongs to despite finding the man’s initials on his belongings.
Very enjoyable book for those who like to laugh while reading mysteries.
June 27, 2022
We're in 1950s Brighton again and this time around Twitten, Brunswick, and Steine are dealing with a young man found murdered on the boardwalk. Well, Twitten is dealing with it, anyway. Brunswick has gone so far undercover he may never find his way out, and the ever-ridiculous Steine is far too busy obsessing over his coming wax figure in Mme Tussard's (that is not a misspelling) Waxworks to be of any use to anyone. Helping Twitten out is, of all people, his nemesis, Mrs. Groynes.
It turns out to be a pretty complicated mystery with a a lot of twists and turns, and even with the odd chopped up body (sans head), great, silly fun. I wasn't too sure after the first book in the series but this is now another must-read mystery series for me.
It turns out to be a pretty complicated mystery with a a lot of twists and turns, and even with the odd chopped up body (sans head), great, silly fun. I wasn't too sure after the first book in the series but this is now another must-read mystery series for me.
November 19, 2023
Too funny. I mean good solid mystery but hilarious. I mean the last chapter had me crying with laughter. Lynne Truss is a boss. She is a nut of the finest origins. These characters are very well done and I'd love to share a cuppa with all of them especially Mrs. G. how do you fail a test with only one question from a book everyone around you has read?
March 25, 2020
An amalgam of "Fawlty Towers" and "Barney Miller" that just doesn't quite achieve its potential. Sure, there are murder, mayhem, and quirky crimes galore in this sequel to "A Shot in the Dark", but the trio of Twitten, Brunswick, and Steine recreating their inept shtick- when contrasted to the criminal mastermind charwoman in their office-loses some appeal when the silliness continues relentlessly. In addition, the resolution of the crimes and their explanations seem particularly slapdash and cockamamie. While some may enjoy this zany format, it just wasn't my cup of tea.
January 7, 2025
Some characters make you laugh, some characters hurt your brain with their stupidity 🤣 .. the story is complex and absurd at times which make for a galloping rollercoaster of a ride …. Great follow up to the first one in the series, looking forward to more
October 5, 2019
10/5/2019 Delightful as always. Full review tk at CriminalElement.com.
April 15, 2021
4.5* rounded up to 5*
July 24, 2021
If screwball comedy were in a book instead of film or stage, this series wins— hands down! No details cause it’s all spoilers! A really fun romp— do you say mirror or looking glass, eh? 😂🤣
February 15, 2022
I really enjoyed this book but would strongly recommend reading “A Shot in the Dark” first as it gives the background to the characters.
September 28, 2019
This was such a fun read. Love the 1950's setting. The English setting is the topper.
May 19, 2021
I'm really enjoying this series. All the characters are charming in their own ways. The purposeful confusion of the plot is still a little frustrating at times, but not as much as it was in the last one, and still ultimately a ton of fun.
September 21, 2019
Inspector Steine is too stupid to have even made it through probation. Twitten seems likable, but he is not in the story enough to keep me reading it. I know this takes pace in the 1950s, but it is hared to believe this would have happened back then. It is not funny, it is pathetic. There are too many good books out there for me to waste any more time reading this book.
June 12, 2025
I got a little confused with all the new characters again - I found it difficult to follow the plot
August 3, 2019
The Man That Got Away is an amusing crime thriller featuring the very delightful Constable Twitten. Set in Brighton in 1957, this is a work with a very intricately woven plot that keeps one engrossed till the very end. At the center of investigation are the owners of a local nightclub and Mrs Groynes, the charlady at the police station. While she is in everyone’s good books, Twitten knows that she is a criminal mastermind.
The girl of the owners of the nightclub had planned to run away with her boyfriend against the wishes of her mother and brothers. But the guy is found dead on the same day. The girl had got not only an overprotective family but also more than one admirers. To further complicate the investigation, a well-renowned criminal has been reported roaming around along with the tourists. To answer tourists’s questions there are the very charming Brighton Belles but there’s no relief for Mrs Groynes who despite herself being a criminal mastermind is perturbed with the return of this old criminal.
There is in this book all that you can imagine. A secret door, a body without head packed in a suitcase, stinking drains, an heir trying to sell gold bricks, an Inspector with a romantic story about his parent’s first meeting, the bloomsbury group of writers on a parade, wax statutes and what not. And what I liked the most about this novel is that at no point it becomes confusing. There a lot of characters and several different strands running parallel but the author has managed them very well.
The story is, as I’ve already said very amusing and engrossing. The seriousness that a crime investigation demands is missing and in place of it we have the light-hearted treatment and comedy. It really works well and makes it even more enjoyable. There are also a lot of references to literary works and Hollywood movies. This might be an issue for those who are not aware of those works. One book in particular plays a prominent role in the whole investigation namely Noblesse Oblige by Nancy Mitford. I actually checked out this one online.
I do feel that the author should have limited these references. For instance, at one point she has mentioned pathetic fallacy. And that is something about which I learnt in my Masters. Obviously a layman doesn’t know what pathetic fallacy means. So what’s the use of making such references when they are lost to the reader. Besides this I was disappointed by the ending to some extent. The way it all ended and the final revelation were not at par with the rest of the book. But I did enjoy the rest of the book. I would recommend this one for the sake of the “bally” quirky Constable Twitten.
My Rating: *** (3/5)
The girl of the owners of the nightclub had planned to run away with her boyfriend against the wishes of her mother and brothers. But the guy is found dead on the same day. The girl had got not only an overprotective family but also more than one admirers. To further complicate the investigation, a well-renowned criminal has been reported roaming around along with the tourists. To answer tourists’s questions there are the very charming Brighton Belles but there’s no relief for Mrs Groynes who despite herself being a criminal mastermind is perturbed with the return of this old criminal.
There is in this book all that you can imagine. A secret door, a body without head packed in a suitcase, stinking drains, an heir trying to sell gold bricks, an Inspector with a romantic story about his parent’s first meeting, the bloomsbury group of writers on a parade, wax statutes and what not. And what I liked the most about this novel is that at no point it becomes confusing. There a lot of characters and several different strands running parallel but the author has managed them very well.
The story is, as I’ve already said very amusing and engrossing. The seriousness that a crime investigation demands is missing and in place of it we have the light-hearted treatment and comedy. It really works well and makes it even more enjoyable. There are also a lot of references to literary works and Hollywood movies. This might be an issue for those who are not aware of those works. One book in particular plays a prominent role in the whole investigation namely Noblesse Oblige by Nancy Mitford. I actually checked out this one online.
I do feel that the author should have limited these references. For instance, at one point she has mentioned pathetic fallacy. And that is something about which I learnt in my Masters. Obviously a layman doesn’t know what pathetic fallacy means. So what’s the use of making such references when they are lost to the reader. Besides this I was disappointed by the ending to some extent. The way it all ended and the final revelation were not at par with the rest of the book. But I did enjoy the rest of the book. I would recommend this one for the sake of the “bally” quirky Constable Twitten.
My Rating: *** (3/5)
August 26, 2019
Perhaps this was a case of second bookitus but this time around I found the young hero more annoying than funny and the various supporting characters were not much better. Had to laugh at the derogatory comment about Littlehampton though. I’ll decide whether I can recommend after I read the next one.
Want to read
July 24, 2019For this Waiting on Wednesday I will be looking at a book that I have no doubt will be one of the funniest novels of this year, The Man That Got Away, by Lynne Truss. The Man That Got Away is the second book in the Constable Twitten series, which follows on from last year’s comedic tour-de-force, A Shot in the Dark.
One of the most interesting aspects of the Constable Twitten series is that it is an adaption of Truss’s comedic Inspector Steine radio series. The Inspector Steine series is set in Brighton in the 1950s and follows the misadventures of Brighton police force members Inspector Steine, Sergeant Brunswick and Constable Twitten. Brighton in both the radio and book series is filled with as much crime as the infamous film Brighton Rock portrays; however, this goes completely unnoticed by the head of Brighton’s police force, Inspector Steine, who is convinced that his famous role in allowing a massacre of rival gangs to occur has wiped out all crime in the city. Since the massacre, his biggest problem has been the badgering of his second-in-command, Sergeant Brunswick who is obsessed with going undercover despite the fact every criminal in the city knows who he is and can easily see through his disguises, and usually ends up shooting him. What Steine and Brunswick don’t realise is that their amiable cockney charlady, Mrs Groynes, is actually a criminal mastermind who runs all the crime in the city while using her position within the station to keep the police as ineffectual as possible (not that it requires much work).
However, the entire status quo of the Brighton police is upset when the young and keen Constable Twitten is assigned to them. Twitten is an unrepentant know-it-all who is determined to sniff out criminal activity in the city, despite Steine’s insistence that none exists. Twitten is quickly able to uncover Mrs Groynes’s true identity as Brighton’s criminal mastermind (to be honest she isn’t working that hard to hide it). Unfortunately for Twitten, neither Steine nor Brunswick will believe him, especially after Mrs Groynes convinces them that Twitten’s claims of her criminal actions are the result of an unfortunate hypnosis accident. Thus, Twitten must try to uncover Mrs Groynes while also dealing with the other myriad crimes being committed in Brighton.
I only just found out that there was an upcoming sequel to A Shot in the Dark and I immediately started writing a Waiting on Wednesday for it. When I randomly received A Shot in the Dark last year from the publisher, I had not heard about the Inspector Stein radio series before, and only decided to make time to read because I was in the mood for a historical crime book. I am extremely glad that I decided to check out A Shot in the Dark in the end, as I found that it contained an incredibly funny story that got an easy five stars from me, and I couldn’t stop laughing as I read it. Since then, my future wife (and, more importantly, the person who edits all my posts), Alex, introduced me to the radio series, which I absolutely loved and has deepened my appreciation of the humour and storylines within the Constable Twitten novels. It was also intriguing to see how Truss utilised the various storylines from the radio show in the book, as A Shot in the Dark featured plot points from several different episodes, in addition to some new content, to create a fresh iteration of the story.
As a result, I am very much looking forward to the second book in the series, The Man That Got Away. I should note that this book is actually already out in some formats as of 11 July 2019. However, as the physical copies of the book will not be available in Australia until mid-September, I decided to feature it in a Waiting on Wednesday post. I have no doubt that The Man That Got Away is going to be another humorous read, especially as it has an intriguing plot synopsis.
This sounds like it is going to be another fantastically fun story, and I cannot wait to check it out. I will be extremely curious to see which Inspector Steine episodes The Man That Got Away will draw inspiration from, and I look forward to enjoying a good laugh through the course of this book.
For other exciting reviews and content, check out my blog at:
https://unseenlibrary.com/
One of the most interesting aspects of the Constable Twitten series is that it is an adaption of Truss’s comedic Inspector Steine radio series. The Inspector Steine series is set in Brighton in the 1950s and follows the misadventures of Brighton police force members Inspector Steine, Sergeant Brunswick and Constable Twitten. Brighton in both the radio and book series is filled with as much crime as the infamous film Brighton Rock portrays; however, this goes completely unnoticed by the head of Brighton’s police force, Inspector Steine, who is convinced that his famous role in allowing a massacre of rival gangs to occur has wiped out all crime in the city. Since the massacre, his biggest problem has been the badgering of his second-in-command, Sergeant Brunswick who is obsessed with going undercover despite the fact every criminal in the city knows who he is and can easily see through his disguises, and usually ends up shooting him. What Steine and Brunswick don’t realise is that their amiable cockney charlady, Mrs Groynes, is actually a criminal mastermind who runs all the crime in the city while using her position within the station to keep the police as ineffectual as possible (not that it requires much work).
However, the entire status quo of the Brighton police is upset when the young and keen Constable Twitten is assigned to them. Twitten is an unrepentant know-it-all who is determined to sniff out criminal activity in the city, despite Steine’s insistence that none exists. Twitten is quickly able to uncover Mrs Groynes’s true identity as Brighton’s criminal mastermind (to be honest she isn’t working that hard to hide it). Unfortunately for Twitten, neither Steine nor Brunswick will believe him, especially after Mrs Groynes convinces them that Twitten’s claims of her criminal actions are the result of an unfortunate hypnosis accident. Thus, Twitten must try to uncover Mrs Groynes while also dealing with the other myriad crimes being committed in Brighton.
I only just found out that there was an upcoming sequel to A Shot in the Dark and I immediately started writing a Waiting on Wednesday for it. When I randomly received A Shot in the Dark last year from the publisher, I had not heard about the Inspector Stein radio series before, and only decided to make time to read because I was in the mood for a historical crime book. I am extremely glad that I decided to check out A Shot in the Dark in the end, as I found that it contained an incredibly funny story that got an easy five stars from me, and I couldn’t stop laughing as I read it. Since then, my future wife (and, more importantly, the person who edits all my posts), Alex, introduced me to the radio series, which I absolutely loved and has deepened my appreciation of the humour and storylines within the Constable Twitten novels. It was also intriguing to see how Truss utilised the various storylines from the radio show in the book, as A Shot in the Dark featured plot points from several different episodes, in addition to some new content, to create a fresh iteration of the story.
As a result, I am very much looking forward to the second book in the series, The Man That Got Away. I should note that this book is actually already out in some formats as of 11 July 2019. However, as the physical copies of the book will not be available in Australia until mid-September, I decided to feature it in a Waiting on Wednesday post. I have no doubt that The Man That Got Away is going to be another humorous read, especially as it has an intriguing plot synopsis.
This sounds like it is going to be another fantastically fun story, and I cannot wait to check it out. I will be extremely curious to see which Inspector Steine episodes The Man That Got Away will draw inspiration from, and I look forward to enjoying a good laugh through the course of this book.
For other exciting reviews and content, check out my blog at:
https://unseenlibrary.com/
August 14, 2019
I love crime thrillers especially the ones with the most complex plots. This book is set in Brighton in 1957. The character of Constable Twitten was very amusing. After the events of last book Twitten is trying to convince everyone that Mrs Groynes, the police station charlady, is a master criminal.
I don’t want to spoil anything but the amount of people that die and they way they were all connected was horrifying! If you must know, bodies / parts of bodies were discovered in the luggage. You will come across a secret door, wax statues, mysterious underground, an heir with gold bricks to donate, an inspector who keeps getting shot in the leg, a master con artist, a charlady who is actually a criminal mastermind with lookouts everywhere in Brighton and the list goes on and on. I’m impressed how Lynne could string all this into a comic crime fiction.
Twitten overheard young lovers planning to run away while Inspector Steine is busy getting his wax model done. The very same young man is soon found dead on a beach chair. The main plot follows Twitten trying to solve the case admits all the other problems.
I loved that the whole upper class and middle class comparison of speech that holds the whole story together at the end.
‘𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘀 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗵𝗲’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗠𝗿𝘀 𝗚?’ 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗮 𝗽𝗶𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗯𝘀.
𝗠𝗿𝘀 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴. ‘𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻?’
‘𝗕𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘆, 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝘂𝗰𝗸𝘆!’ 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗸. ‘𝗛𝗲’𝘀 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗢𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲, 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲.’
‘𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁, 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗿.’
‘𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗮-𝗱𝗶-𝗱𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼-𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 “𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀” 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝘀.’
‘𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆?’
‘𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝘀𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀. 𝗦𝗼 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲, 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁–’ 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 ‘–𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀.’
‘𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲, 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗿.’
‘𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄!’
‘𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗮𝘆? 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗱𝗮𝗳𝘁.’
There were so many things happening simultaneously and sometimes became very hard to keep track (I keep notes). The English was sometimes difficult considering that the story takes place in 1957. You must be from UK to get all the references in the book, sadly I had to look up words on the internet more than once. Other than this I was hooked in the story from the first word. My only other complain is that the ending did not make justice to the plot and the mystery. I wish the story ended on a higher note.
Recommended: YES YES YES!
Disclaimer: Gruesome violence
I don’t want to spoil anything but the amount of people that die and they way they were all connected was horrifying! If you must know, bodies / parts of bodies were discovered in the luggage. You will come across a secret door, wax statues, mysterious underground, an heir with gold bricks to donate, an inspector who keeps getting shot in the leg, a master con artist, a charlady who is actually a criminal mastermind with lookouts everywhere in Brighton and the list goes on and on. I’m impressed how Lynne could string all this into a comic crime fiction.
Twitten overheard young lovers planning to run away while Inspector Steine is busy getting his wax model done. The very same young man is soon found dead on a beach chair. The main plot follows Twitten trying to solve the case admits all the other problems.
I loved that the whole upper class and middle class comparison of speech that holds the whole story together at the end.
‘𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘀 𝗧𝘄𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗵𝗲’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗠𝗿𝘀 𝗚?’ 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗮 𝗽𝗶𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗯𝘀.
𝗠𝗿𝘀 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴. ‘𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻?’
‘𝗕𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘆, 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝘂𝗰𝗸𝘆!’ 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗸. ‘𝗛𝗲’𝘀 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘁. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗡𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲 𝗢𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲, 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲.’
‘𝗡𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁, 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗿.’
‘𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗮-𝗱𝗶-𝗱𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼-𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 “𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀” 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝘀.’
‘𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆?’
‘𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝘀𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀. 𝗦𝗼 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲, 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁–’ 𝗕𝗿𝘂𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 ‘–𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀.’
‘𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲, 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗿.’
‘𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄!’
‘𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘄𝗮𝘆? 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗱𝗮𝗳𝘁.’
There were so many things happening simultaneously and sometimes became very hard to keep track (I keep notes). The English was sometimes difficult considering that the story takes place in 1957. You must be from UK to get all the references in the book, sadly I had to look up words on the internet more than once. Other than this I was hooked in the story from the first word. My only other complain is that the ending did not make justice to the plot and the mystery. I wish the story ended on a higher note.
Recommended: YES YES YES!
Disclaimer: Gruesome violence
Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews