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Degrees of Murder
Book by Murphy, Kevin P.
Paperback
First published March 1, 2001
2 people want to read
About the author
Kevin P. Murphy
13 books25 followersKevin P. Murphy is a Research Scientist at Google. Previously, he was Associate Professor of Computer Science and Statistics at the University of British Columbia.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 25, 2017
The premise is good: What if a serial killer tries to fool the police by making his killings seem random and without a pattern? The setup is plausible--the police chief and the local college's behavioral sciences expert team up to figure out the identity of the killer. The style leans toward that of a cozy mystery--light and breezy dialogue, not a lot of darkness or tension or cursing. I didn't notice one curse word other than maybe a "damn" or a "hell."
The execution of the story missed the mark for me. I found the storytelling relied too much on telling rather than showing. The dialogue was up and down; sometimes solid, other times a bit contrived or forced or unnatural. A fair number of cliches, and metaphors that didn't seem appropriate for the situation.
The pace seemed to move fast and slow at the same time. Lots happening but not all applied directly to solving the murders. For example, about a third of the way through the book, there is a long chapter involving the "Spring Festival" and a bicycle race. The bike race is tangentially related to the plot, but this chapter killed any momentum that had built as far as pace was concerned.
I wish the characters had been more developed and distinct. It was hard to tell one from the other through dialogue, and I didn't have much of a mental image of any of them.
The execution of the story missed the mark for me. I found the storytelling relied too much on telling rather than showing. The dialogue was up and down; sometimes solid, other times a bit contrived or forced or unnatural. A fair number of cliches, and metaphors that didn't seem appropriate for the situation.
The pace seemed to move fast and slow at the same time. Lots happening but not all applied directly to solving the murders. For example, about a third of the way through the book, there is a long chapter involving the "Spring Festival" and a bicycle race. The bike race is tangentially related to the plot, but this chapter killed any momentum that had built as far as pace was concerned.
I wish the characters had been more developed and distinct. It was hard to tell one from the other through dialogue, and I didn't have much of a mental image of any of them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review