It's a Mad Mad World

I think the book started off really good with the older daughter Heather discovering her little sister Tara all alone and their mom has vanished. It was a thrilling and brilliant way to capture the reader's attention. What happened to Selena, did she just leave the children or was she taken? DC Leah Mackay is assigned the case and she has to deal with the little girl and Selena's sisters-in-law. Meanwhile, her brother DS Finn Hale is investigating the murder of a lawyer and it turns out that it's a very small world since the man killed had connections to Selena Cole and her family.

I was a bit confused in the beginning. Had a hard time figure out if the police was a woman or man, but then I realized that I had glanced over the name that stood after the chapter title and that actually something I had a tendency all through the book to do and since this book has a first person perspective was that a bit of a problem now and then. But, since it mostly shifted between Leah and Finn weren't it so hard to figure out who was in charge. However, I must admit that I was not that fond of the first person perspective, it just didn't work well for me while I read the book. It disturbed my reading and I have a feeling that I would have enjoyed it better if it had been written without the first person perspective.

The story I think was the best in the beginning when everything was a big mystery. When Selena was missing and the period when she was found and Leah had to figure out if she was lying or not. I liked the connections between the cases and the conclusions. But, I was never really engrossed with the story, despite its interesting and unusual story. As I wrote before the first person perspective is probably one of the big reasons for the book failing to grab my interest. Also, I can't say that either Finn or Leah really grabbed my interested either. I was perplexed that two siblings could work on the same police team. But, it's perhaps a married couple that is more a big no-no. Anyway, I just didn't find either of the main characters life that interesting to read about. Or their life, I should say Leah life since it was more about Leah and her troubled marriage life. In many ways, it felt like Leah was more the main character than Finn. And, neither on of them managed to make an impression on me.

So, it was an OK book, nothing that rocked my little boat, but not necessarily a bad book. It felt a bit different and I liked the interluding chapters with case files from Selena and Ed's "kidnap and ransom" cases. Why anyone wants to travel to South America is beyond me. It's like asking to be kidnapped!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!