Bloggin' 'bout Books: Cambridge Mystery/"Thriller" Just ... Odd

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Cambridge Mystery/"Thriller" Just ... Odd

7:06 AM

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Drawn together while studying at Cambridge University, Americans Polly Bailey and Liv Dahl become friends. They're both enamored of Nick Frey, a 24-year-old grad student in paleobiology. The trio bond over a shared job, which entails helping a blind professor sort the papers of her novelist mother. When Nick suddenly vanishes, however, it throws the friends' cozy relationship into a tailspin. What happened to the charismatic Brit?

When D.I. Morris Keene and his partner, DS Chloe Frohmann, start digging into Nick's strange disappearance, a tangle of secrets about all of the students start coming to light. And they aren't the only ones with something to hide. Gretchen Paul, the blind professor, will make startling discoveries about her own past, which will irrevocably change her future. As the detectives strive to sort it all out, all the players will realize how little anyone can ever really know another.

I'm not sure what to say about The Whole World, the first installment in the Keene and Frohmann series by Emily Winslow. It's a strange novel, in many ways. The characters are almost wholly unlikable, the story plods along very slowly, and when plot "twists" do come, they seem outrageously far-fetched. Unfocused and dull, The Whole World is just an odd, odd book. I finished it, but I'm not really sure why I bothered.

(Readalikes: Hm, nothing is coming to mind. You?)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language, violence, and sexual content

To the FTC, with love: I (regrettably) bought a (cheap) copy of The Whole World from Amazon with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Ha ha.

4 comments:

Jenny18 May, 2018 09:28
Not good at all. Slow, confusing and horrible characters? Three strikes. No thanks.
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Kay18 May, 2018 12:15
Oh, that's disappointing. I've been planning to start this series soon. I'll likely try it anyway, but I'll keep your thoughts in mind. Or maybe I should just go start Ann Cleeland's series. Haven't read that one either. LOL
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Lark 18 May, 2018 16:05
Hmm. A plodding storyline and unlikeable characters. Tempting...but I think I'll pass. :)
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Katherine P19 May, 2018 18:09
I'll pass. I don't mind if the characters are unlikable but if the pace is slow and there's nothing really to hook me than I'm out. I need either likable characters or a fast moving plot. Too bad as this sounds like it had lots of potential.
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