Holding
Ratings12
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings12
Average rating3.5
"From Graham Norton, the BAFTA-award-winning Irish television host and author of the "sparkling and impish" (Daily Mail) memoirs The Life and Loves of a He Devil and So Me, comes a charming debut novel set in an idyllic Irish village where a bumbling investigator has to sort through decades of gossip and secrets to solve a mysterious crime. The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama but when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke--a former lover of two different inhabitants--the village's dark past begins to unravel. As the frustrated sergeant PJ Collins struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community's worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret. In this darkly comic, touching, and at times heartbreaking novel, perfect for fans of J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy, Graham Norton employs his acerbic wit to breathe life into a host of lovable characters, and explore--with searing honesty--the complexities and contradictions that make us human"--
Reviews with the most likes.
I am hugely conflicted in regards to this book. While it's not as good as his other two books, I found the plot engaging and the character development terrific.
But trigger warnings this book is fat phobic. I really respect Norton as an author and love the way he weaves his narratives. But this book does not deal with the character of Sergeant Collins sensitively and even being a debut novel isn't excusable. The first and last chapters made my skin crawl with discomfort. Fat phobic writing isn't acceptable in this book published in 2016 or books published thereafter.
It didn't move the plot forward and as a reader made me feel like the author was propping Collins up as a character we could ridicule for being fat. I was not cool with that. Therefore this book cannot be rated higher.
Prompt
16 books
