From the author's website:
Under the watchful eye of DCS James Langton, DCI Anna Travis takes charge of an investigation for the first time. But is it purely a missing person’s case – or a full blown murder enquiry? An ominous pool of blood and no victim lead Anna on a desperate
hunt for a man who has disappeared without trace.
As Anna becomes obsessed with seemingly irrelevant details, Langton fears that she
is losing control. They still have no body and Anna is under increasing pressure to
make an arrest…
My Review:
DCI Travis is back to work shortly after the murder of her fiance. She does this because grief has a strangle hold on her, and work can help her forget about that big hole in her life for just a little while. Travis also needs to return to work to show her superiors that she was worthy of the new position they gave her. It's not easy being a female DCI. Travis is asked to investigate a presumed missing persons case, and she does so begrudgingly. This case is eight weeks old, mind you, and she is not pleased.
The more Travis tries to turn this missing persons case into a dud, the more things don't add up, leading her to believe the victim is not missing of his own accord. Someone wanted him missing, possibly murdered. There are so many questions, and the case becomes multi-faceted with quite a few dead ends. Just when Travis thinks she has her suspect, something comes along to derail her case. As infuriating as this case may be, it winds up being the best therapy Travis' emotional wounds.
So here is what I liked and worked well:
- How the murder inquiry played out and finished. I didn't think this case would ever get solved!
- Anna Travis - liked her immensely and could relate to how she threw herself into her work
- All of the other characters were well drawn and easy to picture
- My love of British based stories; hello BBC America, this would make a great special or something
- This book is part of a series but was totally stand alone. No worries.
So here is what I didn't like:
- I felt the story took too long, like we meandered for a bit there. I don't think
I would have minded so much, if there wasn't quite so many repetitive parts. - The repetitive parts. Every time a suspect was brought in for questioning or someone had to be brought up to speed, it felt like every fact was repeated. I understand that has to happens to a certain extent, but towards the end of the book, I knew all the facts by heart because I read them so many times. I knew what the characters were going to say in the interrogation room.
Overall, I liked DCI Travis and would definitely read another story with her as the lead. As a matter of fact, a check of La Plante's back-list shows a few older books with DCI Travis. Also, La Plante's the author of Prime Suspect, and inspiration for the popular British version, and not so popular U.S. version. (Not surprised, our TV rating system sucks, and hello, pseudo-reality TV).
Anyway, point being I liked Blood Line enough that I would check out her other works.
For more information about Lynda La Plante, here is a link to her website: http://www.laplanteproductions.com/
And this book is out on a new imprint called Bourbon Street Books. Visit their Facebook page here.
Thanks to TLC Book Tours for my review copy.
My Rating: 90/100
Publisher: Bourbon Street Books (Harper Collins)
Genre: Murder mystery, detective novel
Large paperback, 465 pages
Book Source: TLC Book Tours
© Jenny Girl - 2012 "All Rights Reserved"
