Book Review: Nine Elms by Robert Bryndza (Kate Marshall #1)
This book was… just okay.
15 years ago Kate was the police officer who caught the ‘Nine Elms Cannibal’ serial killer. Now working as a university lecturer, the parents of a missing girl ask her to privately investigate whether or not there is a connection between their daughter’s disappearance and the previous crimes. At the same time, Kate becomes aware that there also might be a copycat killer on the loose and, if he follows the same pattern as the original Nine Elms murderer, he’ll soon have Kate in his sights.
The graphic nature of the crimes in this novel got to be a bit too much for me at times. I’m old and tough and don’t usually get squeamish but I thought Bryndza added a lot of the more horrific scenes in an attempt to be edgy and contemporary which was unnecessary. And although he borrowed heavily from Hannibal Lecter, Bryndza’s killers were totally without any of Lecter’s charm.
I had to suspend belief frequently. So many plot points seemed utterly ridiculous such as the pathologist sharing details of the new murders with Kate; Kate’s employer (the university) tolerating her working a second job as a private investigator; Kate’s employer also okay with her engaging another university employee (Tristan) in this on-the-side gig; the way that Tristan and Kate so easily stumble across major clues; and, conversely, the easy way the killer/s pull off some of their crimes.
The characterisation seemed weak. Most of the story is told from Kate’s point of view and yet I didn’t feel as intimately connected with her as I should. (We do hear a lot about Kate’s alcoholism and, let me just add a huge eye roll at that old cliche.) Kate’s son was supposed to be 14 but acted half that age and was so annoying I would have probably not minded if the killers had their merry way with him. And I don’t think Bryndza could decide whether he wanted Tristan to be an awkward foppish academic IT guru type sidekick, or a muscular strong and capable tattooed younger love interest sidekick, so he ended up becoming a bit of a confusing hot mess.
The setting was only mildly interesting and, maybe also a little confusing (where is this beach you can swim in all year round in England and – huh? – was Kate swimming there in the nude as the editing intimated?).
The editing could have been tighter all round actually. There’s a lot of word repetition and general repeating of inner thoughts which drove me a little crazy. Some of the end scenes too evoked some eye rolling from me; it was so obviously all staged for a sequel. I was, actually, quite surprised I made it through to the end as I nearly abandoned the book a couple of times.
I did listen to the audio version and maybe some of the narrator’s choices might have unduly influenced my enjoyment but, overall, I was pretty disappointed. A generous 2 ½ out of 5
readwritewish 