レビュー要約

• 社会階級と家族の崩壊を警察捜査に結びつける構成が印象的で、人物の動機を単純な善悪に閉じない点が評価されている。重苦しさの中に強い牽引力がある。

レビュー

• ハイブロウ向けの小説です

  グラスゴー寄宿学校の悪ガキ二人が豪邸に押し入り一人住まいの女性を惨殺した。犯人の一人「トーマス」は大金持ちの息子だったが父親が事業に失敗して自殺し、故郷に戻される。使用人をはじめとして家族などがややこしく、トーマスはそのなかを漂流する。一方事件を担当した女性巡査部長「モロー」自身も父の葬式をだしたばかりだが、五か月の双子をお腹に宿した身体で走り回る。被害者宅で働いていた女性「ケイ」は舞台回しに重要な役割を果たすがなぜかモローと親友だという。見当違いの子供を犯人扱いしてどたばたしているうちに最後になってひょいとトーマスが捕まる。推理小説としては首をかしげる成り立ちだが、作者の狙いは別らしく得意の人物描写に力が入り、思わせぶりなタイトルどおり複雑な人間模様を見事に描き出すという挑戦的な作品である。巻末のリーディングガイドからもそういった作者の意図が感じられる。私には無理だったがデニス・ミーナ女史のファンで力量のある読者ならおそらく深い満足感が得られるだろう。

• Good book and good value

  The book was in excellent condition. Good tale - halfway through!

• Masterful

  This is really skilful writing. We know from the beginning that two boys from a posh private Catholic school killed young Sarah Erroll and that they have made some sort of mistake about her identity. The question is: which of them is most responsible and who were they really after? As the story progresses we find out more about the why and it has to be said that Mina plots the revelations brilliantly. The other thing that really deserves high praise is her depth of insight into her characters. You never feel for a moment that she doesn’t understand them completely and deeply. Yet it’s all conveyed with an admirable economy. We’re talking about a wide variety of characters too, from Morrow’s gangster brother Danny, the poor but proud and struggling single mum Kay, the rich and boorish Lars Anderson, his struggling son Tom, the coppers resentful of their heavy handed boss Bannerman and of course the doughty Morrow herself, five months pregnant with twins, to name a few. It’s a tragic tale of failed parenting on one hand and unexpected relief from life’s worries on another. In passing, the bureaucratic decision to pay the lower ranks better is critiqued for its inevitable outcome - no one wants to take on higher police duties for less pay and the rank and file become clock watchers, losing their dedication to solving a case. Factor in excellent scene setting, confident mastery of technical details (including computer animation of who stepped where in what sequence based on bloody footprints) and fantastic imagery (Tom was the only begotten son, now forsaken by the father). Brilliant stuff.

• Denise Mina is a prose goddess!

  Absolutely the best genre novel I read in 2019! And I read about 100 books a year. You will love this read for its developed characters and the skillful interweaving of of multiple story lines that in the end will shock, surprise, satisfy and warm your heart. Buy it, make a cuppa, and enjoy!

• Chilling

  Great book. Alex Morrow pregnant with twins tries to catch a murderer .her Boss is Not Very sympathetic and not Very capable. So she is much on her own. Interesting Story, different Charakters. Had a great time reading.

• I've read all of Denise Mina's novels and this is one of the best

  "The End of the Wasp Season" is the second of Denise Mina's Alex Morrow series. Morrow is a sometimes abrasive, sometimes attractive female murder detective in the Glasgow area, the location of almost all of Mina's stories. The crime in "Wasp Season" takes place at the very opening scene, a murder of a young woman in a rich suburb, and the reader knows from close to the beginning of the story who the perpetrators are. The suspense in the novel rests on the crime's motivation, the precise details of the assault and murder, and finally the psychological journey of the people involved, from police, to innocent suspects to the criminals themselves. A masterful writer, Mina is in top form here. The characters are vivid, the linked subplots are genuinely suspenseful, and the pacing is pitch perfect. Ending a suspense novel is one of the most difficult parts of writing one - with many talented writers floundering to wrap up their story. The conclusion of "Wasp Season" is by contrast one of the strongest parts of the work. If you haven't read any Mina before, this is a terrific place to start. It is related thematically to the first Alex Morrow novel but stands on its own so can be read separately. If you have read other Mina before, order this one posthaste. 5 stars.

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