Escaping from Houdini by Kerri ManiscalcoMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
1.5 stars
"The show must go on."
NO00000.
This was a locked boat mystery where a carnival full of contortionist, fire breathers, palm and tarot readers, and Houdini (???) perform every night on the trip from England to America. The beginning was flashy and mystical with the carnival and it's people, the mysterious ringmaster who gets involved in a love triangle with our couple, kept me intrigued but when a murder occurs each night of the show and the whole point of this series, with the romance, is that our couple are forensic detective apprentices and there was barely any detecting going on and no one seemed overly concerned about the murders, enough to stop the shows, it all began to feel deeply unserious and I had a hard time investing in the story and characters.
Ok, I did start this continuous same couple series at book 3, so I missed some foundational emotion between this young couple but, meh, to feeling much between them.
The carnival delivered some flashy described cool scenes but the plot was structurally messy af and the characterization was wonky; a lot of elements didn't track.
I'm exhausted trying to figure this book out and so thankful I buddy read it with thevintagechronicles over on Fable because I had someone to whine, complain, and get my frustrations out with, would have lost my mind otherwise, lol.
Hold on--the protagonists are supposed to be detective apprentices, but despite having murders every night (every night??? how many people are there to begin with?), there is no investigating going on?
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like something that would drive me bananas in short order.
They were on a ship so, hundreds-ish? EVERY NIGHT! It was wild how much these people were like "Meh, another murder. Time to dress for dinner!".
DeleteI feel the need to put "investigating" in quotes, lol. A completely can't take this seriously book. I could see it working for younger readers, like middle school but then I'm not sure the subject material would be great for them.