No One Saw by Beverly Long
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
Thank you to the publisher, MIRA, for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Gist
At the time I decided to read and review No One Saw, I was not familiar with the characters of detectives McKittridge and Morgan or the previous story that did the initial introduction of them.
I jumped in with both feet, ready to embark on a mystery story with a police-procedural flair to it.
The story accomplished that and yet it didn’t. There was a distinct divide between solving the case of the missing child and adding more personal details to the detectives to further flesh out the characters. Of course, to keep the reader’s interest in future installments in this series.
Now, I’m sitting here, finding it extremely challenging to be diplomatic. Or maybe it’s just the heat.
I’m struggling to untangle my opinions of the investigation and the personal stories.
I’ll try my best.
The Details
I couldn’t stand the main characters. I thought they acted very superior and judging towards certain minor characters that appeared to be unique. They even started a running joke that lasted half of the book.
This one minor character appeared in the story at most for two pages, but it was a telling scene that set the stage to unveil better understanding of the detectives.
I don’t want to give anything away, but pay attention to one of the potential witnesses the detectives interview and how they keep referring back to this witness. I found it quite eye-opening.
There were other, small details – comments made by either a character or the narrator – that showed how clearly superior these two protagonists feel with respect to others.
I found them to be prejudiced and blinded by their own world view.
They also had a lot of stock-like characteristics; very obvious signs of who belongs into which mental and societal box.
We have the female detective, who desperately wants a child. There is nothing wrong with a woman wanting a child. It becomes a bit tedious, though, when all we get to know about this character is that she feels like an empty womb.
Then we have the male detective. He is divorced, of course, with a borderline unhealthy dose of “my little girl” syndrome. He also has a girlfriend, who is just so swell. All she wants to do is please her man with her naked body. No other personality traits or character depth is wasted on her.
The investigation part of the story was fast-paced and very intriguing at the beginning. I remember flying through the first 20% of the story without blinking an eye. It was good. I liked it.
Then I noticed signs of a wild goose chase started to appear. The detectives kept going back and forth, wanting to get more information on numerous red herrings.
They ignored obvious facts. I assume this was done to create tension and entertainment.
Sadly, I figured out who was behind it all at around the 50% mark. Any seasoned mystery lover would have had no problem with this little puzzle.
The Verdict
Overall, there were just way too many little details that kept me from enjoying No One Saw.
The protagonists just came across too much like jerks and the very last scene had me eyeroll so hard my head started to hurt.
I wondered, if the author meant to create characters that were supposed to be complex and blur the typical line of bad cop versus good cop. At the end, I couldn’t find any sign of that particular social commentary and I had to dismiss that perspective.
Unfortunately, this one wasn’t for me.
About the Author
Beverly Long’s writing career has spanned more than two decades and twenty novels, including TEN DAYS GONE, the first book of her A.L. McKittridge series. She writes romantic suspense with sexy heroes and smart heroines. She can often be found with her laptop in a coffee shop with a cafe au lait and anything made with dark chocolate by her side.
