White Bones by Graham Masterton
Reviewed by Gemma Tidmarsh
White Bones is the first of eleven instalments of the Katie Maguire detective series. Set in Ireland, we are presented with a strong, passionate, workaholic who battles stereotypes and constant injustices within the politics of the Guardaí (Irish Police Guards). I’ve had this book on my bookshelf for a while and decided to give it a go. As I was reading, I became enthralled with the raw beauty of the Irish landscape, the use of Irish colloquialisms and dialects.
Detective mystery series are becoming increasingly popular but this is one of the best I have read for many reasons. One of them is the way Masterton writes his characters. He really goes into depth with his character’s lives and I love the way he gives each supporting character monologues which allows the reader to get into their psyche which is refreshing as we get two perspectives – the character’s and Katie’s. This also allows us to not be influenced by only one point of view.
The other is the rawness and genius of the main plot. It’s not your usual murder. The murder/ murders are brutal, cruel and very clever. This novel is like a well woven tapestry which comes to a head in the final chapters, leaving us guessing until the penultimate chapter. A novel like this has stories within stories that all come together beautifully but leaves us on a cliffhanger for the next instalment. Graham Masterton does not hold back with characters deaths – I don’t think he believes in many happy endings, even those you may think be deserving of one. This is an incredibly brave thing for an author to do as it goes against the tide and I think it keeps us interested as you can never tell which direction the story will go in.
I’m now on book 9 of this series as they are addictive! You can read them out of turn but I would recommend starting form the beginning to see how Katie develops as a character, wife, lover and detective superintendent.