Introduction I love books as can be attested by the 60 some odd books I read last year. Also like many other people I really love the tick tock channel “Adventures in Ardia” in particular the roll for sandwich series where the roll of a dice decides what’s eaten for lunch. This got me thinking, what if I applied the same concept to finding a book to read? So I give you “Roll For Book” the series where I let random chance decide what I’m going to read next. To get my book I’m using my public library which has 3 floors (not counting the magazine racks, YA, and children’s section) so for this I roll a D6 (if I roll a 3 I go back to floor one, 5 for floor 2, etc.). On each floor is approximately 82 rows of books, so I roll a D80+D10 and apply the same looping rolls as the other sections (if I happen to get a double 0 I would go to the YA or Magazine section). Each row has 5 shelves so I roll a D6 (I understand this gives me a marginal chance of choosing the first shelf twice but I had to roll with it). Starting on the far left side of the shelf there are approximately 116 books to choose from so I roll all my dice and add the totals. So what were the results? Floor Roll (D6) – 4 Row Roll (D80+D10) – 35 Shelf Roll (D6) – 6 Book roll (All the dice) – What I rolled was 109, what I counted was 116. Honest mistake that I will try to not duplicate in the future. The result - Dangerous Pursuit by Joe Bannister released in 2020 Plot Synopsis & Initial Thoughts
Gabriel Ash sees a girl running from something in the woods behind his house, from there the chase is on for Ash and the local law enforcement team to catch a potential serial rapist and murderer. This British police procedural/detective story ended up being a fun and cozy ride. Due to it being an ongoing series I felt like I had stepped into the middle of a shows third season, but in the best way possible. Even though I guessed the ending fairly early in the book the characters are what really saved it for me. Full Review Plot & Characters The plot of this book can be summarized like this, here is what we think happened at the crime scene, chase down that theory, oh no it was a red herring, rinse and repeat until we reach the end of the story. Now I realize what I just described is basically the plot of every tv procedural show ever so to give this book credit it does spend a lot of time focusing on the characters and how they are dealing with the events of the mystery including a nice exploration of mob mentality and profiling that us humans have a nasty tendency towards. Just don’t expect anything that’s going to blow your mind or fundamentally change the way you see reality. But on the subject of characters, like the best procedural shows rather they be Law and Order, Monk, or NCIS, the characters generally make or break the story being told. Fortunately for this book we get three point of view characters that are all very enjoyable in their own ways. First we have the second hand book salesman and survivor of some sort of mental breakdown Gabriel Ash who you expect to play a kind of private detective role in the story but instead just kind of repeatedly stumbles into situations related to the plot. While a healthy suspension of disbelief is required, the character himself serves as a gentle and huggable protagonist that just wants to help where he can. Second we have Ashes best friend, Constable Hazel Best. Apparently she has a history of getting in trouble with her boss even as she continues to be a valuable asset to the team. Serving as the hot headed young cop trope she is an enjoyable enough character but I couldn’t help but feel she wasn’t represented as strongly in this story as I hope she is in other books. Finally we have Detective Chief Inspector Gorman who serves the grizzled but still lovable boss trope. Once again a character who doesn’t get as much page time as I would have liked but he still serves the story nicely and acts as the calm voice of reason. Also I think it’s worth mentioning the town of Norbold itself where most the action takes place. You get the feeling of a cozy English village from tales of yesteryears while still keeping the story squarely in the 21st century. I think this setting is where a great deal of the charm of the book comes through. Themes The biggest theme I saw the book returning to repeatedly was the need for mental health and how the path to recovery from trauma is not the same for everyone. We see this both with the mysterious past of Ash and in conversations with the family the police are dealing with through most of the book. I also appreciated the positive portrayal of a therapist in this book and it’s description as “Like talking your worries over with your best friend, if your best friend was clever enough to understand what you were going through and help you to find the way out”. Another theme as previously mentioned is the examination of profiling and stereotyping that people have a tendency towards. While no concrete answer is given on how to deal with this (and really what answer could be given?) it is nice to at least see it discussed. Final Thoughts I enjoyed this book more than I anticipated enjoying a book picked by random chance that also happens to be part of an ongoing series. The cover (I know, never judge a book by its cover) gave me the thought that this would be a dark and gritty thriller and while it certainly had its darker moments I found it no more intense than an episode of Matlock. This book also made me curious to read the rest of the series which I just may get around to someday, so overall an enjoyable if not life changing experience. Plot & Characters: 2/3 Themes: 2/3 Overall: 1.5/3 Final Score: 5.5/9 Check out the video version of this review in the link below!
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