Delia James

I've been trying to make a dent in my TBR piles recently, mostly, if I'm being honest, because I'm waiting for the new books I've ordered to arrive. No matter my true motive, it's a good feeling knowing there's at least one or two fewer books languishing about.

This one had not only been loafing about on the hills of tbr, but it was the final book in a short-lived series, so the satisfaction of getting it read was doubled.

Unfortunately, that's about the only real satisfaction I received from reading Familiar Motives. The story itself was another 'meh' mystery - or else it was just me. It really might have been me. I liked the characters, I loved the cats, and the plot-line wasn't frivolous. But the pacing felt manic - not fast; manic - and the witty writing felt forced at times, adding to the manic feel. I skimmed large sections of internal narrative because the pacing left me feeling manic to get to the end.

When I did get to the end, I liked it. It was a good denouement, although the plot had too many pieces rather clumsily put together. But to be fair, that could have been a product of the skimming I did, so I'm giving that a pass.

While it wasn't a winner, I'm ok with that; the completist in my is happy that I haven't left a series unfinished, and the responsible adult in me is happy to see one more book off the TBR range. The reader thinks the book could have been better, but really, it didn't suck either.… (mehr)