Many thanks to NetGalley and to Storm Publishing for letting me see an advance reader’s copy of The Bone Clock by Andrew James Grieg.
This book was previously called Whirligig, and I think this might have been a better title for the reboot. Then, like the main protagonist, I too wouldn’t have had any idea what this strange contraption was at the site of a murder. With the new title, it’s quite clear what it is.
The Bone Clock is the first in the DI Corstorphine Scottish crime series and it introduces recurring characters who appear in the second book too. We meet Corstorphine when he is summoned to a particularly gruesome murder scene in the Scottish highlands.
I loved the characters and I loved the setting, and I loved the tartan noir aspect. Delicious.
However, the detective’s name was my first stumbling block with this book. It’s not really an easy name to read to oneself and I found myself shortening it to Corsto inside my head, or using his first name James.
I had other character name issues too, with two Simons, a Bill and a William, and a Jenny, a June and a Jennifer, which Jenny is also short for (as well as James). This is confusing enough for a reader when the names are too similar in the first place. But when there were also two characters with the same name, I had to make sure I had the right person.
The writing had a bit of an old-fashioned feel to it, I think because of the overlong and complex sentences where shorter, punchier sentences would work much better. There’s a lot of colon usage too, which I also think dates either the writing or the writer.
There were a few continuity issues, such as we had Brian specifically naming someone when in fact it had been James who specifically named the person, there was a question that remained ignored and/or unanswered, a commotion Corsto went to investigate that hadn’t even been mentioned by anyone, and Corsto announced that someone’s sister was on the way when nobody had told him this. It made me wonder if there was text missing in places. Especially with an abrupt ending as well.
Overall, though, it’s a great new series for me, it’s dark, it’s gritty and it’s disturbing. And I look forward to reading more about James Corstorphine and his team.
Four stars.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
