A few weeks ago, I embarked on a deliberate policy of reading the second books in the series I’ve enjoyed so far. There are always so many new ones to read, and for a while I over-loaded my schedule with review requests for blog tours, so these have been sitting on my kindle unread for too long.
Enough! I will be reading a few new ones for friends, but right now, I want to see just how these follow up books work; an interesting place for me as I draw near to completing the sequel to THE PRINCE’S MAN, and prepare to set to with editing.
Sadly, so far I’ve been rather disappointed (reviews coming soon), although not enough to give up on the series completely. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, and read book 3 before deciding whether to continue.
Here’s the first one: the second of the Josiah Reynolds mysteries, and you can see my review of the first one here.
Death by Drowning by Abigail Keam
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Following on from the end of ‘Death by a Honeybee’, this book opens with Josiah in a very poorly state, having survived her fall down the cliff in the climax of the last one. The first part of this book is largely about her prolonged recovery, and her grumpiness about the whole thing. If you haven’t read the first one, you’re probably going to struggle to find much empathy with her, as she can be pretty sharp and ungrateful – mind you, I could well understand her state of mind, knowing what she’d been through.
The highlight of these rather grim first chapters was discovering that Baby, her mastiff puppy, had survived being shot, even if he, too, was somewhat damaged.
And then there is Jake. Mmm. Where can I find me one of those?
The mystery in this book takes a rather poor second place to the story of Josiah’s recovery and the grim suspicion that her attacker, O’nan, also survived the fall and is out to get her. A friend asks her to investigate the apparently accidental death of a teenager, and although this story thread is resolved in this book, it wasn’t exactly riveting.
I did still love the writing, the array of diverse people, and the depth of characterisation enough that I will continue with the series. However, as a follow up to the previous book, I found it somewhat disappointing in the plot department.
Have the sequels you’ve read lived up to their predecessors? I’d love to hear…
deborahjay 