Book (not) Bingo #18

Oct 20, 2024 15:02


Death of a Dark Horse by Susan Schreyer


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book review

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Comments 12

nakeisha October 21 2024, 10:37:11 UTC
It's a shame when one doesn't like and/or is irritated by the main character, it can make reading the book very hard gong. Kudos to you for carrying on. I can quite understand why you were irked by the two examples of 'mess ups' you quote. As you say, how can anyone think a body would get to the awful smelling stage so quickly? I'm not American, but again I'm with you on the defence lawyer - you simply don't ask that question.

I shan't add this to my TBR folder *g*

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dancingpony October 21 2024, 13:08:07 UTC
Well, I can concede that members of the general public, who don’t read mysteries or watch crime dramas regularly, might not have any idea how long it takes a dead body to reach putrefaction. But if one is going to write murder mysteries, one should educate oneself, right? And those examples weren’t the only poorly (or un) researched points - they were just the ones that irked me most.

But again, these are things that the author might learn with experience. The main character, though, really needs a personality transplant … which isn’t as easy to accomplish.

It’s rather disappointing, because the writing skills are there.

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nakeisha October 21 2024, 13:19:32 UTC
I suppose they might not know. But yes, you're right, if you're going to write that kind of book you should do your research, especially over something so basic and fundamental.

It would be difficult to completely change the main character.

I can understand why you found it so disappointing. Here's to your next book being better.

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tinturtle October 21 2024, 15:19:06 UTC

I have a very hard time enjoying a story when I don’t like the main character.

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spikesgirl58 October 21 2024, 12:52:07 UTC

... )

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lee_the_t October 21 2024, 15:39:44 UTC
I admit I'm not up on Olympic events, but is dressage an Olympic event? For some reason that seems odd to me.

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dancingpony October 21 2024, 16:59:02 UTC
Yes. It’s part of the summer Olympics. There are three equestrian events, and they’re open gender: men and women compete together.

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lee_the_t October 21 2024, 17:58:50 UTC

Odd. I guess I figured it would be racing and jumping (steeplechase?). Shows how much I know about Olympic Equestrianism.

My unscientific opinion has always been that horses like women better than men. I stand by it. 😁 (Women are also lighter) So I can see why this would be a non-gendered competition.

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dancingpony October 21 2024, 18:15:19 UTC
My unscientific opinion has always been that horses like women better than men

That may be true ax a generality, even if it’s not true in every individual case. I think there’s often a more emotional connection between a woman and her horse, and the horse feels it.

The three equestrian olympic events are dressage, jumping and eventing. Eventing probably comes closest to what tou mean by steeplechase. It’s a sort of equine triathlon and includes dressage, jumping and cross country riding with, I think, an obstacle course. I’m very far from knowledgeable about olympic riding though.

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gilda_elise October 21 2024, 15:40:29 UTC
The book does sound interesting, but, yeah, too many inconsistencies would tend to throw me out of the story. And not liking the main character is usually a non-started, too.

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dancingpony October 21 2024, 17:01:30 UTC
Agree. Which is disappointing, because the writing was good and the equine aspects of the story really appealed to me.

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