The Murder Bag

[purpleme12]

Has anyone read The Murder Bag by Tony Parsons? Thoughts?

I liked what he tried to do with Max's character, his grief over the end of his relationship and his attempts to connect with his daughter, and the way he acted out physically. I don't think the transition from idea to page was entirely successful though, there were a few soapy moments and a healthy sprinkling of hero cheese too. (The heart punch was downright daft!)

I really enjoyed the level of detail depicting the London locations and the gothic feel. And I did go on to read the subsequent books so the character hook was reasonably strong. But there was, to me, a strong sense of this being written with a television adaptation firmly in mind which was quite distracting.

I've read most of Tony Parsons' novels and I like the way he expresses himself. However, I am always slightly irritated by how seriously his work is taken (by virtue of his gender) when he essentially writes 'lad lit' and trashy thrillers. So he does inspire the odd angry feminist snort...

(I also found the ending totally forgettable.)

I read one of the series and thought it was awful. He is a Policeman who lives in an enormous loft apartment in Smithfield or Spittalfields... Which is stupid and unbelievable. I felt like he had borrowed themes from other writers and cobbled it together to create something to make money. I love this genre and I thought this was very poor.

Rivers of London series is more believable and that involves river goddesses and ghosts.

I mean I thought it was good cos I did read on in it quite quickly to see what happened.

But I think it's a funny one really. I don't know. I think maybe it didn't have a lot of depth. And yes I did think there was a bit him thinking he was a bit of a hero/god? Don't quite know how to express it right.

I don't usually get so grumpy about books but for some reason this one made me mad
I do love a good cop book... Sadly this is not one.