Review by lilaaxe -- The 11.05 Murders by Brian O'Hare

[lilaaxe]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The 11.05 Murders" by Brian O'Hare.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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In The 11:05 Murders, newly appointed sergeant, Denise Stewart, is transferred to the Strandtown Police Department after she exposes a corrupt cop at the precinct in Lisburn where she had been working. Shortly after she joins Chief Inspector Sheehan and his team of detectives a gruesome murder occurs. This leads to another murder, occurring on the same day of the week, at the same time. Denise and her new team have to race against the clock to stop a suspected third one, despite having almost no clue as to who the real culprit is. On top of this, Denise struggles with her own inner feministic ideals and a stalker trying to take out her potential love interest.

I gave this book a three out of four rating due to the way it was written. While it is a very good story, I found that there were parts of it that seemed to drone on and on. There were also a few minor editing issues. For example, the medical examiner is introduced as Doctor Robert Campbell, yet all throughout the book, Chief Sheehan refers to him as Dick, which I’ve only ever heard as a nickname for Richard (though, who am I to say what someone can or can’t be nicknamed). Another example of this is when the book says a newspaper editor introduces himself as George, but then Denise calls him Peter.

In fact, there were quite a few characters with the same names, or similar names, and that tended to get a little bit confusing.

Now, when I chose to read this book for review, I didn’t realize it was a sequel in a series. However, I didn’t want to refuse to read it over such a minor issue, and I’ve discovered over the years, that most crime series don’t always have to be read in a particular order, so I took a chance, and I’m rather glad I did.

As I read, I assumed that the previous book had been in regards to the corrupt cop case that Denise goes to trial for in the beginning, and having not read the book prior did nothing to affect my understanding of this book. When I got to the end of it, I discovered that the other books Brian O’Hare has written are about Chief Sheehan. There was little to nothing in the book that hinted at the possibility, and so I look forward to going back and reading the books written prior to this one, as well as the ones written afterwards. Chief Sheehan is very much a modern day Sherlock Holmes.

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The 11.05 Murders
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[Izesicle]

I agree, there were a lot of inconsistencies in the book that could have been fixed with a bit more editing. I rated the novel two out of four stars.