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

[Cátia Rato]

[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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Brian O’Hare’s The 11.05 Murders starts by showing the reader the events that happened at a college party, twelve years ago. We don’t know what happened, but the rest of the story might be connected to that night.

Enters Woman Detective Sergeant Denise Stewart on her first day as a member of the Serious Crimes Unit. Her first experience as a police woman was not the most pleasant one and she has built walls around herself. But she is immediately received as one of the family by DCI Jim Sheehan and her new colleagues. In that unit, there’s a concept she had never heard before: having each other’s backs.

A series of brutal murders are being perpetrated. Every Tuesday, at 11:05 pm, one man is murdered in a violent way. The team, composed of very different individuals, starts investigating the connection between the murders. As they make progress, strange events start happening every time Stewart and the young Detective Tom Allen are seen together. Questions start to appear: are these strange events connected to the case they are investigating? How are the murders connected? And why does Stewart, the newest agent of the unit, have a target on her back?

This is the second book of The Inspector Sheehan Mysteries series. Although this book is focused on Denise’s history and the beginning her new career phase, we have the pleasure to have glimpses inside DCI Sheehan’s head. He’s a very interesting character. As you’re reading, you can notice his brain is making invisible connections between the information he keeps receiving, even though he has no immediate interpretation for those connections. This is what Brian writes — brilliant and real characters. Every single one of them has some resemblance to someone we know.

If what I just said wasn’t enough, you still have the killer factor. Can you discover who the killer is? I bet you think you can… I confess that if I had read some paragraphs with a little more attention, I would have had almost 90% sure of the killer’s identity. But Brian keeps making you doubt your conclusions! There are too many factors to consider to make a clear decision. You’ll be anxious until the last minute.

While I was choosing this book, one of the critic’s wrote something like “I don’t know why Brian O’Hare isn’t a known crime writer” and I have to agree with that. There’s everything in this book : action, mystery, genuine character’s reactions, and even some love. This series could be at the level of Alex Cross.

I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I only don’t give it a solid 4, because I’ve read some crime novels that completely took my breath away and I can’t put every book on that level. There were some sentences that I didn’t understand. I’m not sure if some repeated words and expressions were part of specific dialects. Oh, and a warning: if you’re a non-native English speaker, you’re not going to recognize a few words — but this is not a reason for you not to read it! You should all get a book so Brian becomes more known to the world!

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The 11.05 Murders
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[Manang Muyang]

Thanks for the enthusiastic review, catiarato! Comparing this series to James Patterson's "Alex Cross" raises it to bestseller level.

[Cátia Rato]

Miriam, thank you for your comment!
Honestly, I don't think the "Alex Cross" series is that good. I wasn't able to finish the collection, I thought it was too much of the same thing. I just think some authors are luckier than others. If O'Hare was a little more known, maybe yes, it could be a best seller.