Review by peculiarogwu -- The Dark Web Murders

[peculiarogwu]

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

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Dark Web Murders by Brian O'Hare sees Detective Chief Inspector Jim Sheehan and his teammates in the pursuit of a psychopath who goes by Nemein. The author takes us on a serial killers journey; in his bid to achieve what he terms Justice. Sheehan, alongside his fellow detectives try desperately to solve this murder mystery before more people get hurt.


The book starts off in a prison setting which dates back to August 2012, where a young boy is remanded in Magilligan Prison and on his first night, is cornered in the prisons bathroom where he is almost raped by his fellow prisoners. I say almost because this attempted rape leads to his untimely demise. Fast forward to August 2018; a renowned judge is murdered. This sends the Chief Inspector and his team into a frenzy as they try their best to find clues as to who committed such heinous act. Shortly after this, two more murders are committed, following the same Modus Operandi as the previous one. Chapter 4 gives us insight into the killers mind as he documents each of the killings on his blog located in the Dark Web. He describes his atrocities in gruesome ways, giving the reader a vivid picture of what the crime would look like if it were to be portrayed in a movie.


I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book from the get-go. I enjoyed the writer's descriptive style of writing and it was obvious from this that the author is extremely clever and well-learned in his skill. However, I would say that some parts focused on unnecessary details which I felt should not have been included. Due to this, I found myself skipping over some paragraphs.


All that being said, I enjoyed the rapport between Sheehan and his teammates and how they were able to work together with little or no fuss. While characterization is extremely important in plot building, from my point of view, the characters were a bit much and it was hard to recall a good number of them and due to this, I lost my place a couple of times. Also, all of the detectives were portrayed as very smart and performed very well in every interrogation with the suspects, thus, it would have been more plausible if they had been the one to figure out who the last victim was rather than calling in a Cryptographer to deduce the code. That bit, in my opinion, was inconsistent as I was able to figure it out in seconds. I would say that the book was well edited, although there were a few typos.


I would rate the book a 3 out of 4. I would not rate it a 4 because of the inconsistencies pointed out already. Nevertheless, 3 out of 4 is a well deserved rating. I recommend this book to readers with an affinity for murder mysteries. If you enjoy suspense, as well as tension, this is a must read for you. I do not recommend this to readers younger than 18.

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The Dark Web Murders
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