Review by leiabutler -- The Dark Web Murders
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leiabutler
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Review by leiabutler -- The Dark Web Murders
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Dark Web Murders" by Brian O'Hare.]
4 out of 4 stars
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The Dark Web Murders is bursting with secrets, lies and mystery. Inspector Sheehan’s team battle to try and solve an increasingly dangerous murderer who operates on the dark web. Clever and anonymous, the murderer makes it extremely difficult for the team and throws them many red herrings along the way. The team is discovering murder after murder, and they need to stop it before more lives are on the line. But can they pull together and find out who their criminal is before the murderer’s actions are truly devastating?
After previously reading The 11.05 Murders , one of my favourite parts of O’Hare’s writing is that he includes a prologue. While reading the book, it is interesting trying to think about how the prologue connects to the murderer. This detail is engaging, and my mind is always blown at how cleverly O’Hare ties it in with the plot at the end. O’Hare’s talents do not stop there. The plot in The Dark Web Murders is so intelligently written. There were signs of who the killer was when looking back, but because they were so subtly embedded, it took a lot of thought to try and figure it out. The story is also brilliantly written, and it is clear the story was professionally edited. There were a few tiny errors, but these didn’t distract from the story at all. One of the most successful parts of the story was how easy the plot was to follow. This made it easier to get stuck into the story and really enjoy every moment. The ending of the story was tense and had me on the edge of my seat. It was remarkably written, and though I thought a shock twist was coming, I couldn’t have predicted just how shocking it would be.
Throughout the story, there were so many beautiful elements that weren’t major parts of the overall plot but made the book so much more enjoyable to read. One example includes segments with the team’s psychologist. It was interesting seeing these perspectives in helping to solve the case, and it allowed O’Hare to show off his immense breadth of knowledge. Another example included the careful tackling of social and political issues such as Brexit and gender identity. Though these were very small lines within the story, it made the plot feel modern and relatable.
O’Hare develops character relationships not just throughout the book, but the series. The relationships between Tom and Denise, and Jim and his wife were continued from other books, which made them feel like real and fluid characters. It also made them feel more familiar and made me engage better with the story. Even if you’ve only read one of the other books, it is still easy to pick up on the new characters and catch up with the characters you loved from the previous stories.
There were lots of informative sections such as the parts of the story which explained the dark web. These were good for those who didn’t have any knowledge of that area, but for those who did, these sections could appear slightly tiresome. Furthermore, the blog posts within the novel are really interesting when they talk about philosophical ideas such as justice, but if you aren’t interested in philosophy, you may struggle with the blog posts. They are quite heavy and full of dense information that wouldn’t make much sense to those who were not fond of the topics at hand.
One element of O’Hare’s writing that I do not enjoy is his focus on physical appearances. Denise is described as ‘pretty, more than pretty, beautiful' and this objectification of her character feels very frequent, especially with the knowledge of his previous works where she is continuously highlighted as being beautiful. Though this was not as bad in this book, it was still distracting and uncomfortable to read as a female reader. The only other negative aspect of the novel was the fact it could be triggering in places due to the taboo and illegal topics that the club members get up to in the novel. There are mentions of rape, paedophilia and sexual abuse, which could be distressing for readers who have gone through similar experiences.
Overall, I rate this book four out of four stars . I think the quality of the writing is exceptional, and the plot is extremely clever. However, I would warn readers who are easily upset by disturbing storylines to avoid this book. O’Hare has a talent for writing murder mysteries, and I really recommend this book for those interesting in the crime genre.
******
The Dark Web Murders
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
4 out of 4 stars
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The Dark Web Murders is bursting with secrets, lies and mystery. Inspector Sheehan’s team battle to try and solve an increasingly dangerous murderer who operates on the dark web. Clever and anonymous, the murderer makes it extremely difficult for the team and throws them many red herrings along the way. The team is discovering murder after murder, and they need to stop it before more lives are on the line. But can they pull together and find out who their criminal is before the murderer’s actions are truly devastating?
After previously reading The 11.05 Murders , one of my favourite parts of O’Hare’s writing is that he includes a prologue. While reading the book, it is interesting trying to think about how the prologue connects to the murderer. This detail is engaging, and my mind is always blown at how cleverly O’Hare ties it in with the plot at the end. O’Hare’s talents do not stop there. The plot in The Dark Web Murders is so intelligently written. There were signs of who the killer was when looking back, but because they were so subtly embedded, it took a lot of thought to try and figure it out. The story is also brilliantly written, and it is clear the story was professionally edited. There were a few tiny errors, but these didn’t distract from the story at all. One of the most successful parts of the story was how easy the plot was to follow. This made it easier to get stuck into the story and really enjoy every moment. The ending of the story was tense and had me on the edge of my seat. It was remarkably written, and though I thought a shock twist was coming, I couldn’t have predicted just how shocking it would be.
Throughout the story, there were so many beautiful elements that weren’t major parts of the overall plot but made the book so much more enjoyable to read. One example includes segments with the team’s psychologist. It was interesting seeing these perspectives in helping to solve the case, and it allowed O’Hare to show off his immense breadth of knowledge. Another example included the careful tackling of social and political issues such as Brexit and gender identity. Though these were very small lines within the story, it made the plot feel modern and relatable.
O’Hare develops character relationships not just throughout the book, but the series. The relationships between Tom and Denise, and Jim and his wife were continued from other books, which made them feel like real and fluid characters. It also made them feel more familiar and made me engage better with the story. Even if you’ve only read one of the other books, it is still easy to pick up on the new characters and catch up with the characters you loved from the previous stories.
There were lots of informative sections such as the parts of the story which explained the dark web. These were good for those who didn’t have any knowledge of that area, but for those who did, these sections could appear slightly tiresome. Furthermore, the blog posts within the novel are really interesting when they talk about philosophical ideas such as justice, but if you aren’t interested in philosophy, you may struggle with the blog posts. They are quite heavy and full of dense information that wouldn’t make much sense to those who were not fond of the topics at hand.
One element of O’Hare’s writing that I do not enjoy is his focus on physical appearances. Denise is described as ‘pretty, more than pretty, beautiful' and this objectification of her character feels very frequent, especially with the knowledge of his previous works where she is continuously highlighted as being beautiful. Though this was not as bad in this book, it was still distracting and uncomfortable to read as a female reader. The only other negative aspect of the novel was the fact it could be triggering in places due to the taboo and illegal topics that the club members get up to in the novel. There are mentions of rape, paedophilia and sexual abuse, which could be distressing for readers who have gone through similar experiences.
Overall, I rate this book four out of four stars . I think the quality of the writing is exceptional, and the plot is extremely clever. However, I would warn readers who are easily upset by disturbing storylines to avoid this book. O’Hare has a talent for writing murder mysteries, and I really recommend this book for those interesting in the crime genre.
******
The Dark Web Murders
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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