Review by Niteshade710 -- Pancake Money by Finn Bell
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Review by Niteshade710 -- Pancake Money by Finn Bell
[Following is a volunteer review of "Pancake Money" by Finn Bell.]
4 out of 4 stars
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Pancake Money by Finn Bell
Pancake money is a crime fiction story that follows the investigations of two detectives, Bobby Ress and Pollo. Bobby is the main protagonist, and a very likeable one at that. He has a balanced life; a family he loves and a job he is passionate about. He also has Pollo, his partner who is like a big brother to him. However, things start going very wrong when a serial killer starts to ‘artfully’ murder priests all over the town. Bobby and Pollo find themselves racing against time to beat the killer and save lives.
The author does a good job of getting the reader hooked right from the prologue; ‘We are not close to done yet’ is the opening line of the book. He (the author) uses the dialogue, setting and characters to make a simple crime story into a masterpiece. For me, the fact that the story was set in New Zealand, made it even more mysterious and thrilling. The names of the locations, tribes and the characters sounded fresh and interesting.
One of my favorite parts of the book is the ‘Bowlby class sessions’. Ann Bowlby’s character was a criminal psychologist lecturer with a sharp and brilliant mind. I found myself, many times; trying to answer the ‘riddle-like’ questions she throws at the students. Other times I would ‘google’ to check if some of her psychological assertions are true. Bowlby, like all the other characters in the book, has a larger than life persona. Most times she sounded like someone I might know!
I really enjoyed the narrator’s brisk, sarcastic and mostly ‘flippant’ tone. In one scene where Bobby and Pollo arrest two men, the narrator tells us how the younger of the two arrestees makes a fuss about being arrested, but of the older one the narration goes “he looks older, early twenties, prison tattoos. We maybe had a chance with the boy but for this one, it’s just business as usual. We won’t get anything out of him”. The tone of the book reminded me of the good old days of James Hardly Chase.
I immensely enjoyed reading this book. The characters are well formed/well rounded. Even one like Alkaline Ben, whom we only get to meet close to the end of the book, immediately shows himself as a force to be reckoned with, with mannerisms and habits all his own. He is flippant and direct; in one scene he tells Bobby about how ‘they’ tried to raise him as a catholic when he was a child. “It didn’t really take” he said “the nuns said I was too Maori for it”. I also loved the rationale used in the book. In one page the narrator tells us ‘Sane isn’t the same as good’.
Truly enjoyable was the way the author makes the reader unravel the mystery along with Bobby Ress. Finn Bell does an excellent job of building the tension, and the suspense was thrilling and exhilarating. Near the ending of the book, Bobby Ress said “As Ben moves clear of the tree line, I figure out my first mistake. As Ben moves towards the door...I realize my second. When there are sounds of movement in the house I realize my third mistake”. Let’s just say things are not looking good for Bobby Ress! I was surprised; however, to suddenly realize that I knew who the killer was right in the middle of the book. I felt that either the writer was such a genius that he made a genius out of me, or that too many clues had been given that let the cat out of the bag too early in the game. I shall let you decide the answer after you read the book (and if you figure out the killer too before the end).
The only negative I have to mention about the book are the typographical errors I noticed. On page 180 instead of ‘listen’ to a message I saw ‘listed’. Also on page 183 it says ‘I am going leave here’ instead of ‘I am going to leave here’. Despite these errors, I give this book a rating of 4 out of 4 stars because they were the only errors I saw, and the book seemed well edited to me except for them.
I strongly recommend this book to lovers of crime fiction, and to anyone who loves books filled with good dialogue infused with humor and camaraderie. Readers put off by graphic, violent scenes may wish to pass up this book, as the murders were chilling and disturbing.
******
Pancake Money
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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4 out of 4 stars
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Pancake Money by Finn Bell
Pancake money is a crime fiction story that follows the investigations of two detectives, Bobby Ress and Pollo. Bobby is the main protagonist, and a very likeable one at that. He has a balanced life; a family he loves and a job he is passionate about. He also has Pollo, his partner who is like a big brother to him. However, things start going very wrong when a serial killer starts to ‘artfully’ murder priests all over the town. Bobby and Pollo find themselves racing against time to beat the killer and save lives.
The author does a good job of getting the reader hooked right from the prologue; ‘We are not close to done yet’ is the opening line of the book. He (the author) uses the dialogue, setting and characters to make a simple crime story into a masterpiece. For me, the fact that the story was set in New Zealand, made it even more mysterious and thrilling. The names of the locations, tribes and the characters sounded fresh and interesting.
One of my favorite parts of the book is the ‘Bowlby class sessions’. Ann Bowlby’s character was a criminal psychologist lecturer with a sharp and brilliant mind. I found myself, many times; trying to answer the ‘riddle-like’ questions she throws at the students. Other times I would ‘google’ to check if some of her psychological assertions are true. Bowlby, like all the other characters in the book, has a larger than life persona. Most times she sounded like someone I might know!
I really enjoyed the narrator’s brisk, sarcastic and mostly ‘flippant’ tone. In one scene where Bobby and Pollo arrest two men, the narrator tells us how the younger of the two arrestees makes a fuss about being arrested, but of the older one the narration goes “he looks older, early twenties, prison tattoos. We maybe had a chance with the boy but for this one, it’s just business as usual. We won’t get anything out of him”. The tone of the book reminded me of the good old days of James Hardly Chase.
I immensely enjoyed reading this book. The characters are well formed/well rounded. Even one like Alkaline Ben, whom we only get to meet close to the end of the book, immediately shows himself as a force to be reckoned with, with mannerisms and habits all his own. He is flippant and direct; in one scene he tells Bobby about how ‘they’ tried to raise him as a catholic when he was a child. “It didn’t really take” he said “the nuns said I was too Maori for it”. I also loved the rationale used in the book. In one page the narrator tells us ‘Sane isn’t the same as good’.
Truly enjoyable was the way the author makes the reader unravel the mystery along with Bobby Ress. Finn Bell does an excellent job of building the tension, and the suspense was thrilling and exhilarating. Near the ending of the book, Bobby Ress said “As Ben moves clear of the tree line, I figure out my first mistake. As Ben moves towards the door...I realize my second. When there are sounds of movement in the house I realize my third mistake”. Let’s just say things are not looking good for Bobby Ress! I was surprised; however, to suddenly realize that I knew who the killer was right in the middle of the book. I felt that either the writer was such a genius that he made a genius out of me, or that too many clues had been given that let the cat out of the bag too early in the game. I shall let you decide the answer after you read the book (and if you figure out the killer too before the end).
The only negative I have to mention about the book are the typographical errors I noticed. On page 180 instead of ‘listen’ to a message I saw ‘listed’. Also on page 183 it says ‘I am going leave here’ instead of ‘I am going to leave here’. Despite these errors, I give this book a rating of 4 out of 4 stars because they were the only errors I saw, and the book seemed well edited to me except for them.
I strongly recommend this book to lovers of crime fiction, and to anyone who loves books filled with good dialogue infused with humor and camaraderie. Readers put off by graphic, violent scenes may wish to pass up this book, as the murders were chilling and disturbing.
******
Pancake Money
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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Latest Review: The Unfakeable Code® by Tony Jeton Selimi
