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Diane Wood

Autor/a de Web of Obsessions

6 obres 44 Membres 4 Ressenyes

Obres de Diane Wood

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After reading The Fortuneteller's Daughter, I had extremely high hopes for Web of Obsessions. The love story itself here is top notch, but the dirty underhandedness of so many of the novel's characters feels like too much of a stretch, even entering 'over the top' territory, and takes away from the tale feeling authentic. The uneasiness that comes with The Fortuneteller's Daughter is so effective because it DOES feel authentic and the despair is heartbreaking and the characters who are very crooked and cruel ring true whereas the uneasiness within Web of Obsessions comes from entirely different reasons.… (més)
 
Marcat
booksandcats4ever | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Jul 30, 2018 |
A little on the dark side for me. I would have liked more character development between the protagonists. Good book on prison system and problems.
 
Marcat
elizatanner | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Jul 5, 2017 |
This is quite a page turner. It is a prison drama set in Australia. The main characters are mostly prison officials, though there are a couple of inmates involved too, and a truly dark, powerful, enigmatic character who's ironically never stepped foot in one.

Unlike other prison-themed books, this one doesn't dive too much into the daily routine of inmates but rather focuses on the relationships between the people who run it. The main highlight is the romance between two prison officials, though things don't heat up till a good part of the book because one of them is straight and in a steady relationship and has a son from a previous marriage. I appreciate that the author doesn't vilify the other guy in the relationship or make it easy for our leading ladies. All the important characters on both sides of the bars are all well-developed and multidimensional. The book is much more riveting than my rather dry review seems to imply. Having stayed up all of New Year's Eve to finish it, my brain is still not fully functional. :)

By the 80% mark, I thought this would be a good candidate for my favorite book of 2013. However, there were so many things going on, so many threads that needed to be resolved, that in the last 20% of the book, it was like the author could barely come up for air. The pace was frenetic, to say the least. And I think this part of the book suffered somewhat from the rush to finish the book. It became all 'telling' and no 'showing' anymore. Also, some parts of the book involving the enigmatic character seemed too much of a stretch. I might have given the book 5 stars if the leads were more involved in the investigation/resolution of the case. But it felt like things were handed to them by the all-too-powerful character. In fact, she can probably carry her own book. (hint hint :) ) Still, it was a lot of fun (and dread) trying to guess who gets to walk away and who ends up dead.

Very good first effort!

4.5 stars
… (més)
 
Marcat
Jemology | Hi ha 2 ressenyes més | Dec 29, 2014 |
Nathalie is a trained lawyer but chose to work for peanuts for the police instead. She also volunteers at a women's center. All this is supposedly penance for a past life of teenage depravity, sex and drug use. At the women's center she meets Alex, who is her polar opposite. As Nat is dark and damaged, Alex is pure, unsullied and full of love. Can Nat get past her shame? Can she let Alex in? Can Alex stand Nat's terrible nightmares? Just when happiness finally seems to be within Nat's reach, a gut-wrenching twist threatens to take everything away. Damn, I should have seen that coming...but I didn't, even with the red herrings. Great plotting!

This is Ms. Wood's second novel. And I'm liking her style--dark, gritty and realistic. Occasionally even repulsive. Its guaranteed to elicit a visceral reaction from the reader. In her first book, [b:Web of Obsessions|17290823|Web of Obsessions|Diane Wood|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375753916s/17290823.jpg|23913081], she insulated the lead characters from the darkness, but here, one of the MCs is literally buried in it. The author doesn't sweep the dirt under the rug. The MC and other characters here are seriously flawed but very real. That's not to say Nat and Alex aren't sympathetic or likeable. Their rocky, angsty journey is the heart of this book. Be ready with the tissues!

But, the love story apart, this is not an easy read. The subject matter made me uncomfortable throughout. Couple that with the not-so-black-and-white characterizations and the outright sleazy ones, and ugh, I started to have homicidal thoughts. :)

Some other observations: I like the plotting. Detailed and a little messy. Not too neat. A lot like real life. There are no super sleuths or spectacular busts here. Just good old fashioned police work and the occasional dumb luck. The side plot about the serial killings felt more like a storytelling device or a way to extend the page count so its a good thing it wasn't too distracting.

If you can't decide whether to take a chance on this book, just head on to amazon and download the Prologue. If you don't feel like throwing up after reading it, then you're good to go. That is as bad as it gets. Fortunately there are no graphic descriptions of violence or lurid scenes. Most of the horrific incidents happened in the past and are simply related by speakers. The rest are either fade to black or just implied. This is one time when telling rather than showing felt more appropriate.

4.5
… (més)
 
Marcat
Jemology | Dec 29, 2014 |

Premis

Estadístiques

Obres
6
Membres
44
Popularitat
#346,250
Valoració
3.9
Ressenyes
4
ISBN
8