Book Review: Raven Black

I’m a fan of whodunit mysteries where there are many suspects with secrets. I’m a fan of interesting main characters who have some depth. I’m a fan of books that have a sense of place, especially when it’s a place I don’t know much about. Raven Black has all of those things.

A teenager’s body is discovered and the small-town safe life on Shetland Island suddenly doesn’t feel that safe as the island’s inhabitants all begin to look suspicious, especially since it brings up the unsolved disappearance of a little girl years before. Detective Jimmy Perez, who grew up nearby and understands life on the Islands, is called in to investigate.

Unfortunately, those elements and the intriguing plot line weren’t enough to bring it together for me. The book was slow, different narratives make following the characters sometimes confusing, and although you get a sense of life on the Shetland Islands, I would have appreciated more descriptive details.

Admittedly, part of my struggle might have been that I chose to listen to this on audiobook (which I normally love). The narrator’s accent adds to the story, but his pace is almost painfully slow. And, since I was listening, the jumping between characters made it more difficult to follow.

The mystery was interesting, though, and I wanted to know who had committed the crime, so I followed through to the end and was surprised by the ending…