The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths
| The Janus Stone (Dr Ruth Galloway) by Elly Griffiths | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: Even on a second reading, this is still a cracker of a story. This book - and the series - is highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 352 | Date: June 2016 |
| Publisher: Quercus | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1786482129 | |
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Builders were demolishing an old house in Norwich - the site was going to hold seventy-five 'luxury' apartments - when they discovered the bones of a child beneath a doorway. There was no skull. Was this a ritual killing or murder? Inevitably, Dr Ruth Galloway finds herself working with DCI Harry Nelson. It's difficult as Ruth knows, but Nelson doesn't, that she is pregnant with his child as a result of the one night they spent together some three months ago. Her condition will be obvious before long, not least because Ruth is prone to sudden bouts of sickness.
But before she can deal with that problem there's the more pressing case of the body on the building site. Not too long ago the house was a Catholic Children's Home and Nelson tracks down a Catholic priest who ran the home. He tells him that two children, a brother and sister, disappeared from the home some forty years before and were never found. This wasn't to prove the easy answer that Galloway and Nelson had been hoping for: testing establishes that the bones predate the opening of the children's home, But, if that's the case, why is someone trying to dissuade Galloway by frightening her?
In the interests of full disclosure, I must tell you that I first read this book in 2016 when it was first published but I had the opportunity to listen to an audio download, narrated by Jane McDowell and it was too good to miss. Thank you, Quercus! Most crime procedural books don't read well a second time around. If you know that the butler did it, something is missing from the book. That didn't happen with The Janus Stone. I had some memories of events in the book but I still appreciated the skill of the plotting and storytelling. I was sorry when I got to the end and it has prompted me to revisit some of the other books in the series.
The audio download was a joy. Mc Dowell has an excellent range of voices. Even the men came across well and I was never in any doubt as to who was speaking. The pacing was perfect, too. There were occasions when Ruth was in jeopardy when I had to stop listening for a moment, to get my metaphorical breath back. McDowell also narrated The Locked Room by Griffiths and she lived up to my expectations in this book.
The book could be read as a stand alone but you'll get more out of it if you've read the first book in the series.
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