Book Review – Dead of Winter by Annelise Ryan #BookBlogger #AmReading

by Shalini, posted in Book Reviews, Fiction

This review is based about my mindset as a reviewer. If the author has a scene with the main character crapping in her pants in the car and staining the leather seat, with her boss in the passenger seat going – what’s that smell – a scene which is not valid to the story line or the plot or the development of the character, then I am done. I. AM. SO. DONE!! I can’t go beyond such a scene ever.

This is book 11 in the series involving the main character Mattie Winston. I didn’t have a problem in following her life as a medical examiner in a new marriage to cop Hurley with a son Matthew.

A young girl comes to the ER and flatlines on the table. Mattie is called in for the autopsy which ultimately her boss does as she seems too busy with other parts of investigation, which I don’t think are needed. But what do I know?!! The young girl was presumed to be part of human trafficking. They investigate…

I liked the initial investigation part, but post crapping, there were two non-connected subplots of an abusive boyfriend of a co-worker and another murder in a theatre. I skim read the book post the awful scene of crapping in the car. And I was not impressed with the characters or any of the investigation.

My rating is for the initial plot line, but the book made me lose my mojo for reading due the unnecessary scene. I haven’t read the previous 10 in the series, and now I don’t plan to. EVER!!

I received an ARC from NetGalley and publisher Kensington Books, and this is my journey into its pages, straight from the heart!!

All my reviews can be found here

Do you have such peeves which put you off a book?

USA Today bestselling author Annelise Ryan is the pseudonym for the author of the Mattie Winston Mysteries and another mystery series. She has written more than 200 published articles, worked as a book reviewer for Barnes & Noble, and is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers.

A new home, a new marriage, a new family. It’s a lot to sort out. But before medicolegal death investigator Mattie can smooth out the unexpected chaos of her new life, duty calls. At the local ER, a battered and bruised teenage girl has been brought in by a mysterious man who claimed she’d fallen out of a car. The staff is suspicious, but while they attend to the teenager, the unidentified man slips out. Then the girl dies, but not before informing social worker Hildy Schneider that the man had her little sister as well.

Mattie’s exam reveals forensic evidence of long-term IV drug use and physical abuse, findings consistent with Hildy’s suspicion that the girl was a victim of human trafficking. They are able to confirm her identity as a teen who went missing six months ago, along with her sister—facts that are deeply unsettling to Mattie who now shares a home with her husband’s teenaged daughter.

Working closely with Hildy and Sorenson homicide detectives, including her husband Steve Hurley, Mattie must delve into a dark underworld to stop the ruthless trafficking of human lives—before it’s too late for another young girl . . .

Publication Date: 26th February 2019

Publisher: Kensington

43 thoughts on “Book Review – Dead of Winter by Annelise Ryan #BookBlogger #AmReading”

      2. I understand.. I have had food poisoning many times, but I felt this scene wasn’t needed as it was not part of plot. I have no problem with stools, I am a doctor, been there, cleaned it. But in a fiction, it has to be apt to the plot. Hence it detracted from the story

        Liked by 1 person

    1. I couldn’t read for 2 days post that… I can understand disease or fear or something on the plot which causes this… If this scene hadn’t been written the story would have still worked. It was just not needed.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  12. I’m sorry this book reveal itself as no good. Scene apart (disgusting, yes) it’s the most unnerving thing when we have unrelated or unuseful subplots or scene or parts. I just finished a tv series with a ton of them and I was so so mad! And with the books is even worst… so I really hope your next reading would be an amazing one!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Suzy, how are you darling… This scene shocked me so much that I could not read a book for 2 days…
      I agree to your words.. Some scenes are only for shocking or probably it was meant to be humorous… Well just not for me

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  17. Oh no, that scene about crapping in the car would have completely put me off! Sometimes we get a book that just doesn’t work.
    Just finished another cool book called The Moroccan Girl so I can recommend that if you like mystery/thriller stuff.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s