The Crow Trap (Vera Stanhope 1)
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Product Description
Product Description
The first stunning novel from Ann Cleeves featuring DI Vera Stanhope
Book Description
An ingenious psychological suspense novel. At the isolated Baikie's Cottage on the North Pennines, three very different women come together. Three women who each know the meaning of betrayal . . . For team leader Rachael the project is the perfect opportunity to rebuild her confidence after a double-betrayal by her lover and boss, Peter Kemp. Botanist Anne, on the other hand, sees it as a chance to indulge in a little deception of her own. And then there is Grace, a strange, uncommunicative young woman with plenty of her own secrets to hide . . . When Rachael arrives at the cottage, however, she is horrified to discover the body of her friend Bella Furness. Bella, it appears, has committed suicide - a verdict Rachael finds impossible to accept. Only when the next death occurs does a fourth woman enter the picture - the unconventional Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Startlingly good!,
By
This review is from: The Crow Trap (Paperback)
Ann Cleeves has a great sense of timing - she builds her narrative steadily, ratcheting up the tension so you hardly notice just how involved you've become with the characters and their dilemmas . Fantastic character portraits (particularly that of Anne) keep the large cast distinct. The story is clever, plausible and really very satisfying. Ultimately, the reason the characters, places and story are so vivid is because of her use of language: she uses words with precision and confidence. Pan Macmillan - reprint this book!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Edge Of The Seat Read,
By
This review is from: The Crow Trap (TV tie-in) (Vera Stanhope 1) (Paperback)
Exciting and lots of twists and turns I love how Ann Cleeves writes and have enjoyed the Vera tv series. This book is a knife edge thriller give it a go.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not great,
By
This review is from: The Crow Trap (Vera Stanhope 1) (Paperback)
"God save me from forceful women", says DS Joe Ashworth at one point. This throwaway remark catches the essence of the book.
The story revolves around three women who are camped out in an isolated cottage whilst they carry out an environmental survey on the site of a proposed quarry. It opens with the suicide of a fourth woman, Bella. The official explanation is that Bella was unable to cope with the strain of caring for her sick husband. Her friend Rachel isn't convinced - Bella was a strong woman - and sets out to investigate. Suicide isn't a police matter and so, although this is badged as "A Vera Stanhope Novel", the formidable Detective Inspector doesn't enter the story properly until half way through, after the first murder. Is this linked to the quarry development or the victim's past? As "The Crow Trap" progresses, we learn how the past and present experiences of the women whose lives (and deaths) have somehow become interlinked with the cottage and the surrounding countryside. The excellently crafted and largely plausible plot reminded me at times of Barbara Vine (Ruth Rendell), although Cleeves is less psychologically disturbing and I thought that the final piece in the jigsaw was a bit contrived. Cleeves doesn't go in for long descriptive passages, but evokes a scene or a character through in a few well-chosen appeals to all the senses; the colour of a curtain or the texture of a face. She also makes extensive use of dialogue, reflecting DI Stanhope's philosophy that crimes are as likely to be solved by listening to gossip as by forensic analysis. "The Crow Trap" isn't in the first division of detective literature but it's a good page turner that invites you to form your own theories and keeps you guessing until the very end. Vera Stanhope is a wonderful character and I'm looking forward to seeing how she develops in later novels.
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