Ed Napiorkowski's Reviews > Seven Bridges

Must admit I was a bit disappointed in this the 8th installment of the DCI Ryan Mysteries series.
The story has one main plot related to the bridges referenced in the title, a second "who dun it?" theme related to the murder of a key character from earlier books and a third thread related to the ongoing "Yet to be brought to justice" individual also from earlier books.
The main plot progresses at a steady pace and is interesting however in my personal opinion presents no real surprises, lacked some pace and tension, and despite the effort to introduce a double twist towards the very end was fairly flat.
The second theme, though taking up a lot less volume of the book I actually found to be more interesting and engaging. I did like the way the author described the impact of this crime on the individuals involved, the introduction of another DCI and also the final section and the manner in which the perpetrator is revealed.
As to the third theme, for readers of the series my words are "don't get excited". The Author weaves a few (yes only a few) of instances to keep the reader informed that yes, please don't forget, there is some unfinished business in the world of DCI Ryan. However again this is only my opinion but it is done in such a manner to solely encourage those who want to see closure of this matter to buy the next book. Very disappointing (again only my opinion). A snippet at the start, another snippet towards the end, and then the final "We need to go to Italy!" as the close of the book.
As I listen to the Audio-book versions I will also comment on the performance from of Jonathan Keeble who has also performed the reading of the earlier books. Jonathan is a very good performer with clear pronunciation and crisp delivery, he attempts to weave emotion, volume and passion into his performance. I especially like his "presenter's voice" when he is not attempting to align to a specific character but just act as a narrator. In this particular book however I do not feel his performance was as strong, primarily due to too many of the characters reverting back to the same voice (despite initial attempts to have separate voices for each). This became more and more common as the book progressed and a bit frustrating when those characters (four or five ended up sounding identical) interacted with each other (for example Jack and his father, who is saying what to whom?). Not a show stopper but just not as fantastic a performance as the earlier books.