Review: Perfect Remains

Perfect Remains by Helen Fields
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love a good crime thriller, and I especially love the current trend where most British crime thrillers are set in Scotland. Obviously, I have a soft spot for my local area – I’m looking at you Stuart MacBride and your Logan McRae series – but I’ll grab any that seem interesting.

The synopsis of Perfect Remains was moderately interesting to me. I was on the edge about whether or not I wanted to pick up the book. It was one I would be looking out for, but I wouldn’t be going out of my way to purchase the book. Then, I noticed a Goodreads giveaway. I entered with my usual ‘I am unlikely to win’ attitude. The email notification informing me of my win left me more excited to read this one. The feeling died down somewhat whilst I waited for it to arrive, but once I had my hands on the book I jumped straight into the story.

I’ll be completely honest and say I wasn’t crazy about the book at first. It had potential, but it wasn’t quite grabbing me in the way I like my crime thrillers to grab me. I was able to put the book down without a voice in the back of my head cursing me out. In all honesty, I can easily explain why such was the case.

I’m not a fan of crime thrillers when you know who the killer is at the start of the book. I enjoy the whodunit aspect of such stories, I like trying to puzzle out the mystery, and knowing who the bad guy is ruins this for me. This aversion is my own, and I know many people have no problem with such a thing. However, for me, it made it difficult for me to really bury myself in the story.

It also took me a while to enjoy the characters. They existed in my mind, yes, but I didn’t feel much towards them. They were just a way to tell the story, not someone I could come to enjoy. For anyone feeling this way, I recommend you stick with the book for a while. It takes a decent amount of time, but once the story is moving, then the characters really start to develop. Questions gather, information is given, and as a whole they really come to life.

Thus, this was a book whereby it took me a while to really enjoy it. I was unsure as to how I would feel by the end, but once everything came together I enjoyed the story much more than I’d originally anticipated. Whilst certain elements of the story were overly clear from the start, there were some nice twists thrown in later in the book, and these elements sucked me right in.

Overall, I say you need to stick with this one. It’s not the most gripping of books at the start of the story, but once it gets moving, it becomes so much more than you expect it to be.

Without a doubt, I’m interested in seeing what book two brings us.

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