Review: The Killing Lessons

The Killing Lessons by Saul Black
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I’ll start by saying this is a low four-star rating. There were a few moments throughout in which I considered giving three stars, yet in the end I had to opt for the four. It is far from the strongest four star rating I have ever given, but I couldn’t bring myself to drop it down to a three star rating as I enjoyed it too much for that.

I’m not one hundred percent sure about how I feel about this one, though. As I said, I enjoyed it too much to give a three star rating but it wasn’t quite a four stars. Mostly, it’s because I did not engage with the story as much as I would have liked to.

I’ll start with the writing style. I’m a lover of individual writing styles, the type that works as an identifier. I can safely say such is the case with this author. They have a writing style that is very much their own. However, I’m not one hundred percent sure about how I felt towards the particular style. It’s not bad; it simply wasn’t something I would go out of my way to read more of. Partly, I believe, this is due to the same words being used over and over again. Not just any words, though. It was as though the author occasionally used a thesaurus and realised they had a new favourite word. It reminded me far too much of the ‘word of the day’ and how people will go out of their way to use it far too many times in sentences.

The story itself, however, was really interesting. I was gripped to see where things would go, enjoying the way we followed many aspects of the story. I do feel, though, that Nell’s aspect of the story was a bit of a let down. I had expected more of a struggle for survival. When it became obvious that Nell wouldn’t be getting the attention the blurb had me believing she would, it became clear how the ending would play out. We knew she played a vital part, and with the way things were working, we knew it was only a matter of time before certain aspects came to be. I would have liked more from this aspect of the story, but other than that I did enjoy the way we followed many different characters.

Despite this, I couldn’t bring myself to connect with any of the characters. None of the stories really stood out for me. Mostly, their individual backstories and side stories bored me. There wasn’t anything overly original. The cops were clichés. The criminals were clichés. The reasoning for actions were clichéd. I’ve seen them before, and I’ll probably see them again.

Even though I did enjoy it, I’m not sure whether I will continue on with more stories following these characters. I guess we’ll find out when we have conformation as to whether or not the talk of a series is true. Perhaps I will pick up the next book, but I cannot say for sure.

Overall, a decent enough read.

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