Book Review - The Night Season by Chelsea Cain





The fourth novel of my lockdown reading and it is not the best of them. It is the first Chelsea Cain I have read and it has not really inspired me to read anymore. It is the fourth novel in a series but despite missing a bit of backstory to the main characters it does work as a stand alone novel.

Basic Plot:

Portland is under threat, after days of heavy rain the river is close to bursting its banks, just like it did 60 years ago when Vanport was all but destroyed by a flood. Drownings have already happened but the most recent victim didn’t die from drowning…..

Susan Ward, a reporter on a local paper, is on the case with her partner, Archie Sheridan, a local police detective but the way the victims are being killed is odd, very odd…..

Can Susan and Archie find the murderer before it is too late for them and for the banks of the river?

 

What I thought of it:

Whilst this was not exactly badly written it was far from being a page turner or unput downable. The plot was a thin and rather plodding one and there were few twists to keep the reader interested. Most of the danger in the plot comes from the rising river levels rather than there being a serial killer on the loose.  There are few subplots and one of those which is used is really a clumsy way of tying in the epilogue (set during the destruction of Vanport) into the main plot. Frankly is was too much of a coincidence for me as well as part of it being less likely than a female Pope. However, the use of a real event as the epilogue was a nice touch.

The weapon used in the murders is an interesting one and shows that Cain has done some research into the effects of it. However, she has made the effects occur far faster than they actually would do in real life but I think we can allow a little artistic licence. Her research into the Vanport flood is also clear even if, again, some artistic licence has been used.

The setting of Portland is done well and there is a map of the area the novel is set in at the front of the book which does help in some way to place things, however, showing the position of where Vanport was would have helped. Also the use of the confusion caused by the evacuation of parts of the city due to potential danger to life flooding does help add some reality to the novel.

The main characters are, to an extent believable, but for me Susan appears to have more dumb luck than most her ability to be in the right place at the right time to get her story reminds me a bit too much of scenes from Bruce Almighty. Archie is shown to be a dedicated police detective and will put his life in danger in order to save others even if he is still psychologically damaged by past events (I assume covered in earlier novels in the series). Other more minor characters are as in most novels a bit hit and miss. Some are well used and well described whilst others are almost instantly forgettable. I realise that with this being the fourth novel in a series some of the characterisation would have been done in earlier novels.

The conclusion was, for me, rather weak but it did appear to conclude the story arc for Archie.

 


Comments