Book Review: Falling More Slowly

Falling More Slowly
Peter Helton
Mystery

A police procedural with a little extra cleverness set in Bristol, England. I give it:

• A- for pacing and plot generally. There were some nice twists. The main character, Liam McLusky, could have had more to do with them, though.
• B for characterization; McLusky stays just on the right side of the "quirky" / "irritating fuck-up" line, which makes him interesting. The character is otherwise a recognizable type.
• B- for atmosphere. It's standard Urban Grit enhanced by a decent sense of place.
• C- for writing, in the words-and-sentences sense. There are a good many fragmentary or run-on sentences, viewpoint characters popping into and out of frame, telling rather than showing what the characters are feeling, and poorly-constructed paragraphs.

There's really no more to say about this sort of book. I found it an enjoyable enough way to spend a couple of hours. It leaves me with neither the desire to read more by Peter Helton, nor the desire to avoid him--the kind of author I'd look for in an airport, in other words.