3.5 out of 5 stars
Short stories: crime, mystery, ghosts, light drama
On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
Reviewed by me as part of Rosie Amber's Book Review Team
Twenty-two stories from Geoff West's jolly nice, slightly
bumbling and Jonathan Creek-esque hero, Jack Lockwood, all set in a village
near Canterbury in Kent.
When you start reading something by Geoff West you know it will be intelligently written and well edited with some clever turns of phrase, with no sentences that make you think 'ouch!' - and that's always a good starting point.
The first few in this collection are ghost stories, followed by crime/mystery and finishing up with a few of a lighter type. I thought the crime/mystery ones were the most well put together, and by far the best is Leaving It All Behind, which I thought could have been very nicely developed into at least novelette length. The author is very good at creating atmosphere, so much that I actually wanted to be holed up in that little country pub during the snow storm.... his characters are very clearly defined, sometimes in an almost pantomime-like way, but this is all in keeping with the whole Jack Lockwood scenario of not too serious crime solving in an idyllic part of England that comes straight from a BBC Sunday evening drama.
Some stories I felt could have been developed more; they
were more situations than actual stories,
and I'd turn the page thinking there was more to come only to find the beginning of the next, but the writing was still entertaining and on the whole I'd say that
if you're a short story fan of these genres, reading The Jack Lockwood Diaries
is a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.
The book ends with the first chapter of Geoff West's latest
novel, Sheer Fear - a better opening for a crime drama you couldn't find!
SHEER FEAR by Geoff West reviewed HERE
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