Book Review: A Man of Some Repute
It's been a long time since I've read a good old fashion murder mystery. When I first into reading this was one of my favorite genres. I really love the guessing games that come with these types of novels and trying to figure out who committed the murder. A Man of Some Repute takes place right after WWII in a small town outside of London. The murder actually took place nearly seven years after the murder took place and the case is re-opened after the body is found.
Sadly A Man of Some Repute does little to nothing to get you to care about the murder or its characters. I just finished this novel a couple of hours ago and most of the characters names, back stories, and personalities are already dropping out of my consciousness. The author never really spends any time building them up. Nor does the author ever ramp up the tension. This is a very slow moving and often dreadfully boring novel. I never once really cared who committed the murder. And unlike most murder mysteries I never even bothered to try and guess who did it.
The conclusion which for murder mysteries is incredibly important completely misses the landing. The fact that everyone in this novel decides that seven years later is the right time to come forward and bring up any theories or eye witness accounts of what happened is beyond me. It just doesn't make any sense. The characters, the plot, and much of the book is so hard to get behind that I almost didn't finish it. A Man of Some Repute is an incredibly forgettable and really poor attempt to bring back some of the magic of an old-school murder mystery. What I thought would be a great start to summer reading ended up being a giant disappointment.
