Review: Man Made Murder by Z Rider

Man Made Murder by Z Rider

My Rating:


I received a free copy of Man Made Murder from the publisher in return for an honest review.

One thing Rider does well is to tell a vampire story with a different twist without relying heavily on the actual vampirism itself. It's hard one to explain. There are vampires in the story but it doesn't centre around them like most stories do, it's an underlying storyline that justifies the more character driven story that is Man Made Murder. The characters being those who have been, or are being, affected by the vampires and the life changes that occur(red) from events involving them.

Man Made Murder was an unusual read for me. Normally I don't enjoy a book if I can't connect to the characters in some way and yet I found myself drawn into this one. Rider creates characters that feel like real people rather than just a name on the page and despite the fact that I didn't really have anything in common with them, or able to relate to them in the usual way I would like, I was drawn into their story.

There was a lot of internal dialogue which, although it gave a lot of insight into the characters, I felt was too relied on. How a characters mixes, reacts, converses and interacts with other characters is a huge part of what makes them relatable for me and I felt like that aspect was lacking here. Because of this I found it hard to connect with the characters but I was still drawn in enough to continue and finish the book.

The premise was an interesting one but there was something lacking and I can't quite put my finger on what it was. Perhaps it was me not being able to connect with the characters or the fact that it's the first of a trilogy and there is more to come. Or it's maybe that I am left feeling that I wanted it to start a bit earlier than where it did and include the earlier experience of Carl's sister. Could be a mix of all three but it just didn't feel like a story I could really get my teeth into as it is.

I'm kind of on the fence. I want to see where it goes in the next book but I'm not desperate to find out at the same time.



Reviews also posted to my blog: Scarlet's Web
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