Review: Waiting For Wednesday by Nicci French

My mum gave this book to me after she read it, saying how much she enjoyed it and how she thought that I would like it and I have to say that her praise and recommendation was not misplaced; it's a really good book.

It is always going to be difficult starting a series on the third book in and I did consider stopping reading because of continuing storylines, but because it is a crime novel with a new crime to solve, I decided that it would be an alright storyline to pick up. I believe I was right in that judgement as even though there were already characters and relationships that had been established, I found them relatively easy to get a grasp on, even though there were so many for me to remember.

In the past the crime novels I have read have focused more on the technical aspects of solving crimes; the finger prints, analysing the body etc. However as Frieda is a psychotherapist rather than a detective, forensic anthropologist or the like, I was not expecting that from this book. Having read novels from the two different sides now, I feel like I can have a more well-rounded view. This side seems to be based a lot more on impulse, which I guess I do find a bit more unrealistic because it's as if the author is controlling the characters rather than letting the characters do the work themselves, but having said that, I do like Frieda's approach of not wanting to get involved, only wanting to help and them being thrown in at the deep end.

The parallel storylines were something that I really liked about this book. At first they seem quite separate, but as the novel progresses everything starts to come together and to me that shows a great level of thought and planning going into this book, which is something I always love. I was personally more interested in the murder of the mother as that was what this book started off with, but the other storyline of the missing girls meant that the characters weren't just sitting around, waiting for something to happen with the police case;  they were doing something by themselves to potentially try and help other people.

I think that it is fair to say that the characters in this book weren't perfect and that's not a criticism of this book, in fact, it is a compliment. Their flaws made them believable and more like real people. Real people mess up, real people don't get on with everyone and real people demonstrate the same characteristics as Nicci French's characters. The length of this book meant that even though we were overloaded with different people, I feel like from what I have learnt about them in this book, I could know them in real life; maybe not as friends, but definitely know them.

As well as that, in this book there was an interesting crossover between the adult and child world. Three children, or two children and one just adult, were forced to grow up very quickly with the death of their mother taking place so suddenly and then having their own lives picked apart in order to try and find who her killer was. In contrast to that you had the world of Frieda and the detectives who had brushed with death many times before. This combination was a real eye-opener into a place where the two world's collided.

The depth of the investigation in this book was something that I was really grateful for. With each passing chapter I learnt new things about the case and even after all that, I was shocked by who the guilty party was, even though if I looked back I could probably find clues that it was them. As more suspects came into the limelight, it became more confusing, but I liked the confusion because of the new stories that each one told.

My reasons for not rating this book higher are, firstly, that I think I prefer more of the forensic side and less of the impulse and getting involved side of crime novels, secondly, I think there were too many characters and finally, as I haven't started with the first book, I don't think I can fully appreciate this book for what it is.

I think this book has made me want to pick up some more crime fiction in the future.

(Goodreads parallel)