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Not My Blood (2012)

by Barbara Cleverly(Favorite Author)

3.69 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1616951540 (ISBN13: 9781616951542)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Soho Crime

series

Joe Sandilands

review 1: I always like Cleverly's mysteries (love her name too, for that matter). This one takes place 12 or 13 years after the last one I read (which was the one written immediately before this one also - interesting). It tackles a tricky and horrifying topic - the "popularity" of the notion of eugenics - selective breeding of humans, selective sterilization of those deemed not "good enough" to allow to reproduce, and selective "culling of the herd" - the elimination of some who were mentally ill, incorrigible, etc. I was especially impressed at how she handled this awful topic without resorting to the stomach-churning details that are included in some American thrillers. The only disappointment was in the jump from when they figure out who the mastermind is (without revealing ... morehis name) to 2 months later, when that person no longer has influence. But, then, that probably would have made the book half again as long.
review 2: Although the plot got a little strange (sorry, no spoilers!), this well-written book gave the lead character, now assistant commissioner of Scotland Yard Joe Sandilands, more emotional depth than the last several books. A phone call from an unknown nine-year-old boy asking for help takes Sandilands out on a snowy night, and involves him in the sinister doings at St. Magnus School. More than that, Joe realizes that there's a chance that the boy is his biological son. Over the years, boys have been disappearing from St. Magnus. What can they have in common? And who has been around long enough--more than twenty years--to be responsible? less

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