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The Cradle In The Grave (2011)

by Sophie Hannah(Favorite Author)

3.32 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

014311994X (ISBN13: 9780143119944)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

Penguin Books

series

Spilling CID

review 1: Lots and lots of different people narrating this story... a little confusing at times if you've forgotten where you left off. This story was pretty slow going in the beginning, but in the last 150 pages or so, picked up steam as the multiple stories lines started to converge into the main story line. All in all, a good read and I'm glad I stuck it out. Thought provoking, with a cynical edge.The background of the story is mom's killing their kids - how do you prove it and at what to what length and cost are you willing to prove or disprove it. Can mom's really kill their kids? Why would they do so? What are their motivations? Is the medicine/science right? How much is the science unbiased and /or is some of it subjective and affected by probability? How much of the truth is... more simply what people want to believe is the truth? Is the truth really simple?
review 2: I've been reading these in quick succession and have found myself just as frustrated at the end. These story lines are just too complex. Instead of a deep storyline with a clear culprit and motive where all the pieces fit together (and where you are assuming the storyline is headed since the first 80% of the book is rather good) we end up with a convoluted plot with tons of unrelated facts to keep track of. I just find myself wondering why the author feels the need to have ALL of her characters have to be related in some way? Here is a rather befitting example of this from the book: minor character Carl Chappell was a witness from an older case who was bribed NOT to testify against someone then he was bribed AGAIN by another character to be his alibi for something unrelated but then someone ELSE was also bribed NOT to beat HIM up for not testifying. Confused? Yeah, me too. I just don't understand why the author includes such an abundance of plot distractors. They don't help the storyline along at all. Her books are such that you would never be able to summarize the book to someone else. Never. It would be all, "There's this one guy...but you don't find out about him until the very end...he had someone else...but she was actually lying the entire time...then they paid off these two other people...and the boy that liked the horse races saw the other guy...but it was actually..."I especially found the entire Ray Hines scenario to be implausible. Her whole explanation for her 9 day disappearance was just completely unbelievable. She just made up this complex web of deceit because she wanted to make a sales pitch but didn't want the scorn of her husband and mil? And she stayed those extra unnecessary days in the hotel?? And then, during her trial, intentionally made up lies and inconsistencies so her husband (by now knowing she lied and knowing why) would be thrown even further off track because she was afraid of him?! Good grief. less

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