4 out of 4 stars
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The Dark Web Murders by Brian O'Hare is the latest example of how skilled O'Hare is at writing compelling whodunit novels. I am always impressed by his ability to weave such interesting storylines together and leave hints along the way that connect them. The premise of this story revolves around murders connected to someone on the "Dark Web". The murderer starts a blog to document their crimes and discuss the theology behind murder in the name of justice.
Detective Chief Inspector Sheehan leads his team through the cases as thoroughly as possible. He works to keep his focus on the facts rather than speculation to avoid getting distracted by a false lead. It's usually a method that works well for him, but gets to be more difficult with this case. There are so many suspects that the team isn't sure which direction to go. All the different people and potential conflicts at play keep this story extremely entertaining. I found myself very eager to read more and try deciphering the behavior of each individual.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. O'Hare does a beautiful job at paying attention to small details that give the story much more credibility. One of my favorite things about his novels is Detective Chief Inspector Sheehan's quiet yet infallible discernment. He doesn't boast about his intelligence, and yet he is able to think about crimes in a unique way that brings him to the correct conclusion. I love seeing his thought process laid out when the criminal is revealed at the end. Whodunit novels are one of my favorite types of stories, so I try to approach them with an out-of-the-box mindset the way Sheehan does, but he does a better job fleshing out the important details.
The only criticism I have for this book is that I was able to guess the killer pretty early on. To O'Hare's credit, I did second guess myself a bit. However, I couldn't get past the nagging feeling that I was right about who committed the crimes, and sure enough I was. Usually I am just as clueless as everyone else in the story for these types of novels. So, I am inclined to say that the hints could be scaled back some or made more complicated. Even with being able to guess the killer, I did still greatly enjoy reading on to find out more details and if my guess was correct.
I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. The editing felt very professional. I did find 3 small errors, but nothing too alarming. With that in mind, as well as the highly entertaining story, I have decided it deserves all 4 stars. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good whodunit crime novel. I really like the way O'Hare tells stories, and The Dark Web Murders did not disappoint.
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The Dark Web Murders
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