Review by KellyS_888 -- The Dark Web Murders

KellyS_888 · Post by **KellyS_888** » 04 Oct 2019, 09:52

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Dark Web Murders" by Brian O'Hare.]

2 out of 4 stars

Share This Review

The Dark Web Murders by Brian O'Hare begins with Kevin Lane getting hit with the cliche prison rape scene on his very first night as an inmate, an attempt that does not go as planned and results in Kevin's death. Then we join Judge Neeson, who is hosting a party for the members of his terrible club of perverse rich people who pay Neeson to arrange the fulfillment of their most depraved fantasies. This involves "pedophilia, murder, human trafficking, kidnapping and imprisonment, underage sex and all sorts of physical abuse(232)."

The morning after the party, Neeson is found dead. Detective Sheehan and his team are on the case, but there are so many suspects and so little clues that the killer remains at large. He continues the systematic murders of his targets, and describes the slayings in detail on his blog on the Dark Web under the pen name Nemein. He tells his increasingly large following that he is seeking justice for someone he loved.

So who is Nemein? Is he a member of the Club? Is he one of the MANY criminals who threatened Judge Neeson due to his harsh sentencing? Where does Kevin fit into all of this?

In order to review this mystery in a methodical and spoiler-free fashion, let's refer to our Handy Checklist for Elements of Enjoyable Stories About Serial Killing.

Handy Checklist #187: Enjoyable Stories About Serial Killing

1) Lots of suspects...check
There are enough suspects in this case to fill a school bus. Neeson had life-destroying dirt on every member of his dirty club. Between that and all of the ex-cons who have threatened Neeson, Sheehan and his team don't know where to start. On top of that, the police know who attended Neeson's party the night of his murder, so the Club members know they will be questioned. Obviously, they don't want the cops to discover their unspeakable activities, so they all agree on a story (they were meeting to discuss Brexit) and they stick to it. The fact that everyone's lying makes it impossible to uncover the truth.

2) Multiple intense murder scenes...half a check?
Multiple murders, yes. Intense murder scenes, no.

Imagine a slasher film in which all of the murders happen off-screen and we only hear them described within a blog written by the killer, who thinks he's a Victorian-era philosopher. In every blog entry, we have to skim over a bunch of pretentious theorizing before we get to the details of the murders. Just look at one sentence from Nemein's blog: "In the diligent and earnest pursuit of purpose, one precipitates life's eventualities to coalesce in a way that is both beneficial and benign, impacting propitiously on that broiling unrest which is the customary lot of the human spirit (249)." Brutal, right? Even Sheehan's team members can't finish reading the entries, despite the fact that they include detailed descriptions of every murder they are investigating! If they don't have to read it, we shouldn't either!

Not only do the readers not get to witness a single murder, the victim's deaths have no impact on us because, except for one mysterious chapter about Neeson, we aren't introduced to a single other victim.

3) Likeable, relatable characters...no check
People don't root for the good guy just because he's the good guy. They root for him because they like him and, therefore, want him to succeed. But we aren't given much reason to like Sheehan. I even like the killer better than Sheehan. The detective never does anything amusing, and his only non-work-related scene involves his wife giving him soup and telling him an irrelevant story about a student in her class coming out as transgender. I guess the author included this scene to show Sheehan DOES have a life outside of work, but it does nothing to show that Sheehan is more likeable or interesting than we assumed.

What's worse, Sheehan is pretty heartless for a supposed hero. Every time someone expresses sympathy for the dog that Nemein poisoned with strychnine, Sheehan keeps feeling the need to say that it's the human victim he's worried about (p80,81&105). Just let them be sad about the dog, Sheehan! Later, he does arrange help and food for a shut-in invalid, but by that point, I already hated him. It was too late to change my ways.

The rest of his staff isn't much better, except for Sheehan's partner, Denise Stewart. Now, if Stewart was the main character, I'd have checked off this element. I like Stewart, who consistently proves herself to be the most clever and useful detective, and the one with the biggest heart and a delightful instinct to shame sexist men.

4) Suspenseful writing...no check
See #2. If we had known the victims, we could have experienced a sense of loss when they died. If we could have read the events leading up to the murders through the victim's POV, we could have experienced their fear. Instead, all we get are details in a very tedious blog, forensic analysis and...meetings. Lots of meetings. There are six chapters in which the detectives just sit around talking about the case, and only two of them contain something more than a bunch of speculating and planning.

5) Accurate writing...half a check
The author is clearly knowledgeable about the inner workings of SOCO and the UK legal system. It's obvious O'Hare thoroughly researched these subjects in order to provide detailed, accurate accounts of every step of the process.

There were a few general writing mistakes that the editor missed, however, the most glaring of which is in Chapter 18. Miller tells Judge Adams that the night of Neeson's party/murder was twelve days ago (p151). However, each chapter begins with the date, making it easy to figure out that it was actually five days ago.

6) Killer must have a shocking identity and plausible murder...check
But I can't really talk about that. Spoilers. Suffice to say that if you read the whole book, you will begin to be rewarded for your patience towards the end, where the story suddenly comes to life.

Before I continue with my final verdict, I'd like to advise that this book contains some mild profanity and that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who would be sensitive to descriptions of any of the crimes listed in the first paragraph. I've seen tons of slasher flicks, but this gets really disturbing towards the end.

All together I rate this book 2 stars out of 4. 3/6 checks=2/4 stars. I wish I could give O'Hare the credit he deserves by telling you why I like the ending so much. Since I can't, I'll sign off with the central theme of the story, which is that power has a tendency to unleash a person's hidden evil, a lesson that never becomes any less relevant with the passage of time. "The majority of The Club's members are pillars of society...Power corrupts, and those who gain access to the controls of society's different strata seem to lose touch with the ancient virtues that gave our culture has its value and worth (306)."

******
The Dark Web Murders
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon