4 out of 4 stars
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The 11:05 Murders by Brian O’Hare surprised me. It is definitely a creative whodunit. As someone who frequently predicts the endings of books, it is a huge compliment to say this one had me guessing until the last few pages. I was drawn in, suspecting new people every chapter, and eventually read more than half of the book in one day. I would highly recommend it.
Brian O’Hare chose for the book to take place in Ireland because that is where he is from. The 11:05 Murders follows a female detective named Denise Stewart, as well as several other officers in the Serious Crimes Room. She was transferred to Serious Crimes because she discovered and reported a corrupt superior and faced severe sexism at her previous station. As she settles into her new department, a man is found violently murdered in his own home with his watch stopped at 11:05. They rush to find the killer, in hopes of stopping him or her from killing more. The hunt for the identity of the killer becomes a tapestry of many seemingly unrelated pieces of evidence coming together to create a sensible picture. Brian O’Hare masterfully uses suspense, only revealing this completed picture in the last couple of pages.
My favorite thing about this book was that it confused me. Constantly, the author leads the reader to believe they have solved it, only to introduce a new piece of evidence that throws their previous theory out the window. I loved that there was so much unpredictability. It had just enough mystery to throw off the reader, yet still enough evidence to create a sound conclusion. The book was also very well written, including good detail and structure. O’Hare has crafted quite the page turner.
I had very few issues with the book. One thing that was a little difficult was when I forgot that the author was not American. Lots of words are spelled differently in Ireland and other English-speaking parts of Europe, therefore when I came upon words like “recognise,” I believed them to be typos. After doing this once or twice, I realized it was just the European spelling. Another thing that could be confusing was the amount of characters in the book. I took notes when a new character was introduced so that I would not forget who they were, but if I had not done this, I may have gotten confused by the sheer amount of characters. There are a lot.
I cannot complain. The 11:05 Murders earned 4 out of 4 stars. It was unpredictable and fun, while still remaining sensible and realistic. I was fascinated by it. It was well written and well thought out. The issue with spelling was not a matter of how good or bad the book was, but rather a warning to those planning to read it. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes a good mystery and maybe has a day or two free to read it all the way through. It was definitely difficult to put down.
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The 11.05 Murders
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