Review by aPaige01 -- The 11.05 Murders by Brian O'Hare

[aPaige01]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The 11.05 Murders" by Brian O'Hare.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Brian O’Hare’s novel The 11.05 Murders is a gut-wrenching attention grabber from the beginning. The novel begins with a crime that seems completely unrelated to the rest of the story which focuses on Denise Stewart, a police sergeant.

Sergeant Stewart, a bullied female officer, gets transferred after bringing her sexist boss to justice for sex crimes. Her rough, protective exterior is slowly melted away as she finds a new home working under Chief Sheehan. A whirl-wind of a case leads Denise down crazy paths chasing facts to piece together a plausible theory for the brutal murder of a banker. The case, paired with the tensions of a possible love triangle, leave Denise completely buried in her work. Until another plot twist: she has a stalker. Join the Police Service of Northern Ireland as they struggle to piece together a puzzle with way too many pieces while protecting one of their own.

Brian O’Hare made a bold choice in his writing style that paid off ten-fold. The third person limited perspective allows an interesting amount of insight that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. The change in characters’ perspectives is executed expertly; the author successfully wrote in this style allowing the audience to feel everything the characters were feeling. When the characters were scared, I was terrified. O’Hare masterfully crafted a story that harbors both the psychologically thrilling aspects of a crime-solving novel and the heart-warming aspects of a budding romance within a workplace.

The blossoming relationship between Denise Stewart and Tom Allen had me biting my fingernails in impatience and angst. Also in the picture however, Robert Turner posed a decent threat; I found myself jumping between the two men, rooting for the separate romances to reign victorious. The light romantic aspect of this novel offered necessary relief to the upbeat, nerve-wracking severity of the police investigative work.

This book is equally suited to all adults, but it should be noted that the presence of profanity, while not excessive, is explicit. People who are uncomfortable reading about molestation, rape, and domestic violence should be wary of reading this book. That being said, O’Hare does a great job of capturing a realistic workplace and focuses more on the investigation of the crime rather than detailing grotesque images.

My favorite aspect of this novel was the stream of consciousness technique that O’Hare incorporated. The flow of thoughts of both Stewart and Sheehan made me feel like I was experiencing the crime-solving process with them. It has been a long time since I have felt so fully immersed and invested in a novel. I was so hooked that I was dreading running out of pages because I wanted the story to continue! One aspect I did not like about this novel was the lack of complete closure. After being wound up and anxious throughout the course of the novel, I was hurt that I was not given more story in order to feed my obsession over the characters. That being said, however, I do like that O’Hare left some to the imagination, and my lack of imagination makes this my only complaint.

The 11.05 Murders immediately pulled me in, giving me a false sense of dramatic irony before throwing me in amongst the confused detectives. Trying to stay one step ahead in this story is near impossible, but I had a fantastic time trying! Another aspect of this novel that I absolutely loved was the Irish lingo. Being an American, some of the words and phrases used in this text were new to me; it made the reading experience so much more fun. I would grant Brian O’Hare’s The 11.05 Murders a rating of 4 out of 4 due to the fascinating story line, wonderfully intelligent plot twists, and infallible characters. This novel was very well edited; I only caught one potential grammatical error, but the novel was otherwise immaculate. I would recommend this story to anyone who loves mysteries, psychological thrillers, puzzles, and romances. A rollercoaster of a read, this story is sure to keep you up all night!

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The 11.05 Murders
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