Amazon.it:Recensioni clienti: The Girl in the Ice: A gripping serial killer thriller (Detective Erika Foster Book 1) (English Edition)

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Gripping and accurate but the police is unbelievably dumb

Recensito in Italia 🇮🇹 il 3 ottobre 2016

Gripping detective story of the serial killer type. Characters are accurately portrayed and the plot is well paced and unpredictable. The downs are the police dumbly overlooks the basics of fiction investigation, and some questions about the murder circumstances are left unanswered. As to the language, it's simple enough for the non English mother tongue reader. It is also measured for the usually too wordy English writers. Definitely a best buy for ,99 euros, can be well worth up to 5 or 6 euros. Recommended

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mizo

Not bad, with some reservations

Recensito in Italia 🇮🇹 il 10 agosto 2016

Not bad, although sometimes I found it too much linear, especially in the first half (which is essentially a very classic police story, with the problematic cop who believes herself out of the society - suggesting that for this she is more interesting than other people - and continuous 'cop vs boss' and 'wandering in taverns' scenes).
It contains a little too many clichès for my taste (for example the sentence with which the murderer explain why it/she/he has committed all its/his/her actions).
Some step a little bit contrived to make move on to the story.
Anyway, the last part is really addictive and enjoyable.

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termal70

Lento lento... lento

Recensito in Italia 🇮🇹 il 13 febbraio 2017

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Devo confessare che ho acquistato questo libro in inglese nella versione Kindle soprattutto per fare un po' di esercizio con la lingua.
I thriller mi piacciono molto come genere e così il gioco era fatto.
In pratica fino al 75% il libro è stato noioso e si è trascinato lentamente. Successivamente ha iniziato a prendermi di più. Ma solamente alla fine è successo qualcosa di avvincente.
Il personaggio principale dell'investigatrice è a mio avviso poco credibile. Tanto ribelle alle regole e troppo inopportuna. Più di una volta riesce ad avere il cellulare completamente scarico a farsi sopraffare dallo stesso personaggio senza poter chiedere aiuto. Non insegnano agli investigatori, che usano il telefono per lavoro, a portarsi un power bank in tasca e qualche tecnica di autodifesa?

2 persone l'hanno trovato utile

Utile

Cliente Amazon

Recensito in Italia 🇮🇹 il 15 agosto 2017

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benissimo tutto perfetto. la spedizione é arrivata in tempo e ha corrisposto le aspettative. esperienza da ripetere. siamo clienti affezionati. il libro é di scarso interesse

Utile

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THE PROFESSOR

Promising Start That Devolves into Unoriginal Police Procedural 1.0

Recensito negli Stati Uniti 🇺🇸 il 22 giugno 2016

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I haven't read the other works by this author, but this is apparently a genre switch, with opening of this thriller being quite good. That's the sequence where we meet the girl the title tells us is headed for an icy end, intoxicated and vulnerable as she stumbles through a sketchy neighborhood on a winter night where more than the weather is turning nasty. The descriptions are vivid enough to induce some shivers for readers following the young lady lurching toward death, and the daylight discovery of the body in eerie circumstances delivers more. Yet the promise of that introduction goes largely unfulfilled, as the book quickly devolves from a story well told to a generic conglomeration of characters and events printed up as if from a basic police procedural template 1.0. The leading detective arrives in a new position as a widow trying to recover from policeman hubby's on-duty death, practically with a sign blinking "Tragic Past" over her head, but her fellow detectives need the newspapers to give them the scoop. That occurs when her first-case-back, high-profile investigation quickly goes sour, thanks to her maverick, f-the-politics attitude that bucks against the lords and ladies in the peerage and the Met set of command officers, portrayed as sycophants all too eager to carry "establishment" water. Before long, we discover there hasn't just been a murder, but a whole string of them, committed by "the figure," a gender-free moniker used to preserve the not-so-surprise identity of the killer before the big reveal scene. Mind, choosing that term literally makes the murderer a shadowy figure, and that cardboard cutout of a character promptly latches on to the tragic detective as his next obsession/chess-match adversary, which we know because the author has "the figure" following her around London with running commentary in its head. That's at least a switch from Ms. Detective's own thoughts, including how she identifies with these murdered young girls because she was a Slovakian au pair lucky she only had to handle the vaguely "bad atmosphere" of domestic employment instead of being sex-trafficked. Now, the tale of how a teenage, immigrant au pair managed a climb up the Met detective's ladder would have been an interesting story, but we don't get to hear that tale. Instead, we get the standard scenes of conflict with superiors, up to and including her suspension under official investigation when her heroic insistence that "we're here for the victims" leads to breaking the boss's rules. So, of course, he has to come grovel he needs her back when the case is fouled up, and she makes a triumphant return to a squad that is now happy to handle her CCTV requests and spend the rest of the book doing cheerleader routines and backup-dancer performances in her top-cop spotlight showcase. Meanwhile, the predictable case is plodding along to the obvious conclusion no misdirect could hide past about chapter 5, with the appearance of shocking porn photos, explanations of how consensual anal intercourse is distinguishable in corpses from the forced variety, and a bunch of caterwauling over dead cats (the furry animal kind, not just the cathouse ho's being knocked off) taking the place of actual plot twists. That doesn't make the overall book terribly bad, but it's not terribly good, either. Given the glut of works in thriller/mystery/police procedural genres, delivering something truly fresh is a holy grail kind of aim, but for this genre switch to work, the author needs to transfer the original voice that was on display in the first few chapters but collapsed into stereotypes and cliches after that.

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Ed E. Morawski

Not bloody likely

Recensito negli Stati Uniti 🇺🇸 il 4 giugno 2016

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I've been to England several times and loved it, so it didn't take much to entice me to read this. I must admit to having a soft spot for the Brits. They are so quaint. There's a passage where three cops leave their squad car and take a subway to a victim notification! No American cop would ever do that, we'd be too afraid to show weakness!

The story involves a brutally murdered socialite and is actually pretty mundane. There's really nothing new here. The characters are okay, but we've met them all before. The actual crime is horrific, but we've read a lot worse many times over (ever watch an episode of 'Hannibal'). It's an okay book that held my interest - except for one huge, glaring problem: Erika Foster.

Apparently the author is building a series based on the main character Erika and I would say 'Please don't!' This woman is as irritating as nails on a chalkboard. She has too much baggage. She has a temper. She can't keep her mouth shut no matter what, continually irritating everyone around her. She does a lot of stupid things (besides mouthing off to her victim's parents, her boss, and her colleagues) - like going to dangerous pubs alone in the middle of the night while not getting any sleep. She previously stupidly led her team into an ambush, getting her husband killed in the process. This cop would have been removed from the force in a minute after what she pulls. Even the murderer thinks she's stupid. I am all in favor of strong female leads and every one of my books and my favorite books has one - so why does this one have to be irritating and dumb?

Besides Erika, the book is awash with technical errors. When is the last time you heard a camera flash whine? That went out with the advent of digital cameras. The killer slips an envelope into Erika's jacket and she doesn't discover it for a week? She never puts her hands in her pocket for a week? Right. And then there is the killer. The author vainly tries to hide the killer's identity ('the figure did this or the figure did that), but as in any book or film there are only a limited pool of suspects no matter how many characters are introduced and it soon becomes obvious who the killer is, and when said is revealed this person seems physically incapable of performing the murders. A good thriller would just expose the murderer at the outset and thumb its nose at the police as he wrecks havoc - that would have been immensely more enjoyable. Or just make Erika a clever detective who gets to the bottom of things with her intellect instead of her mouth.

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Buzy_reading

The cover is enticing as well as the premise yet once inside I felt let down with police politics.

Recensito negli Stati Uniti 🇺🇸 il 1 settembre 2016

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The story was overly descriptive delaying the storylines progression which also halted the suspense.The story was a murder mystery yet the time spent on the detective squabbling over the new detective was wasted storyline. I had hoped to read a suspenseful story not get hung up on politics between police forces. The story focused on the police politics, public relations, and influential clients. I kept waiting for the gripping storyline to unfold. The story revolved around Erica as a detective looking for answers in the murder of Andrea. Erica was temporarily back to work after losing Mark her husband and partner. This was supposed to be part of the appeal to the story yet it created unnecessary drama.

Erica was a detective known as DCI Foster. She had vast experience working on sensitive murder cases but when she joined with London's police team Sparks sat back in his chair and regarded Erika with distaste. This was my first read by this author and first read in this series so I'm not sure where else Erica was a detective and if the protocol for police politics was different in prior books. But the constant reminder that she was causing an uproar in the department lost its appeal of the storyline.
Twenty-three year old Andrea Douglas-Brown was reported missing. Andrea was a young girl linked to a very powerful and influential family. While this is what began the story and led Erica on her task of detective work I felt the story got off track and the focus became about Erica and her return to work in London.

The story was written about London police politics and included British dialect. It was hard to figure out the meaning of certain words used. I'm not familiar with Britain and its class system. So this was a setback for me. Also London society is something I'm not familiar with. For the first time I felt at a disadvantage living in the US being unfamiliar with the workings of London law.
The story's told in the third person causing a bit of a disconnect with the main character.

This was supposed to be a suspenseful murder mystery yet it became about the politics of influential people in London who throw their power around.
The book premise and description depicted a thrilling murder mystery yet upon reading I felt let down. All the excitement was left in the premise. The story was predictable at times. I was not surprised by the outcome of the reveal.

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Frustrating

Recensito nel Regno Unito 🇬🇧 il 15 maggio 2016

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This must be one of the most frustrating books I've ever read.

There's a pretty decent plot here in the hunt for a serial killer, but it's one of the most irritating books I've ever read, largely because it was poorly researched (if it was researched at all). Every few pages, I had to stop because I was so annoyed by some obvious error. This started on the very first page, with a mention of an elm tree. Dutch elm disease has resulted in the disappearance of all mature elms from the UK except in the Brighton and Hove area, so the setting must be there, right? Wrong: a couple of pages later, we learn that it's in south London.

Then there's the mention of an SWT employee manning Brockley sation. But Brockely is managed by London Overground, and served by London Overground and Southern.

Micheldever is apparently reached from London Bridge... except that it's actually served by trains from Waterloo.

The author doesn't seem to know that British police officers carry warrant cards, and not badges. And he seems to think that one being suspended might also have a firearm to hand in.

How would police officers, a hundred miles from their base, know that they have no record of a trial when they've only just learned the true name of the accused?

I could go on with a long list of similar errors, but the biggest annoyance is the behaviour of the senior police officers described in the book. It beggars belief that officers who behave as capriciously as those described would ever reach the ranks that these people are supposed to have. They aren't fit for their roles. And would a DCI who's relieved of SIO responsibility for an investigation be left in place on that investigation but reporting to another of the same rank? And why would the incoming DCI deliberately antagonise the one now reporting to her, someone she's never even met before? Would a DCI in charge of an investigation really take both DIs on the team out on an all-day trip to see a witness, leaving no senior officer to run operations (the second DCI having now been removed completely)? I can't suspend my disbelief.

Oh, and there are several instances of proof-reading failures (e.g, "diffuse" instead of "defuse", "flack" instead of "flak").

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Joe Smart

Decent story but dull characters

Recensito negli Stati Uniti 🇺🇸 il 7 settembre 2016

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Mixed bag crime novel about a damaged female detective who is brought back on the force to investigate the murder of a prominent and rich politician's daughter after her body is found in ice in the boat pond off a public museum. The book never comes up with a credible explanation for why a disgraced and suspended police detective would be brought back to head up such a high profile case.

Robert Bryndza is much better at constructing an involving story than creating compelling characters or bristling dialogue. I really didn't like or care about his protagonist, Erika Foster. The rest of the characters fade into the background and the villain, while potentially interesting, is thoroughly undeveloped, at least partly because his identity is hidden until the book is nearly over, making it impossible to do much with the character psychologically without giving away who the killer actually is.

After a while I found myself racing through The Girl in the Ice because I didn't particularly like the characters or dialogue but was just involved enough with the story that I wanted to see how it was going to play out. A more skilled writer could have made The Girl in the Ice into a great thriller but, unfortunately, it's merely OK. Erika Foster never comes alive as a character and is pretty much impossible to root for. She's one of those all job no personal life coppers that are a dime a dozen on TV and in books but there isn't anything extra to make her human and real or stand out from the pack.

The Girl in the Ice doesn't make me want to read anything else in the Erika Foster series, but the story is skillfully constructed enough that many people will likely be sufficiently satisfied. To be fair there are successful writers (Harlan Coben and Michael Connelly immediately come to mind) who are, in my opinion at least, much better storytellers than they are at handling characters and dialogue. But I eventually stopped reading those authors because I didn't really enjoy the writing and found myself racing through their books so I could get to the story and be done with the books quickly. I prefer books that I read slowly and savor and which I don't want to end. The Girl in the Ice is, unfortunately, not even close to being that kind of book.

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C A Stephens

Not gripping, unfortunately

Recensito nel Regno Unito 🇬🇧 il 13 luglio 2016

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If you haven't read many thrillers you might find this one entertaining, but for me there's just the feeling that we've been here so many times before and there is nothing fresh in terms of characters, plot, setting, humour, insider knowledge or insight. I felt there was little genuine excitement that wasn't very staged and due to unlikely stupidity. Other reviewers have commented on the author's lack of research - wrong use of the title 'Detective', iPhone data being easily downloaded (although recently in the news was the fact even the FBI can't do this as it's encrypted), wrong rail links named etc. My personal irritation was the whole idea that an officer returning from a breakdown after several deaths - including her own husband's, apparently partly due to her own gung-ho attitude - not only doesn't have a staged re-introduction to full-time work, but is immediately put in charge of a high-profile and sensitive murder enquiry. Very likely! Even after her demonstrations of total instability and insubordination she is allowed to carry on far too long. She may have been slightly right (she knew who the killer wasn't - though not who it was) but was a liability to her fellow-officers and herself. We all like characters who stand up to incompetent bosses and bullies and prove they were right all along, but in a lot of this story it was her who did the bullying, and she got an awful lot wrong.
I didn't like the style of the writing either. Too much description of small irrelevant detail but not enough real character - dialogue was wooden and lacked any of the black humour of the workplace. I felt the author knew little of policing or real police officers that hadn't come from TV. Then occasionally there would be a small outburst of explicit sex or swearing that just jarred with the rest (imagine Dixon of Dock Green suddenly shouting the C word and you have it). Erika is Slovakian, which could have given rise to some interesting cultural insights, but other than a very small incident of snobbery by a fellow Slovakian she could just as easily be from Southampton or Slough.

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Alex J

reading The Girl in the Ice felt like a waste of time

Recensito negli Stati Uniti 🇺🇸 il 14 settembre 2017

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I lost electricity due to Irma and spent my time reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collin and then The Girl in the Ice. After reading the Hunger Games, reading The Girl in the Ice felt like a waste of time. However, the beginning did generate enough interest for me to want to see what happened. Some of my favorite authors are Sidney Sheldon, Dan Brown, and Stieg Larsson and I am used to reading well written, intriguing, well-edited books. I felt The Girl in the Ice had some inconsistencies and needed a new editor.

I definitely read books where the protagonists are disliked, weird, or socially awkward like Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. Despite these characters being undesirable, the author weaves the tale in a way that I identify and love the character. That is not the case in The Girl in the Ice. Protagonist DCI Erica Foster annoyed me, I lacked sympathy for her...she is crass, arrogant, rude, and lacks tact. She is overly sarcastic and treats her new unit like they were familiar people she knew and felt comfortable stepping on. Not as a person who is new to a unit and trying to get a feel of the people while being assertive. It seems like she went out of her way to step on toes, put herself in danger, and she was clueless but lucky. The author wasted time providing details of surroundings that were unnecessary and useless (I started skimming and skipping frivolous dialogue after I read 50% of the book). Imagery is important in creating moods but too much focus on irrelevant details can drag the story on and ruin the pace.

I felt the story was too predictable and at times boring. The story lacked true character development, the characters came across as unrealistic, stereotypical, and one-dimensional. I gave two stars instead of one because the book did start off well and I know I may be more critical because I do and have watched many crime shows, as well as read true crimes book, and I worked in law enforcement. I know I have a higher expectation than someone who does not have my background.

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K1337

An okay first effort at a police procedural, but ...

Recensito negli Stati Uniti 🇺🇸 il 26 maggio 2016

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“The Girl in the Ice” by Robert Bryndza is an okay first effort as a police procedural mystery. The story held my interest since it was not straightforward, and I somewhat enjoyed reading it through to the end. There were a few times I was tempted to give up, but I wanted to see if I was able to spot the bad guy. (I was.)

Bryndza does a good job painting a verbal picture of London, it’s upper-class houses and lower class bars. The people in the story were not well developed, although Bryndza tried to describe the home life of several characters. The main character, Detective Erika Foster, had a very brief backstory describing some of her earlier experiences with crime and what motivated her as a police detective.

Realistic dialog is hard to write, and Bryndza doesn’t quite have his skill perfected yet. Through much of the book, I felt that police and suspects would not really talk that way.

What defines a good novel for me would the characters that act realistically, and not using standard tropes and cliches to advance the plot.

There were just too many cliches that you could see coming. We have the rebel police detective that’s always at odds with her superiors, who is frequently charging into dangerous situations without any backup or even letting anyone know where she is going. All she wants to do is catch the bad guys, but her superiors are too stubborn to follow her advice! We have the upper class twits that are only too eager to call their social friends in the government to have the police back off the investigation when it gets to close to them. And there is the “Bond villain” plot device of having the bad guy confesses to the good guys while he has a gun on them. Honestly.

If you do read through to the end, you won’t feel like you’ve totally wasted your time, but Bryndza needs to develop a better plot, characters and dialog. I know there’s lots of five star ratings for this book, but I just can’t agree.

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