The other day I went to Netgalley because I go there and click on books I want to read thinking that I will never be approved for them, and then I get approved, which is why I have an enormous backlog of books to review from Netgalley. Pretty much, Netgalley is my book addiction enabler.
And there, right on the front page, is a picture of Denise Mina, and, due to my aforementioned book addiction, I know what Denise Mina looks like so I’m like Oh my goodness, Netgalley must have a new Denise Mina book for me to read and I click on Ms Mina’s face and the little flag on the request-book-sub-website that tells you what countries they are approving readers for is a Union Jack and I’m like Whatever. That used to be Canada’s flag and I lived in the UK for two years thirty years ago and I don’t care, just give me the new Denise Mina book!. And then they do and I’m so happy and then I actually read what Netgalley is offering and it isn’t the new Denise Mina book: It’s only a chapter from the new Denise Mina book.
Whaw-whaw sad trombone sound.
Still, partial Denise Mina is better than no Denise Mina. Although I’ll likely read all of The Long Drop when it comes out, irrespective of what I think of the first chapter, because the first chapter of mystery novels are always disjointed and disorienting because they want to pique your interest and make you want to read the next chapter, then the next, then the next, etc. There’s a bit too much detailing of physical traits for my taste in the first chapter (what he wore, what colour the walls were, etc.), but it’s a mystery novel. Excessive description may come in handy later for solving the mystery. Still, I wish that an editor would have stripped a lot of it away.
So the first chapter was all right. Could have been awful; I’d read the final book anyway, although waiting until 2017 to do so seems like a big tease.
In any case, maybe Denise Mina will be my friend and then send me all of The Long Drop before the release date for me to read.
Yay Denise Mina!
The Long Drop goes on sale sometime in 2017. It probably says on the Netgalley page a more specific date, but I was too blinded by Denise Mina possibilities to read the page properly.
I received the first chapter free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.