The Naturalist

Yet another terrible book published by Amazon then sold by Amazon.The writing is horrible.Lots of 1-sentence paragrapshs.Like this.And like this.2-page chapters.That’s 2 pages on kindle.I guess the 1-sentence paragraphs were to make the chapters long enough to be 2 pages long.Otherwise they’d be about ½ page long.Except for chapter 72.It’s only one paragraph.A short one.Bad bad writing.Bad editing.Ridiculous story.First chapter where Kelsie gets killed very scary.Then book drops off into some nerdy professor who gets questioned and released.Who can apparently use a computer but can’t speak in compound sentences.His student from years ago got killed.Not Kelsie.Forget Kelsie.The author does.Throw in typos.Toss in serious spelling mistakes.Throw out editor.Professor transforms into some sort of superhero.Finds loads of bodies.Throws around biological terms like candy at Halloween.Throws in some DNA stuff too.nuDNA, mtDNA, and this sequence right out of the bookacaagatgcc attgtccccc ggcctcctgc tgctgctgct ctccggggcc acggccaccgThat’s a quote right out of book.That’s when I realized that Amazon will publish and sell anything to get money.This book is crap, written like crap, edited like crap.The author’s a magician.His best magic trick is calling this a novel.

The first few chapters are intense and draw you in, then the author gradually loses control. Our hero is a hapless, nutty professor who no one believes. Then the plot holes start to pile up. At first I didn't mind but by the end I was ready to throw my book against the wall.The last chapters are absurd. Our nutty professor has been in a serious auto accident, has been shot multiple times and the villain has just dragged his girlfriend out of the wrecked ambulance by her ankle. He is dressed in body armor, is carrying multiple weapons and has just taken out the police force and FBI agents. No problem. Find an extra bag of artificial blood, give yourself a transfusion, fill the bag with amphetamines to give you super powers and now you are ready to go. Don't forget to tape the bag to your body. Now you will be able to stop the arch villian with just a hypodermic needle! YEA! Don't forget to throw in a few gratuitous uses of the f-word. "You F***er!" right after being stabbed. If these are the type of plot twists you enjoy, this book is for you. All other intelligent lovers of good literature STAY AWAY. You are warned.

Initially, this story hooked me. I was fascinated by Theo's character. He is brilliant, socially awkward, complex, and persistent. He willingly admits that he doesn't really understand people and their behavior, being far more comfortable with his science and computers. And yet he finds himself in the precarious position of having to interact with people and predict behavior.I loved the unique investigative approach, using different types of science and computer models to track and predict patterns. I don't know if all the forensic information is factual, but it does all have a realistic feel.By the midway point, the story lost a lot of its appeal for me. Theo, who is not the bravest of men, and certainly not an outgoing adventurist, becomes too much of a superhero. His investigative abilities fall into place too easily, and his heroics seem a stretch at best. I still enjoyed his character, but found myself questioning the plausibility of the story.The cops involved go the unfortunate route of all being incompetent jackasses. Theo is threatened but otherwise allowed to insert himself into investigations, leaving a breadcrumb trail for the bumbling cops.I never got a clear feel for the killer, beyond the fact that he was godlike in his ability to murder anonymously, over decades, until Theo comes along.The ending is overblown. I don't want to give spoilers, so I can't really clarify this statement. The culmination of events was just too much to believe.And so, for me, the intrigue of Theo's character was the only thing that kept me reading.

All too often I find myself reading crime novels and thrillers and becoming annoyed at the terrible science and typical hero with the usual issues (previous cases, alcohol etc), that are meant to make them more relatable and interesting. The main character of of this book isn’t immediately relatable since he’s a genius scientist with mild autism who annoys a lot of people (including the reader occasionally), but one of the things I like most about this book is despite being a genius he doesn’t have all the answers. He specialises in computational biology creating ecological models - and freely admits that most scientists are experts in their fields but know little outside them. So refreshing not to have a CSI like scientist! I know some people have called the science of this book pseudo-science but as a person with a background in forensics who now works in medicine, I actually found this to be one of the most accurate crime novels in regards to the science - I was genuinely surprised when I read that the author was a magician and not a scientist at the end!From the writing point of view the book is generally well paced and has a great storyline which kept me reading. His application of science and police procedure was a really interesting way to develop the storyline. It’s not perfect and there were a few moments when I had to suspend my disbelief, particularly at the end, but it’s a novel at the end of the day.All in all a great read - I’ll be reading the next in the series.

I was disappointed with the way this book developed. It started very well with a novel idea that drew science and logic into a detective story in an entirely new way. I was enjoying the writing style and the main character. Unfortunately, the author then switched to "thriller mode" and followed the tired, well worn, track of serial killer hunts hunter - just like every other novel and TV series - despite the fact that this never happens in real life. The plot also got rather silly with magic computer software and a death toll to rival a small war.Sad, I thought there was real potential here but it was squandered. The main protagonist teamed up with one or more of the lesser characters could have provided long term entertainment for many future books.

Yep - okay Mr Mayne - thoroughly enjoyed this story - no surprise there. The principal and new character is a strong combination of vulnerable science genius/geek, socially inept and (reluctantly) tenacious investigator who is in the wrong place at the wrong time illustrated brilliantly in the opening few pages. A compulsive puzzle solver who wouldn’t leave a burning building if he hadn’t put the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle in the right place. The science narrative - I strong suspect the author has thoroughly researched this - adds to the logic of the investigation and the underlying theme that the more his scientific approach reveals the more he seems to incriminate himself in a serial killing is well written - it feels like an evolving nightmare of being the only sane person in the asylum - where your deductive methods are so beyond the understanding of local law enforcement you constantly implicate yourself by your knowledge and find yourself driven to do the right thing even if it is self destructive and walking away and forgetting all about it makes more sense. The location of economically struggling small towns set within vast forests is well chosen and creates a sinister backdrop for the story which is completely believable. I have read nearly all of this author’s books and without fail have found them strong stories and getting better with each new book and I’ll certainly read the sequel. Whilst I enjoyed the new character I didn’t find him quite as developed or ‘rich’ as Jessica Blackwood (whose stories remain my favourites- and selfishly please Mr Mayne don’t neglect Jessica after the tension you left readers with at the end of her last book) - but I guess it is only book one of this series. If I have a (very) minor criticism all the author’s stories end quite abruptly - I get that - the story is over, the situation is satisfyingly resolved - don’t pad it out - but it left me feeling like a ‘business meeting’ just ended rather than a ‘rich goodbye’ to characters I have spent a couple of days walking alongside.

First person, present tense writing doesn’t always come off, perhaps because of the difficulty of conveying how others see the narrator. In this novel, it works so well that you quickly lose awareness of the style and get wrapped up in the sense of the story.The central character is Theo, a scientist who gets supremely focussed on detail, but can be oblivious to the broader strokes that are obvious to others. You see this in the opening scenes, where Theo observes police breaking in to a motel room (his) without making the connection that they are seeking him as a potentially violent suspect. He is arrested and interrogated, and though afraid, he is still observing and analysing the techniques that are being used to induce him to be calm and cooperative even as he comes to understand that the crime they suspect him of is murder.For reasons that become evident as you read (no spoilers here) Theo is drawn in to investigating the details of the attack and keeps getting into conflict with the police. There are enough snippets of science to intrigue and interest, without overwhelming, the reader, and to make sense of Theo’s deductions and actions.The build to the climax is terrific.I will be looking for more by this author.Thoroughly recommended

I thought that this was a really interesting and engrossing book, which I read in one sitting. Pacing was slowish, which will annoy some people, but I found that it worked as an accompaniment to Theo's thought processes. The ending was weak and felt rushed. The police characters were a little one dimensional, but that didn't on the whole detract from the story, although there was a Keystone Kop element I didn't really like. So, I deducted a star for those failings but ended up liking it anyway because I thought it was a novel approach and I liked the idea of using sytemic mapping to identify a serial killer that had gone unnoticed for decades. There's also the element of enjoying the inspired amateur who doesn't give up no matter how many times he's knocked back.