Nine Lives: 'I loved this.' Ann Cleeves

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Nine Lives was fast paced, with short chapters, which I liked. It was an easy read, which kept me guessing!

P.S. I love idioms and hardly a review escapes me without using one. So just for fun, an alternate title with a nod to the chapter numerations and familiar sayings: Pacing kept up and there didn’t seem like too much downtime to drag. The action started off the bat and stayed that way. and you're really gonna hide your confession in a ████ in a ████ in the ████? that's the culmination of your painstaking planning and execution? (no pun intended)

I was completely unmoved by the reveal of the novel. It seemed like such a lame reason for everything, so I couldn't even say I suffered through it for a "wow" ending.

The characters are not all that important as this book is focused on the mystery of how these strangers are linked and why they are being targeted. I had fun trying to figure out how the strangers were connected and trying to identify the killer. I found the reveal behind what was linking these people together a bit of a letdown, and the killer’s motive was lame, but I was surprised by one twist. seriously, we're going with ████████? first of all, the math on that doesn't wash: how does murdering nine innocent people ████████████? is this inflation? As more of the people on the list begin to be murdered, it soon becomes clear that everyone is in danger, but not everyone on the kill list can be identified. The remaining people are offered police protection, although that does not prevent more deaths. The list has a diverse range of individuals, of different ages, working in numerous professions, including an oncology nurse, a wannabe actor, a college professor, and a musician, a singer-songwriter. We are given an intriguing glimpse into their characters, their lives, marriages, families, professions, and relationships, right up to the point of their demise. Two of them strike up a significant relationship because they are on the list, their feelings lent an urgency and growing passion with the shadow of death hanging over them. For what reason would anyone want this group of strangers dead? Part of the reason I probably liked this book was because I really didn't like his previous book and I thought this one was much better in comparison. Another reason was that it is a semi-homage to And Then There Were None which I consider to be one of the most brilliantly written mysteries ever. Since I found 3 things I really liked and 3 I didn’t, I settled on middle of the road at 3 stars. My regret is not reading ‘And Then There We’re None’ first or listening to this in audiobook form.

Very unique characters who all seem different which is impressive for how many characters are in this book. I appreciate how the author keeps trying to do new things, experimenting with new concepts and styles, as it makes opening each of his books a bit of a mystery in itself, but a number of things didn't work for me in this one. Many POVs, slow pacing and a disappointing reveal are the main reasons.