Oh, dear, the last in the series. What will I do until she writes her next one? Mourn the complete dearth of poetically-inclined mystery writers? So be it.
This one is really different. At first, I was not enchanted. (Hey, you must give me your tried and true formula. Silly reader thoughts!) But it very, very much grew on me. I wanted to hug it to me constantly because of its subject matter as well - teenage girls, albeit a heck of a lot smarter and less sensitive than I ever was or will be - but still, teenage girls. Dealing with everything they do, chief among them, boys. I think what I like the most about this novel is that it tries very hard not to disparage teenage boys (or even adult boys) fully. As usual, she provides a wide range of thoughts, emotions, ideas, issues of the day and time. Consequently - not a feminist diatribe. And more power to it because of that.
There are some really odd bits that had me raising my eyebrows. Almost as if I can see her gears working... "Huh, now that I'm established, I'm going to take some liberties and see if anyone notices." Heck yea we noticed! What to feel about this? You'll know what I mean when you get there.
I do wonder if she's about to take off in a new direction. She ends with a little description of careers other than police detective work, and the ending of this novel has more completion to it (at least in my mind) than the previous 4 novels. So, it's possible? If so, I know who her new protagonist will be for book 6.
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