She Treads Softly: The Bridge

Thursday, August 17, 2023

The Bridge

The Bridge by Matt Brolly
8/8/2, 300 pages
Thomas & Mercer
Detective Louise Blackwell #6

The Bridge by Matt Brolly is a very highly recommended procedural and the sixth novel in the DI Louise Blackwell series.

Detective Inspector Louise Blackwell is called in to investigate when the body of a young woman is discovered in a shipping container in Bristol. Several theories are put forth, but they are all abandoned when a camera is discovered. Apparently someone was watching her trapped and slowly dying. The case may involve claustrophilia, someone who likes to watch people in very small, cramped spaces. It may also be tied to the case of two other missing persons. Complicating Blackwell's involvement in the investigation is that she is ten weeks pregnant and experiencing bad morning sickness.

The Bridge is a well-written, excellent, engaging procedural with a detailed complex plot. The opening scene will immediately grab your attention. Right from the start the suspense and tension keep increasing as the intricate plot unfolds. There are several twists along the way to keep you guessing and some heart-stopping moments. The narrative is mainly told through Blackwell's point-of-view with other voices included.

Louise Blackwell is a wonderful, fully realized character among a cast of great characters. Although this is the sixth novel in the series, The Bridge can certainly be read as a stand-alone, although you will subsequently want to read others in the series. Those who like procedurals are going to thoroughly enjoy The Bridge.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.