The second in the series focusing on Poppy Sinclair, a teenage detective, but this worked for me as a stand-alone book.
Not having read the first in the series I don’t know if that offers us a little more background to Poppy and her situation – I imagine so. If that is the case, I imagine I would be more invested in what happens to her in this adventure.
Poppy thinks she’s heading off to Cambridge to see her father, and to support her boyfriend while he attends an interview. Stumbling across her father crouched over a dead body the morning after her arrival means her plans go somewhat awry. Poppy decides to investigate the murder – and the rapid succession of bodies that seem to follow hot on its heels – but has to deal with the possibility that her father might be involved.
There’s a lot of background information about Cambridge woven in, and our focus is on a rather stereotypical secret society and its members. The stock ‘privileged elite’ characters who are linked to the society are killed in increasingly gruesome ways, and it’s obvious that Poppy is in danger as the killer becomes more unhinged.
Throughout the reading of this I felt rather detached from the experience. I wasn’t encouraged to particularly feel anything for those that were murdered, and the climax seemed like an exaggerated dream scene. I’m sure there will be readers that will love this; I can see the good bits, but it left me rather unmoved.