Friday, July 13, 2018

The Awkward Squad - Sophie Henaff

Title: The Awkward Squad
Author: Sophie Henaff
Translator: Sam Gordon
Genre: Mystery; Crime
Publisher: MacLehose Press
Publish Date: March 9th, 2017

Suspended from her job as a promising police officer for firing "one bullet too many", Anne Capestan is expecting the worst when she is summoned to H.Q. to learn her fate. Instead, she is surprised to be told that she is to head up a new police squad, working on solving old cold cases.
Though relived to still have a job, Capestan is not overjoyed by the prospect of her new role. Even less so when she meets her new team: a crowd of misfits, troublemakers and problem cases, none of whom are fit for purpose and yet none of whom can be fired.
But from this inauspicious start, investigating the cold cases throws up a number a number of strange mysteries for Capestan and her team: was the old lady murdered seven years ago really just the victim of a botched robbery? Who was behind the dead sailor discovered in the Seine with three gunshot wounds? And why does there seem to be a curious link with a ferry that was shipwrecked off the Florida coast many years previously?

Rating

*Thank you to Edelweiss+, The Publisher and The Author for allowing me to read this book in return for a fair and hones review*
Hello Fellow Readers,

So going into this book, I didn't really know how I was going to feel. Although I liked the synopsis, I was worried it would be more comedy hi-jinks, with a smidge of mystery. I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case. I was even more surprised that I did not guess the ending, weird right? It has been such a long time where I haven't correctly guessed the ending of a book that it made me excited to see what was going on. I ended up reading this book in about a day.

First off I loved Capestan, despite the fact that she was basically in charge of unwanted cops, she didn't let that stop her from actually doing her job and trying. She was not some defeated has-been captain, she took what she got and ran with it, and it worked! Ultimately the squads job is to take cold unsolved cases and solve them, however no one actually expects the squad to solve these cases. This lack of faith doesn't actually stop the m from trying to solve these cases.

Secondly, there was not a single person on the squad that I hated. While some may be slightly annoying, there wasn't one I didn't like. They made the story interesting but not comical, which is great. When there was humor in the  story it was well placed, and didn't take away from the mystery. The conclusion was gripping and I loved how it ended. I found out this was a series and immediately knew I would be reading the second book. 

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