The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi

☆☆☆☆1/2
ebook, 284 pages
Expected publication: August 4th 2020 by Henry Holt & Company
About the Book:
There are rules for murder mysteries. There must be a victim. A suspect. A detective. Grant McAllister, a professor of mathematics, once sat down and worked all the rules out – and wrote seven perfect detective stories to demonstrate. But that was thirty years ago. Now Grant lives in seclusion on a remote Mediterranean island, counting the rest of his days. Until Julia Hart, a brilliant, ambitious editor knocks on his door. Julia wishes to republish his book, and together they must revisit those old stories: an author hiding from his past and an editor keen to understand it. But there are things in the stories that don’t add up. Inconsistencies left by Grant that a sharp-eyed editor begins to suspect are more than mistakes. They may be clues, and Julia finds herself with a mystery of her own to solve. Alex Pavesi's The Eighth Detective is a love letter to classic detective stories with a modern twist, where nothing is as it seems, and proof that the best mysteries break all the rules.

This book was bloody brilliant and the concept was such an imaginative one! Very, very clever...So clever that I may read it again some day even though I know the ending, or actually because I know the ending and want to read once again to see how Mr. Pavesi adroitly executed the plot.

A fascinating who-done-it that prods and probes at the dark motivations that lurk within us all. From that perspective, it's a great read. I don't think I've ever met such a collection of morally and ethically questionable people. For me, the best part of this read are the secrets and stories everyone brings to this collection rather than the mystery of who's killing who.

The only reason I didn't give it five is because it wasn't emotionally satisfying. I didn't connect with Grant or Julia nor did I feel their angst or pain as I have in other mysteries, but intellectually it was extremely satisfying. This is an amazing debut by Alex Pavesi and I so look forward to what he comes up with next!

Thank you NetGalley, Henry Holt & Company and Alex Pavesi for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an impartial review; all opinions are my own.

#TheEighthDetective #NetGalley