The Devil's Eye
TL;DR: An extremely fun mystery novel, retracing the steps of a famous author to find out what she discovered, and why it was being kept secret - and why people seemed willing to kill to hide it. Add to this an extension of the alien diplomacy from the previous books, and the narrator finally gets some of the recognition she deserves.
I couldn't put it down.
Full Review:
Whilst Alex remains, as in the previous books, a somewhat mysterious holmsian character, Chase Kolpath, the narrator, really explodes into full relief in this book. She is a narrator with a lot of heart, heart enough to move entire species as it turns out.
In some ways this book goes deeper than the previous ones in its themes, examining the nature of politics through the lens of both a recovering post-dictatorship (the revolution eats its children) and through the lens of an alien species. The previous book did some examination on the ramifications of a telepathic species, but this one defined and explored in far more depth, revealing an alien race that is, in many ways, very human.
Chase shines in this book; like the last one she spends a fair bit of time apart from Alex, however not just running errands this time but running from enemies and eventually saving Alex from those enemies. There is no doubt not that she is the real hero of the "Alex Benedict" series, and finally the rest of the galaxy is starting to appreciate that as well.
The characterisation, pacing and writing are all an improvement on the previous book of the series, and the story is no less intriguing. Even after the reveal of the mystery, the question remains - "What to do about it?", and this second half of the story is no less gripping than the first, though with less haunted forests and taxi theft.
On the whole, highly recommended to fans of the series - and to people who were perhaps disappointed in the previous book.
