Brief review of "The Yard" by Alex Grecian

The book was alright and read at a reasonable pace. At first it seemed like there were a few too many main characters. There were certainly far too many points of view which could have been better done by an omniscient single one.

A few things seemed a bit too deus-ex-machina, and in particular the number of unfortunate circumstances which happened to Hammersmith. The characters were at least reasonably drawn out and delineated. The setting was a bit lacking to the point that I feel like I'd have to call out some serious historical flaws, but the research to ensure accuracy just isn't worth the effort. If the author did significant research to make sure the world was real, he didn't do that research justice within the final presentation.

The police procedural portions were generally okay, except the overwrought feeling given by trying to explain simple procedures like fingerprinting within a narrative in which they're new, but to an audience in which they're all too mundane. For this type of historical-type of fiction I far preferred Caleb Carr's [book:The Alienist|40024], which was far better done from both a plot and a character standpoint.