“In a nursing home on the outskirts of Cork, an elderly nun lies dead. She has been suffocated. It looks like a mercy-killing – until another sister from the same convent is found viciously murdered, floating in the Glashaboy river.
The nuns were good women, doing God’s work. Why would anyone want to kill them? But then a child’s skull is unearthed in the garden of the nuns’ convent, and DS Katie Maguire discovers a fifty year old secret that just might lead her to the killer… if the killer doesn’t find her first.”
The fifth in the Katie Maguire series (and the fifth I’ve read), I was looking forward to reading Blood Sisters. As with the other books, I was drawn straight into the action with a murder (the nun) and a mystery (the skull). There was less gore this time round, which I think I’ve mentioned before is becoming my preference with the books I read, and I’ve noticed this has been the case in the last few novels.
I think it’s because Katie is a more rounded character now and her world more solid so there is less need. I have come to like her a lot as a person, though she doesn’t always seem to have the best judgement, and I find the descriptions of what it is like for her to be a woman in the Irish Garda interesting – I can’t believe it is as sexist in real life as Masterton makes out but if it is it’s shocking that this is the case in this day and age!
I would like to see other characters filled out more and was a bit disappointed with Katie’s boyfriend John’s development. He has been in most books since the first one and I can’t get a bead on him – though I can’t say I like him as much as I do Katie and can’t necessarily see what she sees in him (which is where I think her judgement is most questionable).
I was also slightly disappointed in the ending. It involved very little detecting on Katie’s part and I did feel a little bit like Masterton had run out of steam and didn’t know where to go. A shame really as otherwise a good story and good book. Liked (didn’t love) it.
Emma
One Readers Thoughts 
So sorry this didn’t end on a good note – I must admit your review had me intrigued as Graham Masterton is one of those authors who I keep meaning to read… although I’ve read quite a bit of Irish crime fiction this year.
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I think he’s definitely worth a read. I wonder when authors are so prolific if speed sometimes works against them.
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Oh that’s always a bit frustrating when the end disappoints – particularly if you’ve enjoyed the rest of it.
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It was. I had a bit of the same problem with his last book too – a sub plot that distracted me. Maybe a good thing there are no more in the series at the moment – I might need a break from them 😏
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[…] Blood Sisters by Graham Masterton was good but not as good as I’d hoped because of the ending, which I felt let it down. This is the fifth in a series of books and I think I may have read one too many in too short a period. The Prodigal by Nicky Black more than made up for any disappointment though. Set in Newcastle in 1999 and focused on a run down estate, drug deals, and a policeman returning to his home town after over a decade away, I found it fast-paced and enjoyable. […]
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[…] Blood Sisters by Graham Masterton – a crime novel with a touch of horror, the latest in a series of books I think I’m falling out of love with. […]
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