Dark Assassin by Anne Perry

Dark Assassin
Book 15 in the William Monk series
Anne Perry
3/5 stars

The William Monk series follows a format: Monk investigates; Hester helps; Rathbone takes the case to trial; Monk saves the day.  I don't have a problem with these novels being formulaic, as Perry's writing is excellent, the mysteries intelligent and the overall plot interesting.  In Dark Assassin, however, the pieces don't fully click and the story just isn't stellar.  It's still well written, and, due to the intensity of some of the plot, the novel should be exciting.  However, at times I found it slow going and dull, and found the mystery to be mediocre.

 I was also somewhat disappointed in the ending. One part was neatly tied up (so that no one had to deal with the repercussions of some wrong decisions) and the other part was left hanging for the reader to assume that somehow that mess got cleared up.

I can't say I disliked it--and I was thrilled with the Runcorn situation--but I have to say it was "just okay".  Luckily, most readers will be reading these in order (as they should be read to understand the relationship dynamics of the series) and will know that this wasn't typical of Perry's mysteries.

This is, of course, just my opinion.  On Amazon, 44% of the reviews were 5 star and 45% were 4 star.