SPOILERS
While I ultimately enjoyed Granite Harbor, there were aspects that made me cringe, particularly related to how women were portrayed. It’s subtle and hard for me to put my finger on so I’ll chalk it up to the fact that I mostly read female authors and have become unaccustomed to the male perspective. The female characters in this book were transparent accessories - not accessories to the murders, mind you, but ornaments hanging off branches of the plot. Yet, what I’m struggling with is that two of the female characters were instrumental in solving/ending the murder spree. One was portrayed as over-the-top awful and the other as an unstable kook. I actually said out loud, “Are you kidding me?!” when it was revealed that Isabel is selectively psychic. The main character, Detective Alex, comes off as being inexperienced and vulnerable, which I actually thought was honest and relatable. He was well-developed, likable, and could easily be the protagonist in a series, as Granite Harbor stands well alone but leaves the possibility of more to come.
While I ultimately enjoyed Granite Harbor, there were aspects that made me cringe, particularly related to how women were portrayed. It’s subtle and hard for me to put my finger on so I’ll chalk it up to the fact that I mostly read female authors and have become unaccustomed to the male perspective. The female characters in this book were transparent accessories - not accessories to the murders, mind you, but ornaments hanging off branches of the plot. Yet, what I’m struggling with is that two of the female characters were instrumental in solving/ending the murder spree. One was portrayed as over-the-top awful and the other as an unstable kook. I actually said out loud, “Are you kidding me?!” when it was revealed that Isabel is selectively psychic. The main character, Detective Alex, comes off as being inexperienced and vulnerable, which I actually thought was honest and relatable. He was well-developed, likable, and could easily be the protagonist in a series, as Granite Harbor stands well alone but leaves the possibility of more to come.