Holy Island by L.J. Ross

 

And so to the final book in my Round the World challenge! After 100 novels, we return to (pretty much) where we started. Holy Island is in Northumberland, a small island not far from Alnwick, accessible (by car at least) only during low tide. It is home to a ruined abbey, a castle and several churches. I go there every autumn with my family, and so it seemed like a fitting place to finish the trip.

LJ Ross is a prolific author, having published 33 books (as of now) since 2015. Her DCI Ryan, Northumberland-based series is on sale in National Trust shops throughout the county, and it was there I came across her. My expectations for the book have gone up and down since buying it (almost 18 months ago during that autumn's holiday). Having not seen her books anywhere else, I initially assumed Ross was known only locally, and as such expected the book might be interesting, but not of any great literary merit. But then when I looked her up, I found that she is an impressively well-selling author: 10 million books and counting, I believe. Maybe this will be a good book after all, I thought. Maybe it will be the new Vera, or Lynley - maybe I have only missed Ross because I don't generally read these kind of mysteries.

Holy Island is set on the titular small tidal island, also known as Lindisfarne. The small community here is rocked by a brutal murder that seems to have ritual overtones. As luck would have it, the impossibly good-looking DCI Ryan is recovering on the island and jumps into the case with both feet.

The back of the book declares: "murder and mystery are peppered with a sprinkling of romance and humour." That's quite a lot of elements to fit into one book, and not easy to do well. Spoiler alert: Holy Island doesn't do it well. Lets take the elements one at a time. 

Murder: yep, there are murders. 

Mystery: this is probably the strongest element. The central mystery is... ok. It makes sense, and although I would have liked more clues early on, everything gets tied up by the end in a coherant fashion. The plot is a lot more pulpy than I was expecting, and while this is by no means a bad thing, it didn't always gel with the tone of the book. 

Romance: this is laid on with a trowel. Admittedly, I'm not a fan of romance novels, I find it only marginally less awkward to see people being all lovey-dovey in fiction than in real life. But Ross really goes for the Mills and Boon style chewing lips and heaving bosoms, and everyone is eye-rollingly good-looking and spends paragraphs staring at themselves in mirrors. 

Humour: no idea on this one. If there had been any editing (see below) then maybe this had ended up on the cutting room floor? 

Overall, Holy Island is a good example of why self-publishing is not always a good idea. Yes, I know the traditional presses can be very risk-averse and self-publishing is undeniably a good thing for getting voices out there that otherwise would not be heard. But Holy Island could be so much of a better book if it had been looked at by a professional editor. Ross continually overexplains, saying the same thing in two or three ways. Then, at other points, she trots out a series of tired stock phrases which contradict each other. Some paragraphs feature the same adjective three or four times. This is not to say Ross is a bad writer, but these things shouldn't have been present after the first draft. Holy Island treads the same ground as many other authors, but it doesn't do it with the polish you would expect. 

Holy Island could have been a solid three stars, as it is, it just scrapes ★★☆☆☆