This is somewhat interesting for a CSI novel. It is a little bit strange for me to read it as I have not actually watched the television show to the point where this novel is set. My viewing is up to the first half of season 8 while this novel is set during the beginning of season 9 – so both Sara and Warrick are no longer a part of the book series. And oh how I missed them. Sara was absent for the last book too so I was a little more used to that but it was still strange not to have both her and Warrick involved. Luckily for me the writer mentions both characters throughout the novel so at least they haven’t been completely forgotten. It also amuses me a little that Sara is still featured in the picture on the back cover while Warrick is replaced by Hodges.
Another strange element to this novel is despite it taking place before Grissom’s exit from the show he doesn’t feature in the book all that much. Instead he is said to be away at a conference leaving Catherine in charge of the graveyard shift. However, one benefit to Grissom being away is that we get to learn a great deal about Catherine. The book explores her character a fair bit and is the first one to properly include a part for her daughter Lindsey. It was interesting how the writer wrote about Catherine’s feelings re. the loss of members of her work family.
The book also features the arrival of Riley. I’ve never seen Riley in the series but it was nice to read about her and discover information about her character. I liked her relationship with Greg and the banter between the two of them.
The cases in this novel are rather complex and it is rather difficult to keep track of them. I don’t quite see why Greg and Riley needed the two cases (aeroplane death and animal grave) rather than just focusing solely on one. Personally I found the animal grave and what followed on from it to be far more interesting.
The main storyline was interesting and gave an insight in the Brass’ history. However, for a novel named after his character, Brass doesn’t exactly feature in the book a great deal. He is largely “off screen” for the book. He doesn’t appear much before the end which is disappointing. Although I did enjoy the relationship between him and Catherine from the point he does appear.
The timeline is a bit out of whack. It supposedly takes place in one night but that doesn’t work at all well. There is no way the characters could have done everything they did in that time. It is impossible that it could have happened in one night.
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