This wasn't my favorite book. I'm not sure if I just wasn't in the right head space for it or what. The plot was interesting enough but didn't hold me attention. I found myself not wanting to pick it back up. I also felt like some of the protocol was unrealistic.

I couldn't get into this book at all. I really tried, and it just didn't work. I agree with all the other reviews on this one.

Even with all the negative reviews i tried to read anyway but just like everyone else i could not get into this book.

Thanks to Netgalley for this arc but i just couldn’t get into it. I just couldn’t follow the story line

This is a very interesting book- set in Holland, it is more than the usual murder-detective story. The characters smoke alot, don't exercise or do any of the things than more local police do.
The victims don't present in a typical way and the clues, as they are provided, are misleading.
The different people are talking in separate chapters so we can follow their individual paths. As the layers of the story are peeled back, things start to fall into place, as much as any psychopath can fall into place.

The ending is ok, not quite as shocking as I had anticipated it might be.
The best parts of the book are the different aspects of life for a detective in Amsterdam than any old US city.

I'm admittedly leaving a review before finishing the book, but I don't know that I can make it through the entire story. Even within the first few chapters, I found myself bored with the writing style. Everything is told versus shown, and every little step is highlighted. It took an entire chapter for the introductory character to wake up for the day and go to the bathroom, because there are that many insignificant notes. "She went to the bathroom to pee, washed her hands, looked at herself in the mirror, walked back through the house where she had a lot of thoughts about things we don't need to know, then went back to her bedroom to look at the girl sleeping in her bed who had a certain tattoo on her back which made her so cool," (not verbatim, of course) over and over. It was purely exhausting to read, and for that reason I had to put it down.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Fireflies Publishing for a review copy of The Magpie, a standalone police procedural set in Amsterdam.

There is a serial killer on the loose in Amsterdam who is killing one man a month by breaking his neck. The killer is nicknamed The Magpie because he takes his victims' clothes and jewellery. Detective Arnaud van Loo leads a small team dedicated to finding and stopping The Magpie but with such a forensically aware killer there is precious little to go on.

The Magpie is a bit of a mixed bag and didn't really hold my attention. Much of this is due to the fact that the novel could do with a good edit. It has a good, interesting plot which is quite compulsive but the novel is overlong and gets bogged down in superfluities. The novel has multiple points of view and several of them have little bearing on the murder enquiry and could be eliminated completely. As it stands they are a distraction from the plot and divert the reader's focus. The novel also spends too much time on domestic detail - who cares if Arnaud has showered before leaving for a scene?

On the other hand I enjoyed the plodding nature of the enquiry, the team's elation at minor breakthroughs and despair when they lead nowhere as it seems fairly realistic. The forensics don't bear close scrutiny as they aren't realistic and the author obviously hasn't done much research in this area - my viewing of true crime documentaries makes me sure on this point. I also like the closeness of the team and Arnaud's character. He is a functioning alcoholic but he is also smart, caring and dedicated and a very credible character.

The Magpie is a solid read.

This is a good detective novel with suspense woven in. You find out pretty quickly who the murderer(s) are but the detectives don't which leads to the suspense. Arnaud is the leader of a team of detectives in Amerstdam. Someone is killing a male every month and leaving their bodies naked outdoors. Is it a women killer? Does she have accomplices? Noor is a waitress/bartender who is secretly in love with Arnaud and writes an anonymous blog commending him and attempting to solve the murder for him. I would have liked a little different ending however that was more satisfactory-perhaps there will be a sequel?

I didn't finish this.. and that kills me. I hate putting down books. I tried really hard to get into this read. The synopsis really grabbed my attention but I'm struggling to get myself to read it / stay interested. I really enjoy murder mysteries, so I was excited to give this a try. Unfortunately, I do not like the characters, and that's a fundamental part of any book. I am also having a hard time enjoying the writing style. There are parts that seem to be very repetitive ( such as the small handful of facts the detectives know, and bits and pieces of the character's personalities / relationships ). There are also lines that seem like they don't need to be included in the story, like they were added to get a page/word count met. They don't add anything to the story except more to read, but nothing towards the main idea.

I tried to like this one, but I just could not. Plank had such a foul mouth and as a teacher, I find it difficult to recommend novels when profanity just doesn’t fit the situation.

Thank you Fireflies Publishing and Netgalley for the eARC.
It's always difficult for me to leave negative feedback when I know how hard the author worked at his/her book, but I just couldn't get into this one. So looking forward to it, originally being from the Netherlands, I was disappointed and didn't even finish.
Detective Van Loo of Amsterdam, a successful and accomplished police officer, finds a serial killer on the loose in the city frustratingly elusive. He has killed nine men so far, leaving the bodies naked and stripped of all their belongings.
The press has named him The Magpie and are printing increasingly critical articles about Van Loo's inability to catch
him.
I didn't like Van Loo nor any of the other characters and quit after reading about 1/3rd of the book.