Ok, so it seems that I have made a mistake. It looks like "Acceptable Loss" is a continuation of "Execution Dock", which I have not read. What is more, "Acceptable Loss" is my first book ever by Anne Perry. Will there be more? A few weeks ago when I started I would have said: "never again"... It took me ages to get through the first 150 pages. Annoying repetitions of the same questions that were torturing the characters (and myself, but for a different reason) were at some point unbearable. I managed to read four (!) other books meanwhile, but I did not give up on "Acceptable Loss". And... I am glad because after all, it is a good book once you get through the first 200 pages. After a while it even gets interesting, hmmm, should I say: exciting. Yes... Indeed. The story itself was at the beginning a bit heavy for me, as sexual abuse of small boys is not my idea of a great topic for a pleasurable read, but maybe it was not meant to be pleasurable? Anyway, once I had got over it, I could enjoy the actionTo answer the question: will there be more Anne Perry's books in my library? I guess yes, I will give it a go. With the way things ended in the previous book, 'Execution Dock', I was chomping at the bit to read this one. It picked up that horrid dangling thread and finally gave it closure. Yeah baby, did it give closure. I'm still reeling a bit from all the emotional responses I had at various times to this story. Like many of the previous William Monk stories, the mystery wasn't necessarily the difficulty though there are definitely some twists. No, the trouble was how good would prevail. Even our intrepid heroes and heroine had some crises of conscience with which to deal.The story begins with the murder of a sleazy manager of a brothel on a boat that exploits young boys and in the process was able to blackmail those who came to use the services. The trail leads Monk quickly to a suspect, but nobody can quite bring themselves to feel bad about the murder. Monk and Hester are more disturbed by the fact that the set up is the same as the last case he was just on and they aren't satisfied just to go after the small fry. They want to bring down the mastermind behind all these sordid enterprises. Unfortunately, they can't get a dying man's accusations out of their head and the facts leave room for this man, Arthur Ballinger who is Oliver Rathbone's father in law to be guilty. The case leads once again to a point where decisions of life and death, love and loyalty, duty and honor are called into question. It also forces Monk, Hester and Oliver along with their trusty helpers to bring it home to the finish.As par for the course, I was impressed by the gritty honesty of life in London's underbelly, the sparkling characters, the intense plot and the masterful pacing and tone of the story. I really only had one niggle. One of the recurring characters, Margaret Rathbone, seemed to just morph into something totally different in this one. I would have bought a certain amount of change to her because it is her father who is called into question, her husband who has to defend, and her friends who have to prosecute, but it just went way beyond that twisted her into something ugly because of blind loyalty and denying love for a parent. The Margaret of the previous books just wasn't that callous and hateful. I don't know; maybe it was just me, but I was appalled and in shock over the changes.That being said, I was impressed once again with a more than satisfying read by the author and look forward to the next installment in the series.
What do You think about Acceptable Loss (2011)?
This was a very good book- one of the best in her series featuring William Monk.
—Will
Love all things Anne Perry .. another great William & Hester Monk book
—Courtney
Very emotional, intense. Anne Perry is amazing.
—keke
