The Dark Side of the Road by Simon Green

3.5 stars. 

The dark side of the road's premise was a pretty general one and reminded of an Agatha Christie style murder mystery book. The story follows our main protagonist, Ishmael Jones, who works for the Colonel. It's Christmas eve and Ishmael is invited by the Colonel to his family home to spend it with him. Once he arrives at Belcourt Manor, the Colonel is missing and Ishmael is introduced to a number of guests. As the night progresses, a number of terrible things happen to the guests. You see the murder mystery genre going on here, right? 

So, I went into this book reading along the mystery. But man was I shocked as I went through the story. Nothing is given away when reading the blurb and I don't want to spoil it for anyone if you are going to read this book. It's not the type of book I would normally pick up and I have never read one of Christie's book. I do however, like trying to figure out the 'whodunit'. And as the murders go on in this book, I came up with a number of theories for each suspect, even the protagonist was a suspect for me!

The book was a reasonably easy read, and when I was given the first twist in the book, I have no idea what I thought. So I went along with it and see how it panned out. I'm still, even now after finishing the book, trying to figure out whether I really enjoyed this book or not. I want to really enjoy this book. I think the twists could have been developed a little better and not have been abrupt as they were, this would have definitely made me enjoy the book more and maybe upped my star rating - I still have no idea what rating I should have given it. 

Overall, it was a reasonable read, a little bit mad but I did find it a little comical in some parts with the posh talks and the murders going on. If you fancy an Agatha Christie style novel with a twist, then give it a try - I borrowed this book from my local library and I'm pretty sure I would not want to pay the full £19.99 for this book. 

Happy reading :)