This is an adaptation of a book that I genuinely loved, so I approached it with all my usual trepidation. There is so much in the book that I didn’t think could be translated to the screen – so many long conversations, talk about faith, the complex relationships between the different people in the village, the role of a village pastor, the impact of murder on a small, close-knit community…
It seems the makers of the TV show agreed with me, so they took the book, stripped it down to its essence and turned it into a pure detective story. They changed a bunch of characters and story-lines in a way that I didn’t love, but seen merely as characters in the show (unrelated to the book) the changes worked.
As a TV show, this is excellent. The casting is good, the plot is tight and the pacing is just right. It keeps you hooked from start to finish. The book is obviously better, but it is almost meaningless to compare the show with the book becauce each of them is it’s own thing, and they are both marvellous.
between the pages 