It is rather funny to think of the word 'cynical'. When applied to a person, one sees a worldly but weather beaten man (often a man) who is never hoodIt is rather funny to think of the word 'cynical'. When applied to a person, one sees a worldly but weather beaten man (often a man) who is never hoodwinked and who knows his way around society. When applied to a work of art, or in this case, to Two Nights in Lisbon, one sees a book that is iniquitous, dishonest, shallow, and ultimately of little worth. My reasons for giving this book one star, in a nutshell.
This book has elicited a few common complaints from disgruntled readers. There have been people who call it repetitive. I think it is right to do so. The book is indeed repetitive, but it has other more rugged flaws. It is a poorly narrated book. The author is not as prolific as the masters of the thriller genre, and one wonders if his inexperience made the book have a merely average score.
Two Nights in Lisbon's main character, Ariel Pryce, is a cynically designed character. To make it do the ungrateful task of ingratiating to the audience it targets, though, the character must be slightly dense. With this chink in the armour, the author then can throw in lots of poorly thought ideas, half baked ones, and they will stick. Genius marketing, not genius writing.
Ariel is a successful woman. Tres jolie, and frankly stunning to look at. The women who read this book will either identify with this book or fantasize themselves in it. So far, so good. Ariel has a murky, hidden past. She has a husband. Ah, say the housewives, a woman after our own heart. She has a wonderful husband. After all, he drives well, and does not kick the pets. Surely a fine catch. Ariel's husband disappears and the book takes place during the 2 days and 2 nights where Ariel is doing her level best to find her significant other.
My major problem with this book is that it reveals its hand to me as written by an author who think himself too smart, who has been caught with one sticky hand in the cookie jar. He inserts street smarts in the book in pretty much manipulative ways, making us believe that he is on our side and is in fact not working for the Man.
Pavone's shenanigans makes him be the very type of writer that he probably fears of being. He wants to be seen as cosmopolitan, sophisticated, with a heart of gold, and a first class brain. Pavone, and there are not many different ways of saying this, is a hack. There, I've said it. Pavone is a columnist who thought he was a thriller writer.
There is no wrong in being a journo. Charles Dickens wrote for Morning Chronicle. Doyle wrote for The Strand. Pavone however, does not have the talent to back up his writing. His pandering lets him down badly. The spell is broken. I only hope that there are as few Pavones as possible, because this type of book (that he has authored) takes in the gullible too often.
The thriller is quite simply, boring. The stakes are not high. The pacing is inexistent. The characters are not appealing. There is not one intelligent or even strong character in the book. I think that with so far only 4000 ratings drummed up on Goodreads, people have not bought or borrowed the book in droves. There is hope yet for the reading public. There are better mystery books out there. I only think this book to be a necessary evil when cultivating a decadently big appetite in search for the next 5 star book....more
I was excited to read this book, because it would be one of the rare times that I read it via the audiobook format. I knew there was more of a chance I was excited to read this book, because it would be one of the rare times that I read it via the audiobook format. I knew there was more of a chance of me finishing the read through listening to the very professional Juliet Stevenson. I can't really decimate this book bit by bit. I can't take it up to be verbose, snarky, and varied.
So I'll be brief and move on to the next read, to which I am already looking forward to. After this book, the only way is up. But my foray into YA Fantasy is not over. I want to read at least a couple of good books, lest I become bitter, unconnected with the spirit of the times, and lackadaisical.
I don't recognise many of my friends's adoration and fondness for this book. Maybe it is a YA thing, maybe it is a feminine thing. But things don't compute. People who react somewhat similarly to me, roughly so, lose their collective minds over this series, and this author, Maas. This book was jaw-droppingly of poor quality, for me at least.
I'm having difficulty in formulating the traumatic experience. My ears kind of glazed over. The professional narration, instead of fixing things, aggravated them. Stevenson meant every word that she read. The words jarred with the voice's tone. The material of the book felt so fake, and so devoid of creativity. These are immortals? These characters?
The same problem that I had with Kevin Hearne's Urban Fantasy series was apparent here. Why do even experienced women readers like this. Maybe the young and the old need the romance factor to appease them. But at what cost! At what cost, in all things holy.
The banter was extremely unfunny. Every time I listened to one 'joke', my mind came up with a better one. And that was me relaxing, or trying to, and being passively submissive to the experience. I came up with jokes that was better than those of one of the best YA authors around. I couldn't believe what was happening.
I am giving it the one star that I expected it to receive. But I thought I have seen everything with book 1. I was wrong. I will read book 3. I am hypnotised by the crap spouting out of a narrator's voice in my ear, me wishing that I was listening to some rap music or country music instead. I don't see the younger readers go against this in their later years, unlike the tacky fashion sense that always accompanies most teenagers's lives. Because... their mothers and grandmothers like the same thing.
The speed at which the eroticism began happened faster than most porn videos. Porn these days are getting too plot-centric. They ought to take a leaf out of this series. If a boring work of art is so numbing that it becomes obscene, then I guess I will almost never find favor with a single one of these bleeding books. It was not for me, my mind says. This deserves to be the only rightly banned book among the 1600 ones that have been banned in the last 9 months in schools. My heart says....more
**spoiler alert** My lukewarm fears were realised after reading the final word in the book, The Night Shift by Alex Finlay. I knew, from the part betw**spoiler alert** My lukewarm fears were realised after reading the final word in the book, The Night Shift by Alex Finlay. I knew, from the part between the first and second Acts - the story takes place over 3 days - that the author had a terrible hand, and was bluffing. The thing with writing is that you cannot fool everyone all the time after the manuscript has been printed.
There features a pregnant woman in the book. She is pregnant and is assigned to an unsolved murder case. In the epilogue, she is written with her twins - one year olds - and her husband. There is something to be said about kids that are toddlers. It is very difficult to write adventures about them. Shows that succeed in doing so, do a terribly hard thing. Witness the Rugrats success. To a lesser extent, The Simpsons. So, it is very difficult to write scripts about very young adults. But what is the easiest part of the trade is that it is absolutely easy to make toddlers endearing. Unless the reader is a sociopath. And this easy bit of 101 writing was apparently beyond the skills of the author.
This treatment is meted out to every single character in the book. The book is the definition of superficiality and shallowness. Ella, one of the victims, survivor, and main characters has a lifestyle that looks like she is in her mid 20s. If she were in her early 30s, her promiscuous but unobtrusive lifestyle would look like that of a loser. This the author glosses over spectacularly. Most good guys are cute or hot. I compiled a list of suspects from the story based only on the appearance and description of the characters. It was easy to include the culprit's name in that list. I did not solve this rocambole of a case. I did not care enough to rub two neurons about it.
Alex Finlay wrote his/her book like an inchoate script. Nothing wrong with that. Except that the book was very boring to read. A little characterisation would go a long way. In movie scripts, dialogue is the key, followed by action, and then references. This, apparently, Finlay ignored or was unaware of. The only reason I wasn't bored by the book completely, was because of the death of SIX people. That what it took to prevent me from deliberating what to do with the book, whether to delete it, or ask for a refund.
This is definitely the worst book that features names of characters as chapters. Alternate POVs or what have you. There was nothing to engage the mind in. There wasn't even moments that could have played for shock value. For a serial killing thriller, this book is considerably tame, mindful of language, and lacking in twists. The lack of respect for locations and the rules of the law made the reading greyer than it would have been if the author had stuck to reality. In relying on his/her/their writing prowess to carry the book's bulk without having talent took some guts. Unfortunately, this resulted in what to me was a mediocre effort.
The buildups were disjointed and lead to dead ends. Being someone who has read many mysteries in his bookish life, I was never going to be impressed by this book. I don't know if Ella, Chris or Atticus Singh survived, and I don't care. Atticus reveals part of the problem with this book. He carries insufficient reason for caring for him. He has doe eyes, a thin tie, an ailing mother to care for, and he talks about To Kill a Mockingbird for a while. He is a nobody. Just like everyone else .Every single person in this book was like a cut scene from a videogame.
The twists in the book, whatever there were, tallied with the conclusion of the the latter. But the attempts to misdirect were baleful. Several pages of the story were about nothing that mattered. Do these people even sleep at night? One of them being a mother to be? It seemed like the killing joke of the serial killer, repeated twice, in the interval of 15 years was as inconsequential as a lullaby. I take that back. It would be super creepy if that quote had psychological roots and a material impact.
Till now, I do not have a thorough knowledge of why I like some books but dislike others. I guess I find boring books depressive. And it was so in this case too. It just didn't do anything remotely interesting. The only worse piece of suspense that I read was 'Why Didn't they Ask Evans?', by Agatha Christie. Finlay didn't make it easy for me to expect anything good from his career. And I must enunciate this... I won't be reading anything by this writer soon, unless it wins the Goodreads Choice Award or something. That was sarcasm by the way. Do you know where you can find worse sense of sarcastic humour? In this book. Do you know what book might win the GCA soon? Hmm?
The author must learn to infuse life and urgency and a sense of purpose in his characters. I'm beginning to understand how certain books are chosen to give them publicity. The editors seem to be the natural readers of this type of thriller, which is topsy-turvy and loony. But that is the sad reality. The type of readers who will find this book great are people who read a lot and are too tired from their day to research what is good and what is not. This affirmation and gestation of a revelation will serve me well in my search for the next great book. So unless you have real reasons for wanting a book, movie, song, or painting, do not fork out your hard earned money to scammers like these impostors....more
Ken Follett seems to enjoy a longevity that would be the envy of Kafka or Nietzsche. If you weren't aware, I'm talking about his long life, not his heKen Follett seems to enjoy a longevity that would be the envy of Kafka or Nietzsche. If you weren't aware, I'm talking about his long life, not his hegemony. Follett is also without doubt a very successful author, who has hundreds of thousands of fans around the world. I'm not going to join that particular club.
Follett's book, Winter of the World, has clues littered over its face as to the secret of its success, just like a naughty kid has crumbs over his maws after pilfering the cookie jar. The first book, Fall of Giants, got one star from me. So maybe I should stop reading his books? But I have avoided the lure of his historical thrillers successfully. To this day therefore, I cannot tell you why I ceded to this WW2 book.
The deaths of the innocent is the fuel which drives the mechanism of this book. The stakes ought to be high, but this ambitious book about multi-generations and rendezvous with history seems stuffy as the stage of a high school. Follett tries to camouflage the deaths which (perhaps) seemed right and logical to him, with deaths that are not vindictive or strangely fateful. This book is very limited.
Every single woman that is interesting meets a tragedy in one form or other. While there are men who risk their lives daily in the war to end all wars - haha - the women are either boring hopefuls whose aim is to get their men, or monosyllabic geniuses who somehow untangle their tongues to narrate convenient past familial tragedies.
The men are dealt a farcical card, in a universe, that, when guided by Follett's pen, seems jocularly simplistic. The sole intriguing fact about this book are the couples and maybe happy marriages that survive their acid tests. The unions in this book are devoid of romance. Even the most focused of romances, which ought to feel like a mini slice of harlequinism (that word ought to exist) are as famous as the year your warm beer was made. Dusting off my review of Fall of Giants, it seems that the author has continued in creating characters that have a life that looks like the high school overachiever. All the characters, without fault, have the most exciting part of their lives when they are 21.
While some arcs have less melodrama than others, those that don't, just ruin the effect of danger that the book strives to have. The plot is logical when it is convenient, and its opposite when it is inconvenient. The lack of respect for the reader means that many who have given this book a positive score have ignored or been unaware of it. Congrats Kenny, you know the odds, if not your audience.
The worst things about this book is that it lets major bias from the author creep in. First of all, one character keeps the love child of a rapist. Her revenge is that she will raise her kid to be someone you know, who treats men and women equally respectfully. Banzai! Also, Truman thought he was the king of the world? The truest and most honest man to hold any kind of office in world history?
This book lacks the cruelty of Pillars of the Earth, for which I am personally thankful. But its senseless romance, its staged suspense, its deliberate putdown of women, its unawareness of what is clever and what is stupid, all undo the hard work of the research to which Follett has probably had access to. This is the work of a successful, prolific, inspiring, and experienced writer. It feels like the work of an AI who has been programmed to imitate the writing style of a combination of a 16th century Calvinist monk and Barbara Cartland. Follett, take up a hobby and enjoy your twilight years, there's a good lad....more
The Saving Grace of this book is that it is amateurly made. There is no whiff of professionalism in it. I have never really broken out the thesaurus bThe Saving Grace of this book is that it is amateurly made. There is no whiff of professionalism in it. I have never really broken out the thesaurus by way of giving such kind of book its due. So this review will be shorter than what I usually write.
There were 3 typos that did not escape my mind. Once a glaring but innocuous s instead of a. Secondly, peak instead of pique, thirdly, purest instead of purist. I will add that the book is readable and I did read it easily, with few winged bugs in the ointment.
Nancy Coco ought to have got data of her Don Juan romeo village Bruce Wayne from comics. Having been s reader of them for a while, I know that comics, particularly those from the late 60s, are as quotable as a Charlie Chaplin movie, or a Tarantino one.
When I knew that Coco, surely a pen name, would write a killer Ken Doll as her MC's love interest, it did peak my interest. I waited for the entertainment to begin, and it did not disappoint.
Trent Jessop was a kind of bizarro Zorro, which would peak the interest of even the most strict purest. His lines, rotten and reheated, were hilariously devoid of personality. I would go on and quote the book, but life is short and while I thank Coco for giving me some cheer, and while I will read more of the series, I won't twist the knife counter-clockwise....more
A Good Yarn is a tired and cliched book about feelings. The fact that many people want their characters to do well in poorly written books indicates tA Good Yarn is a tired and cliched book about feelings. The fact that many people want their characters to do well in poorly written books indicates that a mint can be made on anything that reassures rather than reveals. Debbie Macomber provides easy answers rather than answering the difficult questions her characters ask throughout the book.
People who cannot survive the genre transfusion that occurs often when middle aged readers dive into YA literature, turn to books like this. Comforting, familiar, repetitive, and ultimately redundant, A Good Yarn is a lazy attempt at writing. The characters here seem to impress upon readers that they will have a HEA. Regardless of the life they are leading.
The type of glandular love that passes for something more divine shows how sanitised and embracing the Romance genre has become. Romance is the only genre whose young writers, fresh out of the workshop of Creative Writing class, never innovate. It's easy money for those who are very visible or have a long career at this type of shilling. I myself have recently been wanting a book about Christmas and love. Oy Vey....more
Reading Martin Chuzzlewit - a book that I've been reading simultaneously with House of Earth and Blood - is like reading, well Dickens. Reading Sarah Reading Martin Chuzzlewit - a book that I've been reading simultaneously with House of Earth and Blood - is like reading, well Dickens. Reading Sarah J. Maas is like eating a wallpaper and then going back for the glue. This book is vile.
There was not one thing in this book that indicated good growth and benevolence. There was not one thing in this vile book that hazarded one to look at it benignantly. I can never endorse this shit book. How are the 30 year olds reading the book holding up? Where is the furor about such chasm-like drift in quality.
Is this what the YA crowd, and the too long in the tooth YA crowds hailing as a great book? This is infamy. This is treason against reason. This is intellectual suicide. How is it that Mr Rogers's Neighborhood has more maturity than Sarah J. Maas's lurid creation? How is it that Noddy, Goldorak, and Ronin Wariors and La Linea all have more gumption than HoEaB? This book is a kind of bubblegum crisis. That's what it is. I wish.
I fell at the last hurdle. Completed most of the book. I had to rub my eyes at the last 'act'. This is the type of book to give the snobs power. Else what choice there is? Is it fatally certain that the choice for a parent to suffer her child read this shit book, or engage her in the competitive world of ballet and piano playing, and tough hurdles like martial arts class.
There is only one book that comes close to matching the execrable quality of HoEaB, and that is The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Objectivity won't do. If I had a time machine I would rescue all the books Hitler was burning and fuel those blazes with every single book this copycat, cynical, laughing-all-the-way-to-the-bank author has written....more
How cute. A Krusty wanting to write a bestseller, faddish, and sensational book about vampires. Well, his hard work has paid off, as the book is critiHow cute. A Krusty wanting to write a bestseller, faddish, and sensational book about vampires. Well, his hard work has paid off, as the book is critically and commercially a success. This will cause a lot of budding or even experienced readers to get conned by Krusty.
We are like newborn turtles trying to reach the sea from our hatching underground nest. Most of us don't reach that sea of understanding and critical thinking that makes the mind fertile with discerning thoughts.
The shock value in this book is laughable. Take the instance of the deaths. They may be gory, but they are not pathos ridden, unless you take each book at face value and ditch your experience during reading.
The ending does not salvage a bad piece of work. I hope the teens who got hoodwinked by this book will learn to give proper due to real classics. I know that I'm speaking out of turn, knowing that every book is subjectively consumed. But the alternative to riding the objective train is to berate Krusty till I die, and I think I already have had 800 pages worth of the guy to last my lifetime.
There's no way this book gets more staying power than even the Anne Rice books. The need to reinvent a religion (hailed by some readers as world building) shows the cowardice of Krustovski. He is like a cook who started with the intention to make a cronut (yum!) and instead ended with pretzels....more
The plot plod like a plow in pudding. I'm off Harlan Coben. He's not the author to distract my attention when I need it.
I asked for the minimum and foThe plot plod like a plow in pudding. I'm off Harlan Coben. He's not the author to distract my attention when I need it.
I asked for the minimum and for a while things looked hopeful. But I think that it takes real hard work to write a story on multiple fronts.
Harlan Coben ought to think like a writer who wants us to enjoy his books, not merely buy them and then grow tired of them like a lamp from IKEA. He seems easily satisfied and I'm strongly deliberating that the genre is moribund to me....more
Well, that was not fun to read. It was a spectacular demotion where the author, probably cheered on by his agent, his near and dear and his well wisheWell, that was not fun to read. It was a spectacular demotion where the author, probably cheered on by his agent, his near and dear and his well wishers, contrived not to get inspired for even one measly Chapter.
We must move on. I... must move on, but I can't, until the 5th book is read. Despite giving the previous book 5 stars, I didn't go in this book with any expectation or preconceived notion.
How ironical would it be if the God of wisdom has forsaken Riordan. It's sometimes disheartening to see so many words woven into so much tripe. I know exactly why this book is a success critically and commercially. But let's not reveal it here....more
Unsalvageable. I'm tempted to tell Jim Butcher to go screw himself, because he sure screwed his faithful. What's more, most of his fans are rating thiUnsalvageable. I'm tempted to tell Jim Butcher to go screw himself, because he sure screwed his faithful. What's more, most of his fans are rating this book, praising it to the heavens.
There was an overemphasis on Mouse, the dog, and mention of a threesome, twice. If that kind of events happened in the author's life, then spice it up a little before serving it.
I know Butcher is a terrific writer, and I can see myself giving 5 stars to Battle Ground, but my personal opinion on this garbage book is that hype is a real thing that can reel in the gullible, the famished, the naive, and the fanatic....more
Once I tried to write something. I wrote two chapters. Sent them to a dear friend, expecting any sort of feedback. But I knew from her silence that whOnce I tried to write something. I wrote two chapters. Sent them to a dear friend, expecting any sort of feedback. But I knew from her silence that what I'd written was abysmal. This book was almost as bad as my efforts at writing....more
Like most cozies worth their salt, this one wears its phoniness on its sleeve. But that doesn't mean that the writer can get away with murder.
There waLike most cozies worth their salt, this one wears its phoniness on its sleeve. But that doesn't mean that the writer can get away with murder.
There was a lot of waffling. The main character follows the trail that a semi competent cop would be onto in a jiffy. Pages and pages of nothingness dressed as story. I can't be garrulous in the face of well meaning mediocrity.
The manner of the showdown was different. The big twist in the end, with the wedding, was uncalled for and was incredulous. If I'm in a bind in the future and don't know what to read I might pick up the next book in the series....more
This was a silent, unexpected, and a nasty surprise. What a farce. Books like this are getting 4.02 as average score, while other better books by the This was a silent, unexpected, and a nasty surprise. What a farce. Books like this are getting 4.02 as average score, while other better books by the same author are languishing in around 3.60 score.
Readers who hate cozy mysteries hate books like this. Ring for Murder does a disservice to the genre. The main couple get their marriage postponed. Okay. There are promising points to be plotted.
But instead, the author goes on a tangent about a murder of the hero's brother, in the middle of which the couple cuddle and hug and kiss without sleeping together. The murder mystery is a mess. I'm glad this is the last book in the series....more
I'm too lazy to write a really compelling disavowal of Dracul. I wanted to compare Dracula with Dracul. Dracula is masterful while Dracul is bloated -I'm too lazy to write a really compelling disavowal of Dracul. I wanted to compare Dracula with Dracul. Dracula is masterful while Dracul is bloated - and not with blood.
Dracul is not a worthy prequel. If one compares text from both books, Dracula is incisive, unrepetitive, purposeful, efficient, and successful.
I know that Dracul will survive the test of time, and that galls me. But it should not. The masterpiece that is Dracula remains unsullied. I can enjoy the latter in all of its purity. Amen....more
I chuckled twice while reading the book. You know how likely that a funny writer decides to write urban fantasy? The chances are a hundred to one, proI chuckled twice while reading the book. You know how likely that a funny writer decides to write urban fantasy? The chances are a hundred to one, probably.
"What's the matter, Trent? Jealous?" was a very funny quip. The parts where Rachel was captive, were among the most transcendental bits of a genre that I've barely explored, but did so, so far, to meager rewards.
Now that I've got an entire series of good books waiting in the wings, I'll read them one after the other, starting soon. That's a promise to myself....more
Inconsistency is the name of the game with Leslie Meier. She cannot string two good books together at the time of writing. Although the trademark fluiInconsistency is the name of the game with Leslie Meier. She cannot string two good books together at the time of writing. Although the trademark fluidity of the prose was present, the style emphasized starkly the lack of buildup, pacing, plot, and twists in this Halloween themed book. I do know it's the lowest rated book of the series, and the fact that I dislike it is no coincidence.
Bill Stone was cruelly underused during the entire thing. He appears only to flip the television channels or if he's being horny. I know he's not the main character but he is very important. If the author has no use for him then may I suggest killing him off? That would put him out of his misery. I can't know for sure what character appeared most here apart from Lucy, but it does look like Ike Stoughton might just be the one. His role is mainly to provide misdirection while the real murderer gallivants about fearlessly. Nobody, not Leslie Meier, not her editor, not anyone who she thanked in her book had the right clue to come up with the type of decent ideas that made this series a roaring success.
The biggest blot was the vindication of supernatural Wicca activities which left, at the last chapter, the door ajar, when trying to explain the miraculous events in the book. I do know there are ghostly cozy mysteries but why here? This is not meant to be a spooky book! I'm sure the low ratings reflect how readers reacted to this premise. The only purpose this book served was to make it clear to me that character development is the major thing that attracts me to this series. Likable characters that are a delight to root for. The author has fallen and came back before. I'm sure she'll bounce back in the remaining books, but I'm running out of them. When I do come to the last published book, let me look back on this series with longing instead of relief....more
Kate Collins takes a hike and Mrs Hyde ghostwrote this book for her. It's simply maddening how erratic can the author be. I should be used to this on Kate Collins takes a hike and Mrs Hyde ghostwrote this book for her. It's simply maddening how erratic can the author be. I should be used to this on and off form. There are more stupid books but they don't insult one's intelligence as a book that is half serious half joking, but committedly stupid. It seems that the very author herself can't keep hold of her characters. I mean that she can't write them the same way. In this book, they are doppelgangers, not originals.
I hope her next book is better. There was one single good thing about Night of the Living Dandelion, that was the identity of the murderer. I really wanted to love this book. I did derive pleasure from reading it thoroughly. I said to myself, this is the reason why I read. It's just like the Enid Blyton books I have read in my childhood. It's all about getting comfortable and cozy and be able to escape. I thought, I'm no longer reading the Dickens book that's driving me mad, I'm not reading Les Miserables, I'm not steeling myself for reading the contemporary and untried 700 page novel that's perched on my kindle. I now need to man up and read the said books, eroding them away from my e-reader word by word. Who needs friends when you've got books? Right? Right....more
It's with a weary heart that I end my patient, obdurate reading of one of the great Victorian novels. Flowery syntax aside, let me confess that I mea It's with a weary heart that I end my patient, obdurate reading of one of the great Victorian novels. Flowery syntax aside, let me confess that I meant, at many times, to abandon reading. The punctuation and epithet of this book were very trying to me. I couldn't understand parts of the book at all. It became a very boring read too often. In the end, my unusual patience prevailed and I now declare that this was a not completely futile experience.
It was justly so that the book ended where it did. Had I ditched this book I would be under the impression that all would end well. Alas it did not. Nicholas Nickleby would have earned 4 stars had the character called Smike - my fondest character in this book - not had a link with the Nicklebies. All grumblings aside, all imagined or inherent grievances aside, I wouldn't say no to a second Charles Dickens novel....more
Though the solution to this mystery was a rehash of the very first book, it upped its quality somewhat. I had a nasty surprise incoming when I read a Though the solution to this mystery was a rehash of the very first book, it upped its quality somewhat. I had a nasty surprise incoming when I read a ploy ripped off Desperate Housewives, of all sitcoms! God knows what else was lifted for this messy story. What was the point of no return was the transformation of Lance Venable, the heterosexually challenged neighbor of Jaine. He was insufferable. It was supposed to bring a cute but naughty touch to the fore. But the guy was like a villain twirling a comedic handlebar moustache. I'm quite let down, but I will continue reading these manageable, small packets of books if the author keeps churning them out. Even all things considered....more
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