Review: tiffany wrote it
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 03 3, 2014
Tiffany is, to be polite, stupid and self-centered -- and every single thing she says reflects one, or both, of these traits; she is the poster girl for the writing.  This book is a poorly written knock-off of Mickey Spillane.  It has more similes and metaphores than a leoplard has spots (sorry, couldn't resist).  Richard Sherlock (the name, itself, is a great clue to the tone of the book), is a poor man's Sam Spade (and I do mean 'poor').  Almost every name and all dialogue is (methinks) supposed to be cleaver; not accomplished.  The problem is, I kept reading to see how much worse the puns could get, and to see who-done-it.  The puns (framed as dialogue) became one-note -- awful upon terrible (not 'groaner' puns, but the 'why bother' variety).  As for the who-done-it, (possible spoiler alert), at the end we have the big 'reveal' scene, in which the 'who' and 'done' are so contrived one needs a story web (kids' way of mapping a story) to keep it all straight.  What should have been a fun read was, instead a story waiting to be interesting.  I won't waste time on another Jim Stevens book.