Review: Ok'ish
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 22, 2014
I’m not complaining too loudly but this read may just disprove the oft-quoted adage – that the best things in life are free. Never having read Shannon before my interest was aroused when I saw Bill Pronzini’s praise for his book Memorial Day. Hopping over to Amazon to check it out, I saw Behold the Child was available for free download and cheapskate that I am; I pushed the button on it.Enjoyable up to a point; I was interested in Shannon’s cop McKenzie and his life as an LAPD officer. He was interesting, if not exactly likeable. Obsessed with pursuing a child-killer, McKenzie goes off-script which leads to his eventual departure from the police force. On his way to his new life, he encounters a shaman-cum-mystic-cum-wise-old-black-dude....... at which point I kind of lost interest.I was fairly gripped until then but I’m not big on supernatural twists. Had Shannon kept the finale rooted in reality, he may have won himself a new fan. My impending purchase of Memorial Day has been put on hold, until further notice.88 pages long, so not too much time invested in it.3 from 5 overallPicked up from Amazon UK, where it is still currently available for free.