Review: Really rough
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 02 9, 2014
The author has the bones of a good plot, but the execution is terribly lacking.  The main characters are introduced with a giant dump of information -- instead of letting the details of their lives emerge throughout the story, he simply tells us everything about them.  It's hard to figure out why we should care about the details of their childhood before we even know who they are or what type of story it is going to be.  The dialogue is also problematic -- it seems the author was going for a witty and breezy feel, but it's hard to ignore the fact that most people just don't talk that way.  For example, a woman introduces a man to a collection of childhood friends (and her father) and tells them that she isn't having sex with him.  Okay.  It's also distracting that actions that take place during dialogue are set in italics.The plot itself isn't terrible, it's just naive.  There's the ragtag group of people who can carry out a complex investigation, the investigative journalist who builds a military-style defense system in his barely furnished cabin (complete with mines in the driveway), the mobster with a heart-of-gold who hates the idea of drugs being sold, etc.  Everything felt very immature.