Review: (Very) lightweight capers
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 12, 2014
Reviewed by Angelica Bentley (for The Kindle Book Review).This is the fourth instalment of the Wendy Darlin adventures (I haven't read the others) but it is intended to be a stand-alone book.  Wendy is a real estate broker dealing in expensive mansions in the Miami area.  She has an on-off relationship with a prominent archaeologist called Roger Jolley who is a Johnny Depp look-alike.  Hmm, that's a stroke against him in my book, however …The story begins promisingly enough with plenty of energy and an intriguing scene:  Wendy finds her high-school pal and client Tippy Henman in a parking lot, splattered with blood and standing over a man with a knife in his chest.  Wendy calls 911 (a favourite activity of hers to the point that one wonders why she doesn't have them on speed-call) and runs to support a fainting Tippy.  When the police arrive, they misread the situation and start treating Wendy as the assassin.  This allows for plenty of smart-ass repartee and establishes Wendy as a spirited heroine with a penchant for getting into trouble and the Miami police as bumbling idiots.Amusing up to a point and I'm sure it's a cultural thing, but I did not find the humour that compelling.  Silkstone has a way with words, she can twist a sentence and inject irony and sarcasm into the most mundane of situations, but it felt like she was tickling my ribs, willing me to laugh, and it wasn't happening.  Sorry, Barbara!  I appreciate the intent but it didn't fully succeed with me.  There is nothing really wrong with the story.  It clips along at a good pace, there are plenty of sideshows and each character has a well-defined personality.  It's just that it's so predictable, the caricatures are so unimaginative, and the clichés so tired.  I got bored of Wendy's endless brand name-checking and stopped caring how many fake nails she had broken while she swung between her dual personality incarnations:  ditzy fashion-slave teetering on high heels, to Indiana Jones action-heroine jumping into rivers and on moving planes.  I knew from the start that Wendy and I have nothing in common, but completely lost interest after her quip about a Vera Wang wardrobe.  The Alfred Hiccup side story was silly and the plot twist was telegraphed so far in advance that it completely lost any impact.As a friend of mine aptly put it, it's all about expectations.  With all the promotion and high praise for this series, my expectations were high.  The actual book was a let down.  It's not horrible, just very average.  It just depends on your sense of humour.  Three and half stars, rounded up to allow for different tastes.The Kindle Book Review received a free copy of this book for an independent, fair, and honest review. We are not associated with the author or Amazon.