Review: 21 hours : A Review @ Readers' Muse
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 26, 2013
The review was originally posted @ www.readmuse.blogspot.inKidnapping, Ex-Con Uncle, Criminal masterminds. These three words in the summary of the book made me go for it. My kind of book really.The story begins with cattle being branded in a rusty ranch. A frantic phone call from the twin sister( Alex O'Connor) of narrator (Felix “O” O'Connor) stating that her daughter has been kidnapped interrupts the branding process. “O” drives to his sister's place and uses his old prison connections to try track the kidnapper and rescue his niece. (I found that cattle branding interrupted by a phone call extremely amusing!)One prisoner leads to some equal rouge outside prison who then washes his hands off and points to another criminal, who finally points to the original bad guy.Our narrator “O” takes matter into his own hands in spite of the police involved and follows that criminal link to take down the bad guy finally and get back his kidnapped niece.This is the story line put real blunt sans the twists that are actually present in the book. But then, if you pick this book expecting melodramatic twists or strategic turns, you are sure to be disappointed.The writer, Dustin Stevens has used very simple language and has followed a very mellow style of narration. No frills attached. Just bang on to the point. Yet somehow he manages to convey all sorts of emotions ranging from that protective instinct of a brother to the innocence of a child.When a book involves kidnapping of a child, writers tend to make it thoroughly dramatic. At times they go overboard. But thankfully that didn't happen with this book. A bit of a drama is okay. But overdoing drama kills of the suspense element.One other thing which I loved about the was that, the characters weren't exactly complicated. The plot certainly was fast paced but not too fast making the readers lose track of what exactly happens.There was only one thing I didn't exactly like. The chain of criminals. One leading to another is fine. But one leading to another leading to another isn't exactly “interesting”. When the third criminal came, I sort of became weary. I just wondered of this one was going to lead to another.Nevertheless, it was worth the read for someone like me who can't just get enough of thrillers.VERDICT: It's definitely a book to read if you like reading thrillers.RATING: 4/5