Review: Not bad, but...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 9, 2013
*this is a spoiler-free review*"Bob Moore: Hostile Territory" is the third book featuring Bob Moore, a detective who uses his wits and gadgets in a world filled with supers (heroes and villains alike). Even though it was quite long and had an elaborate plot, I regret to say that I liked it far less than the two previous books.Make no mistake - the book is quite good. In fact, it's much better than most other Kindle books in its price range. It had all the classic ingredients that I loved so much in other Bob Moore books, but they weren't presented in a very clear fashion... For example, while there aren't any plot holes per se, the writing could have been paced better: after our protagonist gets his mission (which I won't reveal here) in the beginning of the book, he takes a nap, travels to his destination, and spends the rest of the day flirting, running around, nearly getting killed on several occasions, drinking copious amounts of scotch, flirting some more, doing even more running - and he still has enough energy left to confront the villain at the end. I thought Bob didn't have any superpowers, but his stamina in this book definitely qualifies as one. The pacing would have worked far better if, instead of non-stop action, the novel took place over several days instead.Another example: a very nearly deus ex machina bodyguard who can protect you against any threat but whose absence in the previous book (when a homicidal super killed everything in his path) is never explained.Finally, there were typos... I know that the author has a team of copy editors, but the book could have used another sweep or two before getting released. The errors weren't on every single page, but there were enough of them for me to take notice. (I usually forgive an occasional typo or two if the book is good enough.) Here are a few examples: "She stepped passed me." "She could control how much oxygen available for her." "What it was going to take to pacify him?" "A dual to the death."I loved the first book because it set up the somewhat dystopian world of superheroes in a gradual, easygoing manner. The second book had the gradually escalating sense of hopelessness which reached truly epic proportions toward the end. This book could have surpassed its predecessors but it fell short. It had some fun lines ("Bacon isn't a vegetable?") and a few interesting tidbits about the world Bob lives in, but I still have to take away two stars for the uneven writing and subpar copy-editing. I hope there will be revisions and a future edition will render this review irrelevant, but until then...