Review: Intriguing story idea, not well-executed
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 02 20, 2013
I purchased this book the other day, even though it had a couple of one-star reviews for poor editing.  I read the author's replies to those, stating that the problems were fixed.  Because I have read several of his other books and liked them, I went ahead and purchased this one. Unfortunately, it is still riddled with errors.  Mr. Hynd seriously needs a more meticulous editor, who can offer suggestions on sentence structure, subject-verb agreement, consistent verb tense, etc.,  and not just look for typos (of which there were still too many). Another problem was the use of Spanish and French conversations that went on a bit too long for someone with only a modicum of knowledge of the languages.I did like much of the story, which is why I gave it two stars.  If it had been well-edited, I would have given it three stars.  As it was, I really had to overlook the writing at times to let myself enjoy the story. The build-up to the final confrontation was strong, and kept me up past my bedtime, but then it happened so fast that the tension was lost.I loved the character of Anna.  I thought the final scene between Laura and Sam was terrific. I found the bits about her paranoia distracting, especially since they didn't seem to actually lead anywhere. One of my favorite lines:  "thirty-three is the new five."  I also think the background of the 'bad guy' was left up in the air too much. Not enough connections made at the end to explain how he got to his 'mission.' He was TOO much of a ghost.I thought of giving the story four stars, if the mistakes were cleaned up. But I realized there were way too many loose ends and incongruities that weren't explained. In addition, every agency (FBI, CIA, NSA, Secret Service, local police) was portrayed as pretty much full of incompetents. It's a wonder the President wasn't assassinated every day!Just a few of the problems with the text that I found (and they occurred about every three or four pages):"The images... and it further and put forth the feeling that..." (Loc. 13754 of iPad Kindle reader)"Med-Evacked" for medevac or medivac (Loc. 13719)"...her eyes still poised on the door..." (Loc. 13656)What? Her eyes were teetering on the brink? Ready to take off in flight?And in another spot (Loc. 13618), another character asks for Laura's address, but Laura ends up getting that person's information.  That kind of inconsistency should just not be in a well-edited book."She stopped ten feet away and saw ever do distantly a genetic resemblance..."  (Loc. 13486)"The towns were sometimes isolated, and often far in-between."  (Loc. 13362) Shouldn't that be "few and far between?""...allowing the blue mountains and a long stretch of blacktop on Interstate Eighty roll by and set the tone of her day."  (Loc. 13362)"The morning of the third day, .... was quiet in the early morning." (Loc. 12800). Okay, I get it!  It was morning!!And those are just the problems in the last part of the book.