Review: Effortless reading
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 2, 2013
The thing that most strikes me about this novel was how effortless it was to read. The author was like an elite athlete who makes everything they do look easy. Within a few sentences I was hooked and images were just flowing through my mind. The downside of this is that I cannot make my usual comments about the quality of the word-smithing because I simply cannot remember a moment in this book when the words intruded on the story.Confining myself to the story, this book is so the antithesis of a book by a different author that I reviewed some months back. Both books feature an ex-FBI agent turned small town sherrif. Whereas the other book had the ex-FBI angle as a bit of colour and nothing else, in this novel Grilz really knows how to work the angle to its best. I mention this for anyone who ever reads through a number of my reviews - folks, this book exemplifies how to write an ex-FBI agent. The story itself is superficially a fairly common kidnapping in a country town scenario that escalates into something more. I always appreciate it when an author takes an established story scenario and breathes life into it.Besides how easy to read, the good aspects of the book include its pace, the thoughtful approach to the characterisation of the protagonists, and a mostly believable storyline.If I had to supply a weakness, it would be the inclusion of supernatural elements. As much as I like supernatural novels, I felt the elements unneccesary in this instance. Having said that, they are very minor.I am now off to hunt other novels by this author.