Review: A worthy debut
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 26, 2013
I don't normally read crime thrillers or short works, but I came across Blood In The Past and was drawn in by the intriguing cover. For the most part, I was pleasantly surprised. The author spins a tale of interwoven lives with characters that are as far from `Mary Sue' as they can be.One the positive side, East manages to develop relatively complex characters in a short space, while keeping the plot moving at a reasonable clip. The writing is easy to read, and the descriptions are fresh and engaging. There is much about this book that is professionally done.On the negative side, I'm not a fan of omniscient point of view, but I didn't take off points for that. What I marked off for was something this book didn't have.The opening chapter begins with a minor character, and that was a problem for me. Not only did it create confusion and skewed reader focus at the outset, it ruined a great opportunity to set up motive and make us sympathetic to the book's true main character, Lyla.*vague spoiler alert*Lyla makes a hasty and shocking choice that seriously challenged my suspension of disbelief--but only because the proper groundwork was not laid. Had the author started with this character in chapter one and used her memories and perceptions to make me sympathetic to her and angry at her father, the actions she takes later would have been more believable. This structure would have bonded me to the right character, tied the whole story together, and brought it full circle at the end.Even so, Blood In The Past is a worthy debut. 4 stars.