Review: Yucatàn Dead - Very much alive!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 25, 2014
The following review has appeared previously on The Magnolia Blossom Review, a site owned and maintained by L. Avery Brown. The book was donated to The MBR by the author in return for a fair and honest review. This review was completed by the site’s owner, L. Avery Brown1. Book Title – 4 of 5Q. For the Reviewer: Did it grab your attention right away? (5) Was it ho hum? (3) Would you glance at it and then forget it? (1) What do you think the author might consider for future book titles? (You should have plenty of space for each item on the form as I think I set it up for the boxes to 'grow'.)A. It's interesting - if not a little confusing. Were it only 'Yucatàn Dead' with no subtitle I wouldn't have a clue as to what it's about but adding in the subtitle, A Kate Jones Thriller, really helped a lot.2. Book Cover – 5 of 5Q. For the Reviewer: Did it grab your attention? (5) Was it ho hum? (3) Did it look like it was haphazardly thrown together? (1) What do you think the author might consider for future book covers? Did it help make the title more effective?A. It's interesting. It's eye catching and the fact that there's a woman carrying a gun pretty much tells me that it's going to have some sort of action/gun play in it.3. First 500... – 8 of 10Q. For the Reviewer: Thinking of the first 500 (usually about 2 pages) words of the book, do you think the author provided enough incentive to urge the reader to continue? What stood out to you the most? Were you captivated after a couple of paragraphs? Did the 1st sentence grab you? Did you get to around the 500 word mark and didn't have a clue where the story was going?A. Perhaps if I'd read the first few books in the Kate Jones series, I might understand a bit better why in the world the main character wakes up in what I think is a cell in some tropical country after, apparently, having been beaten. I'm all for jumping right into the action but there was no frame of reference for me to go on. I think I was at a bit of a disadvantage having not read the books leading up to this one because they obviously play a major role in the action. It's sort of like starting to watch a TV series that's been on the air for about 3 years and trying to figure out who people are and why they wound up where they were. Maybe a bit more of a lead in at the very beginning would have helped.4. Blurb Effectiveness – 10 of 10Q. For the Reviewer: Now that you've finished the book, please take a moment to look back over the blurb. How effective do you think the blurb will be to potential readers? Did the author write a blurb that was enticing and went along with the story? (10) Was the blurb lacking? (5) Was it entirely too long or too short? (1) Do you have any suggestions for the author to make it more effective?A. It is definitely an intriguing blurb and lets the reader know right off the bat that it's going to be a book filled with action, violence, and people you probably wouldn't want to take home to your mother - unless your mother is Ma Barker or something!5. Age Recommendation/Genre Classification – 10 of 10Q. For the Reviewer: Age Recommendation - If the book is entirely too young/juvenile for the intended age group? Is it entirely too mature? (Please take into account swearing/sexual scenes/drug use, etc... Genre Classification - Was the book listed as a thrill ride of a read but was more of a bumper car ride (sort of all over the place)? Was it listed as a mystery and you simply had to turn the page to find out 'who did it'?A. This is definitely an Action/Adventure/Thriller story - DV Berkom definitely has hit that nail on the head. And it'll ring most with people in the 25ish and up range - both men and women.6. Presentation/Format – 9 of 10Q. For the Reviewer: Did the 'innards' of the book follow a clear, concise, standard format throughout the book? Or did you have a hard time keeping up with paragraphs or dialogue? Were multiple fonts used? Were they distracting?A. I wasn't too thrilled with the way the book opened because I felt completely out of the loop Kate Jones loop and it took me a chapter or two to sort of figure out what was going on. Aside from that the book was pretty darn flawless.7. Theme/Originality – 8 of 10Q. For the Reviewer: Was this book similar to something you may have read before? If it was a retelling - did the author make it feel fresh and just different enough that it kept you involved? Or was it formulaic and a 'rehash' of a popular tale/current 'pop' genre? OR - is this the first time you can recall ever reading a book with theme/setup/etc of this particular title?A. There are oodles of drug cartel action/thrillers out there and most all of them have someone trying to escape a past that's caught up to them...sort of like Kate Jones who dated the wrong guy a few years ago - stole some of his money - and has been on the run ever since. It's not all that original but then again, if you're a person who likes strong female leads who decide to stop running and take charge of their fate - this is a pretty good book.8. Description/Enhancement – 10 of 10Q. For the Reviewer: Did the author use descriptive language and 'all those extra little things' to make it the best it could be? Did you feel it was too sparse in description? Did the author go OVER board with the description?A. It's a very well put together book. I felt like I was in the tropics thanks to the vivid descriptions of things like the bugs and the humidity. Good job.9. Intrigue – 8 of 10Q. For the Reviewer: Did you want to turn the next page because it was SO good? (10) Was it interesting but you didn't quite have an urge to keep reading? (5) Did you think 'I wonder if we have Twinkies in the pantry? Mmmmm, Twinkies' while you read? (1)A. Again, I don't feel I can really do this one justice because I felt like I had to really pay attention to all the 'past' mentions so that I could understand what was going on in the present with the character. Instead of feeling like I was on a constant forward run to get to the end to see things finally resolved - I had to keep 'looking back' and paying entirely too much attention to things so that I could see where I was going. That probably doesn't make sense to most folks reading this review - but it's honestly the only way I can explain it!10. Grammar/Mechanics – 10 of 10Q. For the Reviewer: Was the book pretty darn flawless? (10) Did you see more that 5 or 10 'jump out' at you mistakes in grammar or the actual mechanics (verb tense, noun/pronoun agreement, misused words) ? (5) Did you feel it was a chore to read because it was riddled with errors? (1)A. Excellent11. Overall Impression – 8 of 10Q. For the Reviewer: When all is said in done - did you enjoy the book? Would you recommend it to others?A. Overall, I enjoyed the book. I liked it most starting at about the halfway point because things were less focused on Kate's past and the decisions she'd made and how she wound up where she did. Meaning when the focus shifted to Kate working to help bring down the cartel - that's when I started to like it the most.Again - Let me point out - I've NOT read the previous books in this series! So if you're a Kate Jones lover - please take that into account. And if you've never read the series - I strongly suggest you start at book one so that you know exactly what's going on!When all is said and done, DV Berkom's Yucatàn Dead has earned 90 out of 100 points giving it 5 shining stars! Great job.Here’s wishing DV Berkom much success as she goes forward with her Kate Jones series.(BTW, I believe Yucatàn Dead is the 7th in the series!)