Review: Author can't leave well enough alone
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 05 30, 2014
I am revising my review DOWN to one star, based on this author's responses to negative reviews, including mine. First he says he's not getting into "a pissing contest" with me, yet he had no trouble doing so with three or four other one-star reviewers (which he conveniently disremembers)...excuse me, one exception: He sicced his "professional editor" Sally Berneathy on Mr. Spadaro.Among one-star comments: "reminded me of Nancy Drew...could have been written by a teenage girl," "silly," "makes no sense," "dialogue is horrible," "complete boredom," "story is implausible," "cheap and nasty," "absolutely appalling," "one dimensional as if a 13 year old wrote this," "pedestrian," "a first draft that appears to merit no further effort," "bad grammar, syntax, punctuation...completely unrealistic characters, pages of pointless 'cute' banter that no one who has ever actually talked to an adult would dare call realistic," "the text is simple, the plot is simple, the characters are simple," "Moats should have paid me," "who are these people that gave it a 4 or 5 star rating...I hope they don't live in my neighborhood," "...even at this price (free) this book is a ripoff...who edited this? Someone's baby brother?", "reads like a dropout loser's fantasy," "writing is usually sophomoric, at times schoolgirl giddy, and always bad," "writing style is awful. Painful even. Lifeless sentences, tired descriptions," and Mr. Moats calls ME "mean". He also points out that he has legions of followers who applaud his work: I'm happy he has a large extended family.And the final nail: "All of this combined with the rude responses to other Amazon reviewers by the author and I'm done with this guy for good." AMEN."Holy crap," he said, then put it between covers, titled it "Classmate Murders" and called it a book. I'm still not giving it a one-star because it DID improve. Somewhat.Let me get this straight. An 60-year-old, twice-divorced, unemployed (by choice, having determined his EMPLOYERS to be "stupid" and "jerks") car lot security guard who lives with his parents (supposedly helping Mom after Dad suffered a stroke but in return for a few chores and errands apparently gets room and board, gratis*) takes it upon himself to stick his nose into two murder cases simply because he went to school 40-some years earlier with the victims?And on what planet would a police investigator disclose pertinent facts of an ongoing murder investigation to - again, a 60-year-old-twice-divorced-unemployed-car-lot-security-guard-who-lives-with-his-parents - AND cautions this uninvolved third party not to reveal said facts to the press? AND quick-as-a-bunny deem him an "unofficial civilian advisor"?And the first thing said - again, 60-year-old-twice-divorced-unemployed-car-lot-security-guard-who-lives-with-his-parents - uninvolved third party does is spill his guts about the murder (by now plural) and the "closely police-guarded/ongoing investigation" facts to his best friend, also - you guessed it - a (concealed-weapon licensed) automobile car lot security guard.Another sticking point: A smart, attractive, sexy 60-year-old semi-celebrity woman may have become reunited with a former boyfriend after 40-some years for some slap-and-tickle, but believe me - NO woman in such a position and still in possession of her mental faculties would completely ignore the fact that the former boyfriend - in 40-some years - had no higher achievement or aspiration than to become a - again - 60-year-old-twice-divorced-unemployed-car-lot-security-guard-who-lives-with-his-parents.That's not suspending your disbelief, it's taking it out into a dark alley and shooting it point-blank through the forehead. That would have been more of a mercy killing than having, at long last, come to the end of "Classmate Murders".After reading 19% I had to go back and start over again to make sure I wasn't missing something. Tragically, I wasn't.On a positive note, a little further on the plot does get considerably more interesting. Whether it's interesting enough to overcome its unfortunate beginning and the foul taste left in my mouth from this unfortunate choice of protagonist "attributes" is up to the reader to decide.About the only thing I could recommend this book for would be as a classic study in character history and personality traits NOT to give your protagonist. Okay, he's a good guy, has a sense of right and wrong, is kind to his parents and hasn't kicked any dogs by the end of the book. Beyond that, as a general rule I don't require that a book's plot be 100% "believable" or even a remote semblance of real life. Still and all, THIS one was completely out of the realm of even MY sense of plausibility.To give Mr. Moats the benefit of the doubt I did read the excerpt from the next book in the series, "Vegas Show Girl Murders," and while it might appear at first blush to be an improvement on 'Classmate', my sense is that the character hurdles enumerated at the beginning of this review are going to be difficult to bury. Still and all - as long as I can get "Vegas" for free - I will probably give it a try and hope for better things. For everybody.For those keeping score, here are the standings as far as heads-ups for most reviewers' declared turnoffs:1.) Profanity is present but not excessive;2.) No paranormal, supernatural, sci-fi, or magic components;3.) Little, non-gooey, romance;4.) No graphic sex (note the protagonist, "has occasional sexual encounters, just not with another human being.");5.) Incest between half-sibs is mentioned;6.) No religious or alternative lifestyle agenda or promotion;7.) Some violence of a low-gory (but not grisly) nature, one non-gory incident of torture;8.) No cliffhanger ending;9.) Grammar and punctuation police, have at it, examples of what you will find:"She carefully taped the ends together and produced a nice spark." (tape-ing would have produced noth-ing, tapping would have been more productive)"My curiosity was peaked.""...but no one seems knows where."*after all, the protagonist does confess to having split the money his MOM gave him for gas (for HIS car which is used primarily for HIS job) between the car's needs and his own need for BEER