Review: Very Good Writing, Good Story, Frustrating Finale
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 11, 2012
This story made this reader angry as the final pages were read, an anger that was fed by frustration that happens when it's obvious there's more to the story and there's no way for the reader to pull the larger story out of the text at hand.  This initial installment uses conflict well, portraying several police and federal agents as clearly supporting a marijuana-growing witness, using well-abled and strong-minded individuals in close association with autistic and developmentally-delayed people, depicting a real difference in the ways men and women think, a dichotomy between small, close-knit communities and the larger, busy interaction of modern cities, the communications offered through technical advances versus the small-town friendliness epiotmized in road parties, and even moreso the communication provided through the ages via mediums such as dreams and tarot cards.  This story provides a story that the reader anticipates ending with the marijuana grower somehow being vindicated and her associates brought down in some manner involving the intelligent thinking of the federal agent that becomes her significant other;  however, that anticipation may or may not be correct, but in this novel, the ending pages provide a conclusion that offers the reader a complete story not yet meeting the reader's anticipated finality, but delivering a conclusion that is probably more in keeping with real world life than the storybook ending would have provided.A good novel, well worth the money, the book is a complete story that obviously expects subsequent installments that demands an ongoing text in keeping with this anchoring text.  This reader prefers books, even those within a series, to truly complete a story line within each novel;  otherwise, the reader's natural inclination is to be frustrated for purchasing what is perceived as an incomplete work and feeling frustrated because the publisher uses the innate need to know the final conclusion to leverage future purchases.  While this book is well worth the 99 cents offered for Kindle readers, it would perhaps be more preferred to offer a larger work for a slightly higher cost and truly finish the work rather than leave the perceptive reader frustrated and angry because the writing hols the reader hostage and, in order to get the full story, demands that future installments be procured in order to get a complete understanding of the entire situation and characters that almost feel like personal friends in the reader's mind.