Review: Fun story; flawed writing
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 12, 2013
There is so much to like about this book. The premise is great. The wise-cracking, politically incorrect central character walks a fine line between amusing and irritating, but tends to grow on us. Loads of fun with nasty bad guys, ineptitudes, crazed scientist, sexy women, thrills...and a nice twist on the old "switcheroo."That said, the author gives everything away in the prologue, then has our detective hitting on the correct idea at once, which spoils the mystery. There are too many places where the backstory is shoved at us awkwardly (and boringly). Despite the author's thanks to his copy editor, he would have done better to run a spell check and a grammar check. LOTS of problems on that score, including too many instances of using the wrong word (peak instead of peek, to instead of too, etc.). Some of his entangled sentences are difficult (to impossible) to make sense of, and I'd recommend watching repeats of certain things (we can deal with one "whore in church" but not more). The great Gardner Duzois never read more if he found a couple of minor mistakes on the first page because it meant the author hadn't bothered to learn the craft. If the author wants helps, he should check out Zoetrope.com for a community of writers. Studying the basics always improves a story.If you can overlook the flaws, you'll enjoy the story. I hope the author will consider a rewrite and make this the book it's crying to be.