Review: Review by Closed the Cover
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 1, 2014
This is a tough review to write because Joanne, the author, is SO sweet!  When she e-mailed me with an offer to read and review Traceless I immediately accepted because I loved the idea behind it but now that I’ve finished it I can’t help but wish that it had offered more – more in the way of characterization, more in the way of a deeper plot, more in the way of the conclusion.  I just wanted…more.  Of everything.The story opens with an incredible hook!  Adam Stoltz and his girlfriend, Darcey Ackerman, are driving through the mountains in Ireland when another driver pulls up beside them, waving them down, and telling them there are sparks coming out of the back of their camper van.  Against Darcey’s wishes Adam pulls over…and is never seen again.  Darcey hears a loud noise (a gunshot maybe??) and is kidnapped by the stranger.  She escapes, barely, and hides for hours.  When she finally emerges, and is able to find help, people doubt her story and no one can find Adam, or Adam’s body.  What happened in the mountains?  The mystery is immediately gripping.After this amazing hook is where it started to fall apart a bit for me.  The stranger who pulled them over is continually referred to as "The Man" and while I understand not knowing his identity the continual "The Man" did this and "The Man" said that felt frustrating.  I made the same notations at two different points in the book; at 33% through I made a notation that “the execution, especially when writing about the technical forensic stuff is dry and abrupt” and then, at 75% through I made a notation that, “It is just too cold & factual. It needs more emotion.”  I don’t know if Joanne has any first-hand knowledge of investigation and forensics but these parts of the book felt as though it was straight, cold fact.  The statements would say something along the lines of “She … (did this action) … because (explanation of forensic technique).  There were full paragraphs of this style.  It may say, “She put on gloves because she knew she needed to protect the scene.  She was careful not to walk through the mud because she didn’t want to leave her own footprints.  She turned the flashlight toward the bush because she knew that is where Darcey had claimed to hide.  She questioned her story because she thought the blue would reflect in the light.”  (those words and sentences are mine, not taken from the book).  It just felt like it lacked an emotional passionate drive and the forensics were cold rather than interesting.Also, Chapter 39 should have been omitted entirely.  It was awkward and it didn’t fit in; it felt like there was simply no point to it at all.  It was 1.5 pages and at one point the “bad guy” said, “I need time to think.”  It caught me off guard.  What bad guy stops mid-crime because he “needs time to think.”  Then…it was over.  It was off-putting.The conclusion left me feeling unfulfilled.  I was disappointed in the reveal, the trial, the epilogue and the unresolved loose ends involving the journalist and the investigator.  It felt too rushed.  The potential in this book was incredible.  This could have been AMAZING but instead it was just good.  It was a good story, a good mystery and a good book but it could have been, and should have been, so much more.Review by Ashley LaMarClosed the Cover