Review: A lively read, but three stars only
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 21, 2011
This is a fast-paced story, bringing the face of technology and the internet up close and personal. The concept of six degrees of separation has always intrigued me, and I was interested to see how the author would play this out.The opening almost lost me, with the texting between Rachel and her friends difficult at times to decipher, and I feared the whole story would be at this level. Mercifully, it was not.The characters were each introduced abruptly, with only some immediate connection between a few of them. I hoped that as the story developed, their interconnection would become more apparent. Without spoiling the story, in some cases it did, but on the whole, I think it would have worked better for this reader's satisfaction to tie all the characters together by the end. It was somehow expected that it would be, so I felt left hanging at the end. There was simply no closure with more than half the characters. Also, I feel the author handled the characters unevenly, devoting more time to some and less to others, and leaving long, unexplained gaps of time in some cases. It was a little frustrating to have to make the leaps.I feel, too, that the chapter changes with the characters ran into some difficulty when the author moved back and forth in time. It was clear that background and motivation were being developed, but structurally, it wasn't sound. I think the chronology could be tightened up.In addition, the story is light on description. It's not fatal, but I would have liked more, and to have more context for the characters.Last, but certainly not least, there were egregious formatting glitches in my e-book. The paragraphs, especially in dialogue sections, were a mess and a challenge to decipher. This is disappointing.So in all, this is a light read that does carry you along. The characters are interesting people that you want to know more about, and there is certainly an element of fun.