Review: The Camera Guy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 31, 2012
This was a fantastic book. And I was pleasantly shocked by that fact. I'll tell you why.First: This book is self published, and I don't usually read self published novels, unless it was written by an author that has already been published. Nothing against people who self pub their books, it's just not my cup of tea.Second: It's not romance. I don't typically read outside of my genre, and if I do it's for good reason. Maybe I know the author and we're friends, or maybe it has some romance in it so I am willing to give it a go. Hey, what can I say? I like what I like, and reading takes me far away from my busy life, so if I'm going to escape, I want to do it in a place I like.I recently became acquainted with this author via twitter, and he helped me out with a couple of things I needed info on. He also happens to be a retired detective which was, or is... yeah, still is, an interest of mine. So, he mentioned his book and I figured I'd give it a go.This story is: suspense, paranormal, occult horror, mystery, fantasy, etc... There are so many genre's you could place it. In my opinion it's dark urban fantasy.The story is also written in omniscient point of view. I've never read anything written in omniscient POV before. I found that quite interesting. If you don't know what that is, google it. It's pretty neat stuff.The story is about a homicide detective - crime scene investigator. He photographs the scene of the crime, evidence, body... etc. He also sees ghosts. Not just any ghosts either, he sees the ghost of the very corpse he is investigating.Bill the main character, like all good MCs, is a pretty broken guy. Tragedy struck early on in his law enforcement career and he's never really recovered from it, plus everyone thinks he's nuts because he sees ghosts.The story unfolds in a series of connected murders and takes you on a twisty path of evil. I'm a big chicken and at one point in the middle of the night I had to put the book down.One part near the end I was so upset at what had happened I emailed the author in the middle of the night to express my "WHY DID YOU DO THAT???" feelings. I think he got a laugh out of that.At the end of the book I was amazed at all that had transpired and was almost tired for poor Bill, because the character had been on one hell of a journey.It's a fantastic story, and I am quite glad I took the plunge and read it.Keep writing Richard!