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encgolsen's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
The concept here was promising: a near future where most of life takes place in virtual reality, personal data is just another commodity, and true crime simulations are a profit-making machine. Unfortunately, clunky dialogue, unnecessary repetition and a few distracting continuity errors made it hard to enjoy the plot. A lot of the novel felt like exposition--a subtler approach might have made for a more engaging read.
dreamingofbookpages's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
thebstandsforbooks's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A dystopian sci fi thriller with a cult and faux true crime?! Um yes, absolutely.
I don’t even know how to explain this book. Jump in blind and enjoy. This is a fun one!
I don’t even know how to explain this book. Jump in blind and enjoy. This is a fun one!
clawzzz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
meebo's review against another edition
3.0
I’m unsure what to rate this yet. I really enjoyed the world, I enjoyed the story. I’m unsure about the ending.
Edit: I still really like the world, and I think this was a decent book. I’m going with 3⭐️ because it was good, I enjoyed it, but I probably won’t think about it much more after this. I also wish the ending was better and didn’t try to have an outrageous “gotcha” twist at the end if that makes sense.
10/100
Edit: I still really like the world, and I think this was a decent book. I’m going with 3⭐️ because it was good, I enjoyed it, but I probably won’t think about it much more after this. I also wish the ending was better and didn’t try to have an outrageous “gotcha” twist at the end if that makes sense.
10/100
slbaker1107's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Earlier this week, I finally got around to listening to Jason Pinter’s newest novel: Past Crimes.
In a world so consumed by true crime and the virtual world comes Cassie West, a crime licensor for one such agency making money from past crimes. When her world is rocked and she is connected to a horrible crime it also comes with her becomes a target herself. Trying to survive, Cassie works to discover and unveil the truth in a race against time.
“Action-packed, satirical and beyond compelling, Past Crimes examines our obsession with true crime and how the pain of others has become a multi-billion-dollar industry, while also exploring the sinister possibilities of the virtual world.”
-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—
I received this audiobook in advance of the initial publication release.
As someone who was SUPER into sci-fi growing up and is just getting back into it, this was a great read. There was character development, a solid plot, and a fast pace. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in an easy sci-fi read and wants a storyline that is semi realistic.
+ Found Family
+ Fast Pace
+ Low Barrier to Entry for Understanding
+ Easy listen, some thought required but not a lot
- Political commentary was strong
- Room for greater character development on “bad guy”
- Big moment was pretty predictable
- Seemed to leave off with room for more…not sure if there is a second but could be good.
“There weren’t enough 1s and 0s to replicate what was in front of them.”
Happy reading!
In a world so consumed by true crime and the virtual world comes Cassie West, a crime licensor for one such agency making money from past crimes. When her world is rocked and she is connected to a horrible crime it also comes with her becomes a target herself. Trying to survive, Cassie works to discover and unveil the truth in a race against time.
“Action-packed, satirical and beyond compelling, Past Crimes examines our obsession with true crime and how the pain of others has become a multi-billion-dollar industry, while also exploring the sinister possibilities of the virtual world.”
-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—
I received this audiobook in advance of the initial publication release.
As someone who was SUPER into sci-fi growing up and is just getting back into it, this was a great read. There was character development, a solid plot, and a fast pace. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in an easy sci-fi read and wants a storyline that is semi realistic.
+ Found Family
+ Fast Pace
+ Low Barrier to Entry for Understanding
+ Easy listen, some thought required but not a lot
- Political commentary was strong
- Room for greater character development on “bad guy”
- Big moment was pretty predictable
- Seemed to leave off with room for more…not sure if there is a second but could be good.
“There weren’t enough 1s and 0s to replicate what was in front of them.”
Happy reading!
barksbeachesbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
daredeviling's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I wanted so much to like this book more than I ended up liking it. It has all the things that are normally my bread and butter—dystopia, true crime, sci-fi/cyberpunk elements, a shitty future, and snark. But despite that, I felt like this book wasted a lot of its potential, which was as bummer. Don't get me wrong, I still finished the book in a day and it was very much compulsively readable, but I felt like it could have been a lot more than it was. This was somewhere between a tongue-in-cheek satire and a sci-fi book, which sort of left me feeling stranded in the middle.
The worldbuilding was so great and it definitely made me think of Ready Player One, but where that book succeeded and this book struggled was how it drew people into the worldbuilding elements. What I mean by that is I felt like this book did a lot of showing not telling when it came to different aspects of the world it was trying to draw me into. There were a lot of points where either the narrator or one of the characters would just point blank explain new terms, and it was always very jarring when that happened. I know that things need to be explained to readers, but it could have been done with more finesse.
Other than that though, I found the world to be superinteresting terrifying and...well, I'll be optimistic and not say realistic, but definitely not impossible either. None of it was particularly original in terms of imagining the future as a wasteland where everyone prefers to be online rather than in the real world (the Pendragon series did it in 2002 with The Reality Bug years ago, after all), but I still enjoyed reading about this author's vision of that particular future. When the author was describing the theme park and everyone wearing masks of past murderers and serial killers, I actually felt the claustrophobia and could imagine the horror as if I were there.
Characterization-wise, I definitely preferred Aly over Cass as the main character. (I'm pretty sure I did catch an editing error where at one point in the book, it said that Aly was 13 and not 15, which super confused me for a bit...and it wasn't the only mistake I found). Cass was fine, just sort of naive about everything, but maybe she's not used to having the conversations that we have about how giant companies are evil lol. The group of supporters/true crime survivors that Cass eventually found herself working with felt superfluous. They came up like twice and sang kumbaya and then disappeared again. They weren't even involved when it came to taking down the main baddies. Either the book needed to focus more time on them and develop them more or drop them altogether (and just have Hector and Vivian be the rebellion). And the book followed a lot of expected tropes, which isn't inherently bad, but it makes things fairly predictable (for the most part! The story did manage to surprise me a bit with some of the reveals, so it wasn't all predictable...but the main beats/plot points were very much so.)
My other thoughts were mostly about the points the author wanted to bring up about our world today. There were a lot of issues brought up other than the commercialization of true crime, such as school shootings, using children for capitalism, debt, alt right parental control over their kids, and other stuff. It was just a lot and again, I felt like a lot of it was sort of touched on and then never mentioned again (other than the true crime commercialization, of course). Obviously, the author couldn't go on and on about any of these issues, since there was a story to tell, but I just wanted so much stuff fleshed out more. Were people really okay with things in the society? What was the political climate when it came to social issues? Were there any rebellions? That kind of thing. And as far as the commercialization of true crime...well, I'm obviously super into true crime, and as Kate points out in Buried Bones, this is not a new phenomenon. People have been obsessed with true crime for centuries, like they used to pack into court rooms and attend public executions as a family day out. I don't think that aspect of our fascination with murder and murderers is new or solely a product of the current times. Do I think the true crime industry would ever go as far as what happened in the novel?
I prefer not to think about it.
The worldbuilding was so great and it definitely made me think of Ready Player One, but where that book succeeded and this book struggled was how it drew people into the worldbuilding elements. What I mean by that is I felt like this book did a lot of showing not telling when it came to different aspects of the world it was trying to draw me into. There were a lot of points where either the narrator or one of the characters would just point blank explain new terms, and it was always very jarring when that happened. I know that things need to be explained to readers, but it could have been done with more finesse.
Other than that though, I found the world to be super
Characterization-wise, I definitely preferred Aly over Cass as the main character. (I'm pretty sure I did catch an editing error where at one point in the book, it said that Aly was 13 and not 15, which super confused me for a bit...and it wasn't the only mistake I found). Cass was fine, just sort of naive about everything, but maybe she's not used to having the conversations that we have about how giant companies are evil lol. The group of supporters/true crime survivors that Cass eventually found herself working with felt superfluous. They came up like twice and sang kumbaya and then disappeared again. They weren't even involved when it came to taking down the main baddies. Either the book needed to focus more time on them and develop them more or drop them altogether (and just have Hector and Vivian be the rebellion). And the book followed a lot of expected tropes, which isn't inherently bad, but it makes things fairly predictable (for the most part! The story did manage to surprise me a bit with some of the reveals, so it wasn't all predictable...but the main beats/plot points were very much so.)
My other thoughts were mostly about the points the author wanted to bring up about our world today. There were a lot of issues brought up other than the commercialization of true crime, such as school shootings, using children for capitalism, debt, alt right parental control over their kids, and other stuff. It was just a lot and again, I felt like a lot of it was sort of touched on and then never mentioned again (other than the true crime commercialization, of course). Obviously, the author couldn't go on and on about any of these issues, since there was a story to tell, but I just wanted so much stuff fleshed out more. Were people really okay with things in the society? What was the political climate when it came to social issues? Were there any rebellions? That kind of thing. And as far as the commercialization of true crime...well, I'm obviously super into true crime, and as Kate points out in Buried Bones, this is not a new phenomenon. People have been obsessed with true crime for centuries, like they used to pack into court rooms and attend public executions as a family day out. I don't think that aspect of our fascination with murder and murderers is new or solely a product of the current times. Do I think the true crime industry would ever go as far as what happened in the novel?
I prefer not to think about it.
stabaquail's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
In the year 2037, true crime has become a commodity. In our own year of 2023, the victims of true crime are being increasingly exploited, and the author explores a future in which people clamor to experience the true crimes they have read about firsthand in a virtual reality. They can talk to a murderer, witness their crimes, and investigate the crime scenes for clues they think the detectives missed. All for a subscription fee, of course….and those involved have to sign away the rights to their stories, usually as a result of great manipulation and desperation.
The beginning of the book was slightly disjointed, and I wasn’t initially engaged as I waited for the story to come together. I debated not finishing this one. Luckily, after the first few chapters, the introduction came together and the story moved forward, so I decided to stick with it. I’m glad I did!
Though I’m skeptical that the industry will ever get THIS bad, it is an interesting idea to explore. As someone with an interest in true crime, I do have a lot of concerns about the ethics of the industry lately and have become much more selective about what I consume. Unfortunately, in this future world, most people have no qualms about being as gross and exploitative as possible.
The mysteries that main character Cassie West works to uncover are interesting and surprising. Also, the bonds she forms with her found family are really sweet and I was glad there was a note of hope at the end.
My only other complaint was some slightly clunky exposition here and there. At times, a character would explain some aspect of this future world to another character as if they didn’t already know all about it. For example - I assume everyone who uses a visor and goes into Earth Plus knows about hyponeutremia. I would think the narrator could just tell us about it instead of two characters explaining to to each other for no clear reason. The lady at the orphanage also gave a TON of background and explanation and, while I can appreciate that we needed some context for why Allie didn’t want to be there or go back, most of the detail we got was not relevant to the rest of the book. It seemed like it was just the author trying to work in all the cool ideas he had.
Other than those small notes, this book was great. I highly recommend even if you don’t read a lot of science fiction. It’s a really interesting dive into a possible future world, and a good reminder to remain thoughtful about the “entertainment” we consume and who it is really serving.
The beginning of the book was slightly disjointed, and I wasn’t initially engaged as I waited for the story to come together. I debated not finishing this one. Luckily, after the first few chapters, the introduction came together and the story moved forward, so I decided to stick with it. I’m glad I did!
Though I’m skeptical that the industry will ever get THIS bad, it is an interesting idea to explore. As someone with an interest in true crime, I do have a lot of concerns about the ethics of the industry lately and have become much more selective about what I consume. Unfortunately, in this future world, most people have no qualms about being as gross and exploitative as possible.
The mysteries that main character Cassie West works to uncover are interesting and surprising. Also, the bonds she forms with her found family are really sweet and I was glad there was a note of hope at the end.
My only other complaint was some slightly clunky exposition here and there. At times, a character would explain some aspect of this future world to another character as if they didn’t already know all about it. For example - I assume everyone who uses a visor and goes into Earth Plus knows about hyponeutremia. I would think the narrator could just tell us about it instead of two characters explaining to to each other for no clear reason. The lady at the orphanage also gave a TON of background and explanation and, while I can appreciate that we needed some context for why Allie didn’t want to be there or go back, most of the detail we got was not relevant to the rest of the book. It seemed like it was just the author trying to work in all the cool ideas he had.
Other than those small notes, this book was great. I highly recommend even if you don’t read a lot of science fiction. It’s a really interesting dive into a possible future world, and a good reminder to remain thoughtful about the “entertainment” we consume and who it is really serving.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Murder