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eesh25's review against another edition
4.0
Jesus Christ, this book was gi-fucking-normous! I mean, by big-book standards, this is short but for a book that was supposed to be 308 pages long... let's just say that you'd need a seriously large book with some seriously tiny font to accomplish that because this was about twice as long as it was supposed to be. Stop lying to me, Goodreads!
But anyway, the confusion of length is one of the reasons I'm really confused as to how to rate it. Because I feel like I can't give it less than four stars just because I finished it. I mean, it wasn't exactly difficult to finish but still, I had some problems.
The story is about Jack and D. D is an killer-for-hire but he only takes contracts for people who, in his view, deserve to die or who are bad people. Jack is not a bad person. He's a doctor and recently witnessed a murder. He's putting his life on the line by agreeing to testify in court, and because he could get some bad people sent to prison, said bad people want him dead. And they blackmail D into taking the contract. But D can't do it. And since someone still wants Jack dead, not to mention the trouble D will be in for not killing Jack, they have to run away together.
That's where the whole thing starts. Jack and D are on the run, trying to escape the people trying to kill them while also trying to find out who's after D and why. They have to stay safe but Jack still need to show up in court on the date of the trial. In the meantime, they have to get along.
D is a very closed off person. Partially due to the reason he has the job that he does, and partially due to the things that his job require him to do; he's reached a point where you could say he's barely human. He exhibits almost no emotion, he sleeps and eats little and has no interest in intimacy of any kind. Jack, on the other hand, is an open kind of guy who requires some form of friendly companionship. He's not so good with isolation.
And I gotta say, I had some difficulty with Jack. For one, he just wouldn't shut up. But that's probably because the book would never go anywhere if he did. Still, he needed to tone down the nagging. The main problem wasn't with that though. It was with the way he was written, his narrative.
Jack sounded like a young man who was wiser than his years. Like when a character is mature but you still know that he's eighteen. Not that Jack sounded like an eighteen-year-old. More like in his early-to-mid twenties. Which is still to young for a guy who's supposed to be thirty-six! I just couldn't see him as an older man. He was sensible and stuff but he still sounded young. It didn't interfere too much with the story but every time I though about how old he was supposed to be, it was weird.
D was a better written character. And both he and Jack were likable. I liked their story and how their relationship transpired. There were two other characters we were introduced to who were also good. I liked the plot, and the sequence of events that took place were all good, they just needed to happen faster because really, they were stretched out.
Also, the sex scenes (and there were over half a dozen of them) were not hot. I mean, the author could have easily removed most of them from the book (mainly the ones that had no plot relevance) and nothing would have changed. In fact, the book would've been better because the length would have been reduced. Also, being female, I'm not expert on how sex goes between two guys, but isn't there supposed to be more of a mess or something? Or maybe Jack and D don't mind sleeping on sticky sheets.
Anyway, yes I had some problems with the book but, as a whole, this was a good read. I still can't figure out a rating exactly. Four seems high but anything less is too low. I'm confused so I'm just sticking with four.
But anyway, the confusion of length is one of the reasons I'm really confused as to how to rate it. Because I feel like I can't give it less than four stars just because I finished it. I mean, it wasn't exactly difficult to finish but still, I had some problems.
The story is about Jack and D. D is an killer-for-hire but he only takes contracts for people who, in his view, deserve to die or who are bad people. Jack is not a bad person. He's a doctor and recently witnessed a murder. He's putting his life on the line by agreeing to testify in court, and because he could get some bad people sent to prison, said bad people want him dead. And they blackmail D into taking the contract. But D can't do it. And since someone still wants Jack dead, not to mention the trouble D will be in for not killing Jack, they have to run away together.
That's where the whole thing starts. Jack and D are on the run, trying to escape the people trying to kill them while also trying to find out who's after D and why. They have to stay safe but Jack still need to show up in court on the date of the trial. In the meantime, they have to get along.
D is a very closed off person. Partially due to the reason he has the job that he does, and partially due to the things that his job require him to do; he's reached a point where you could say he's barely human. He exhibits almost no emotion, he sleeps and eats little and has no interest in intimacy of any kind. Jack, on the other hand, is an open kind of guy who requires some form of friendly companionship. He's not so good with isolation.
And I gotta say, I had some difficulty with Jack. For one, he just wouldn't shut up. But that's probably because the book would never go anywhere if he did. Still, he needed to tone down the nagging. The main problem wasn't with that though. It was with the way he was written, his narrative.
Jack sounded like a young man who was wiser than his years. Like when a character is mature but you still know that he's eighteen. Not that Jack sounded like an eighteen-year-old. More like in his early-to-mid twenties. Which is still to young for a guy who's supposed to be thirty-six! I just couldn't see him as an older man. He was sensible and stuff but he still sounded young. It didn't interfere too much with the story but every time I though about how old he was supposed to be, it was weird.
D was a better written character. And both he and Jack were likable. I liked their story and how their relationship transpired. There were two other characters we were introduced to who were also good. I liked the plot, and the sequence of events that took place were all good, they just needed to happen faster because really, they were stretched out.
Also, the sex scenes (and there were over half a dozen of them) were not hot. I mean, the author could have easily removed most of them from the book (mainly the ones that had no plot relevance) and nothing would have changed. In fact, the book would've been better because the length would have been reduced. Also, being female, I'm not expert on how sex goes between two guys, but isn't there supposed to be more of a mess or something? Or maybe Jack and D don't mind sleeping on sticky sheets.
Anyway, yes I had some problems with the book but, as a whole, this was a good read. I still can't figure out a rating exactly. Four seems high but anything less is too low. I'm confused so I'm just sticking with four.
hollsbooks's review
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.5
zaza_bdp's review against another edition
3.0
* 3.5/5 *
Une histoire solide et dense, des personnages fort bien dessinés et un style affirmé, que l'on sent malgré le passage à la VF. Je gardais ce roman ds ma PAL depuis des lustres, échaudée par les remarques concernant les nombreuses coquilles (idiot, me direz-vous ; d'ailleurs ces coquilles sont nombreuses oui, mais je m'attendais à pire). Bref, pour faire court, j'ai globalement apprécié ce livre mais je n'ai pas réussi à ressentir de l'empathie pour ces personnages, si bien travaillés soient-ils. Je dois dire aussi que le roman souffre de nombreuses longueurs, j'ai terminé tant bien que mal, c'est dire.
Pas trop mal donc, mais pas l'effet 'wahou' que de nombreuses lectrices ont ressenti.
Une histoire solide et dense, des personnages fort bien dessinés et un style affirmé, que l'on sent malgré le passage à la VF. Je gardais ce roman ds ma PAL depuis des lustres, échaudée par les remarques concernant les nombreuses coquilles (idiot, me direz-vous ; d'ailleurs ces coquilles sont nombreuses oui, mais je m'attendais à pire). Bref, pour faire court, j'ai globalement apprécié ce livre mais je n'ai pas réussi à ressentir de l'empathie pour ces personnages, si bien travaillés soient-ils. Je dois dire aussi que le roman souffre de nombreuses longueurs, j'ai terminé tant bien que mal, c'est dire.
Pas trop mal donc, mais pas l'effet 'wahou' que de nombreuses lectrices ont ressenti.
a_reader_obsessed's review against another edition
4.0
Are you in the mood for action and suspense? What about plot twists and turns? Up for some angst and feels? Well this has all that and more!
D is a bad ass, cold assassin. He also has a somewhat vigilante sense of justice, only taking hits that he thinks deserve a bullet to the brain. Out of nowhere, he is blackmailed into killing surgeon Jack Francisco, who had the unfortunate luck of witnessing a mob killing. However he can't go through with it and thus sets in motion a series of events and consequences that he couldn't have fully predicted.
This story had layers and as they were peeled away, more and more emotional depth was revealed. That one life saving moment changes D, as Jack slowly brings him back to the land of the living, slowly humanizes him as walls are torn down. Soon feelings and attachments grow between these two unlikely allies and it runs the gamut of being intense to awkward to heartbreaking to hot!
The gray areas of morality are touched upon often and not shied away from. The stakes are high and one wonders what are the lengths these two will go to to get their happy ending and will the cost ultimately be too high? Full of fierce intensity and vacillating emotions, take heed and hang on for one wild ride!
D is a bad ass, cold assassin. He also has a somewhat vigilante sense of justice, only taking hits that he thinks deserve a bullet to the brain. Out of nowhere, he is blackmailed into killing surgeon Jack Francisco, who had the unfortunate luck of witnessing a mob killing. However he can't go through with it and thus sets in motion a series of events and consequences that he couldn't have fully predicted.
This story had layers and as they were peeled away, more and more emotional depth was revealed. That one life saving moment changes D, as Jack slowly brings him back to the land of the living, slowly humanizes him as walls are torn down. Soon feelings and attachments grow between these two unlikely allies and it runs the gamut of being intense to awkward to heartbreaking to hot!
The gray areas of morality are touched upon often and not shied away from. The stakes are high and one wonders what are the lengths these two will go to to get their happy ending and will the cost ultimately be too high? Full of fierce intensity and vacillating emotions, take heed and hang on for one wild ride!
imme_van_gorp's review against another edition
DNF @33%
I'm sorry, but I just wasn't feeling it.
This is so over-the-top angsty and drags so much, that it genuinely gave me a bit of a headache.
The characters are extremely annoying and the big bad hitman was honestly more like a 14 year old schoolgirl having an angst-fest over something as mundane as walking through the supermarket or having to look into his crush's eyes. I'm sorry, but come on now.
The romance was extremely underdeveloped and was complete insta-love, which wouldn't be that terrible if it weren't for the fact that the hitman dude had supposedly let no one in for the past 10 years, shutting all of his emotions completely off, but then he looks into this random dude's eyes and he's basically in love? Riiiiiiiight.
All Jack and D did was fight. The tenderness was absent and there was nothing sweet about them together. They were always bickering and I couldn't see why either one of them would care about the other so much, let alone be head-over-heels in love with them.
The suspense was dumb. The action was dumb. The mystery was dumb. I didn't care.
This is also far too long. I feel like half of the time they were just making coffee or something, doing absolutely nothing interesting.
Maybe this could have been somewhat enjoyable if it was a lot shorter, but now it just became annoying to have to spend so much time with these tiresome characters and this dragged-out plotline.
I'm sorry, but I just wasn't feeling it.
This is so over-the-top angsty and drags so much, that it genuinely gave me a bit of a headache.
The characters are extremely annoying and the big bad hitman was honestly more like a 14 year old schoolgirl having an angst-fest over something as mundane as walking through the supermarket or having to look into his crush's eyes. I'm sorry, but come on now.
The romance was extremely underdeveloped and was complete insta-love, which wouldn't be that terrible if it weren't for the fact that the hitman dude had supposedly let no one in for the past 10 years, shutting all of his emotions completely off, but then he looks into this random dude's eyes and he's basically in love? Riiiiiiiight.
All Jack and D did was fight. The tenderness was absent and there was nothing sweet about them together. They were always bickering and I couldn't see why either one of them would care about the other so much, let alone be head-over-heels in love with them.
The suspense was dumb. The action was dumb. The mystery was dumb. I didn't care.
This is also far too long. I feel like half of the time they were just making coffee or something, doing absolutely nothing interesting.
Maybe this could have been somewhat enjoyable if it was a lot shorter, but now it just became annoying to have to spend so much time with these tiresome characters and this dragged-out plotline.
kireteiru's review against another edition
3.0
All right, I’m call it: DNF @ 30%. The prose was good, no spelling or grammar mistakes, but the pace started out quick and didn’t stay that way. I can appreciate slow-pace books if they’re interesting, but Jack and D just couldn’t hold my attention.
drez80's review against another edition
1.0
I hate to give a 1 star for this since I seem to be the only person on Earth who didn't like this book, but nothing about this book worked for me.
I could not stand the way D spoke. It drove me nuts trying to read it. I hated how closed off D was. Made him seem like a robot to me, which I get that was the point because of his job, but I was never able to get beyond the robot with him. He seemed to warm up to Jack, but not enough to make me like him or think of him as human or actually having real feelings for Jack.
And Jack drove me nuts too. While I understand why Jack was upset with D about not opening up, did he have to get pissy and storm off or not speak to him every time, which made him come across as an annoying, nagging, drama queen? The guy is a freakin hitman. You thought he'd be sunshine and rainbows and things would be easy?! Please stop acting like a hormonal female, it's not attractive!
The whole mystery part of the story was kinda boring and seemed to make the story drag on forever even though nothing was really going on. It was just too slow to get going, so I was never able to get into it.
I could not stand the way D spoke. It drove me nuts trying to read it. I hated how closed off D was. Made him seem like a robot to me, which I get that was the point because of his job, but I was never able to get beyond the robot with him. He seemed to warm up to Jack, but not enough to make me like him or think of him as human or actually having real feelings for Jack.
And Jack drove me nuts too. While I understand why Jack was upset with D about not opening up, did he have to get pissy and storm off or not speak to him every time, which made him come across as an annoying, nagging, drama queen? The guy is a freakin hitman. You thought he'd be sunshine and rainbows and things would be easy?! Please stop acting like a hormonal female, it's not attractive!
The whole mystery part of the story was kinda boring and seemed to make the story drag on forever even though nothing was really going on. It was just too slow to get going, so I was never able to get into it.
msshelleyh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
bhavyamarya's review against another edition
5.0
If this book is ever made into a movie, I'd be the first in line to watch it.
It contained so much action and there were some twists along the way that I did not see coming at all which made this book so great.
I was intrigued by this book because the charcters were so different. One gets to save lives and one takes them and so I wondered how are they gonna work together or even fall in love. But the author made it so believable and I was actually rooting for them in the end.
Most of the time I get annoyed if there's too much inner monologue and not enough conversation but I was actually having fun reading it this time. The author really has a way with words.This book literally has everything - romance (the sex scenes were really hot), action, banter, some crying scenes (at the end).
Also I just loved how Jack was really good at his job as a face surgeon and passionate about it too. Like he DESTROYS that lawyer when he's on the stand. That scene was one of my favorites.
If you want some good romance with a side of action then definitely pick this one up.
It contained so much action and there were some twists along the way that I did not see coming at all which made this book so great.
I was intrigued by this book because the charcters were so different. One gets to save lives and one takes them and so I wondered how are they gonna work together or even fall in love. But the author made it so believable and I was actually rooting for them in the end.
Most of the time I get annoyed if there's too much inner monologue and not enough conversation but I was actually having fun reading it this time. The author really has a way with words.This book literally has everything - romance (the sex scenes were really hot), action, banter, some crying scenes (at the end).
Also I just loved how Jack was really good at his job as a face surgeon and passionate about it too. Like he DESTROYS that lawyer when he's on the stand. That scene was one of my favorites.
If you want some good romance with a side of action then definitely pick this one up.