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alliepeduto's review
3.0
Shoutout to Goodreads Giveaways! I don’t think I would have picked this up if I hadn’t won it, and it would have been a shame to miss out! I’ve actually never read Brad Meltzer, but I know he often gets compared to David Baldacci and Brain Haig, whose books I love. Comparatively I didn’t like this book quite as much, but it was still very fast paced with twisty plot turns. I want to label it as a political thriller, but I don’t really feel like it was. Regardless, I really liked it and I’d definitely read more of Meltzer in the future!
sueotwell's review against another edition
4.0
I have another book by this author and I have not decided if I like him or not. The book kept me on my toes for the most part, but it was just not my usual style. On its own the story was drawn out and personally I am not big on all the snaps back into previous time periods, but if you are not going to work from point A to Z then to get the picture yiu kinda have to so in this story he had to keep given glimpses back. Overall it was not my favorite but I am glad I read/listened to it.
cjeanne99's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? Yes
3.0
Meltzer introduces us to an unusual crime fighting duo - an artist and a mortician. Nola Brown, a 20 something military artist and ZIg Zigarowsky, a 50 something mortician who works as a civilian at Dover Air Force base. Interesting premise - magician’s in service to the President of the United States. A plane crashes after leaving a military base in Alaska, killing all on board. Zigarowsky is assigned to work on the body of Nola Brown - a girl who was in the same Girl Scout troop as his daughter - someone he knows - and he knows her ear lobe was damaged long ago - and this corpse has two intact ear lobes.
Where is Nola?
Where is Nola?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence and Domestic abuse
torturedfiber's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
fernfuentes's review against another edition
5.0
Without a doubt this is the best Brad Meltzer novel I’ve ever read. I’m serious. This guy isn’t like other “thriller” writers with their boring court cases. This guy can put together two topics you’d never think of really well. Brad beat the living shit out of these characters, and I loved every second of it. My only issue is I will never look at mayonnaise the same way again 🤢. I couldn’t recommend this book more!
kaulyjo's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to love this book because it’s a Bestseller (and had good reviews) and Brad Metlzer. But I didn’t love it.
The characters weren’t deep enough for me. The only character with any real 3D to her was Nola, but then there were times where it just seemed like Meltzer ripped off Lisbeth Salandar and put her in the Army. Salandar has complexity; Nola comes off as a perpetually angry teenager.
The ending won’t surprise anyone, and the last climax isn’t all that unique.
The part that spoke to me the most was the inner workings of the Dover mortuary services. It’s in those details that Meltzer’s writing shines. He describes the care taken with the bodies with beauty and reverence. A whole book about that process and Dover’s role would be fascinating. Truly the book didn’t need all the Houdini shenanigans.
The characters weren’t deep enough for me. The only character with any real 3D to her was Nola, but then there were times where it just seemed like Meltzer ripped off Lisbeth Salandar and put her in the Army. Salandar has complexity; Nola comes off as a perpetually angry teenager.
The ending won’t surprise anyone, and the last climax isn’t all that unique.
The part that spoke to me the most was the inner workings of the Dover mortuary services. It’s in those details that Meltzer’s writing shines. He describes the care taken with the bodies with beauty and reverence. A whole book about that process and Dover’s role would be fascinating. Truly the book didn’t need all the Houdini shenanigans.
madisonmila's review against another edition
3.0
It was a little misleading in the marketing; a lot of the book was more focused on Zig instead of Nola, and I found her to be much more interesting. Hopefully the rest of the series will center more around her. Some of the text also felt dated, like saying someone “decided” to be gay, which made it feel like a much older book than it is. The twist was good, but it was definitely long with lulls between the tense moments.