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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
bad writing. characters randomly "realize" plot points, apropos of nothing. irrelevant paragraph-long asides about military gear the main character uses, inserted as though by word association right in the middle of action (military masturbation..). a two-year-old with a typical 2-y-o 'fifty word' vocabulary who asks her mom "you can't tell?" about what a picture she drew is, and seems upset when she can't, instead of just being an ego-lacking 2-y-o; also, she doesn't seem to react in any way when her mom is pepper sprayed (out of sight from her) by the nanny and screamed bloody murder over it. frequent reference to brand names that seems very consumerist and jarring (the main character, Maya "grabbed a frosty Bud," has a "Kevlar laptop backpack from Tumi," "Nick Jr. was playing "Bubble Guppies"), some moments of character inanity ("Maya [an adult] loved the narrative drive of the P.D. Eastman books like Are you my mother? or A Fish Out of Water, both featuring scary moments and twist endings.") hating on extramilitary whistleblowers, and it seems the overall sentiment is: military good, "haters" bad. also just really poorly written, stilted, awkward, non-human dialogue
My first Coben in quite a while, but definitely a page-turner and entertaining holiday read, which was exactly what I was looking for. I read this is going to be turned into a film with Julia Roberts, and I am curious to see how that will turn out.
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Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I usually love Coben's books, his Myron Bolitar series is one of my favorites. I have been on a great run recently of reading wonderful books, thought a Coben was a slam dunk. But sadly this was not the case. This book was pretty dreadful. The protagonist, Maya, was flat and lacking any personality. I could not tell you any characteristic about her other than she was in the military. Most of the characters in the book were undeveloped but none more than Maya's deceased husband. All the reader is told about him until the final pages of the book is that his name is Joe and his family is rich. Very disappointing plot, as well. If you want to read a book about a wife who has mixed feelings about her deceased husband, read "Pretty Girls" by Karin Slaughter.
2.5-3 Not one of my favorite books by Harlan Coben. I did not connect with the main character, Maya -- found her implausible and overall didn't really care for her --
Spoiler
I didn't understand why she seemed to feel no remorse when her husband died- there wasn't the usual grief, etc, which of course was explained but still seemed odd in the setup of the book.
I liked the premise of the book a lot. But the specifics of why and then the rushed last chapter really weren’t very good.
good, solid whodunnit, with a pleasantly twisty ending. the main character could get a bit dry at times (especially internal monologue), but she was still pretty well-written. parts of the story seemed to drag a bit. and the reveals seemed to happen all at once. if little bits of reveal had happened throughout the novel, the flow would have probably been better.
Summertime and the reading is easy, fish are jumping (but I am from Illinois so they are carp and that sucks) and we have no cotton. Anyway, sometimes you have to just give in to the pleasures of a formulaic thriller when the writer knows what he or she is doing. Read it in a day or two and enjoy the twists and turns along the way and the big reveal at the end.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
An engaging mystery with a unique situation. The ending was quite inconvincing though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Stalking
Moderate: Deadnaming
Minor: Sexual content, War