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3.18 AVERAGE
3.18 AVERAGE
Such a great read! Enjoyed it thoroughly on a long weekend on the beach
Okay so I read this book in 48 hours. Neonoir is my fave genre of writing and this one manages to capture that same alfred hitchcock 1930's mystery and set in today's era. But...
BUT
Have you ever watched a TV show that's really engrossing and it's thirty minutes long and you look at the time and you realise there's less than five minutes left and you look at the plot and it's nowhere near finished. You begin to get that panicky feeling and you know there isn't enough time, there is no way this can be finished, oh no no no do not leave this story incomplete, do not-
This is what happened here, only worse. Because I think to myself okay, there must be an upcoming sequel. I look it up. I find the interview where Peter Swanson states that there is no sequel planned. I feel like I've been slapped twice over.
So this is why the four stars, I really loved this guy's writing. It's an engrossing crime novel. But it left me feeling the literary equivalency of being blue balled.
I'm going to go read the Phineas Poe Trilogy by Will Christopher Baer until I feel better.
BUT
Have you ever watched a TV show that's really engrossing and it's thirty minutes long and you look at the time and you realise there's less than five minutes left and you look at the plot and it's nowhere near finished. You begin to get that panicky feeling and you know there isn't enough time, there is no way this can be finished, oh no no no do not leave this story incomplete, do not-
This is what happened here, only worse. Because I think to myself okay, there must be an upcoming sequel. I look it up. I find the interview where Peter Swanson states that there is no sequel planned. I feel like I've been slapped twice over.
So this is why the four stars, I really loved this guy's writing. It's an engrossing crime novel. But it left me feeling the literary equivalency of being blue balled.
I'm going to go read the Phineas Poe Trilogy by Will Christopher Baer until I feel better.
After reading "The Kind Worth Killing," I was excited to read Swanson's first book but was disappointed. Both books are very similar, but I found this one to be all over the place and didn't have a satisfying ending at all. Not only was there little character development, but the events just seemed to be all over the place. The only thing that I thought worked was that it maintained the speculation of one of the main characters throughout the whole book.
Read all of my reviews at bit.ly/PageBedtime
Welcome to 2021. I started this book in 2020, but it is my first one completed on the first day of the year, and I hope this does not portend my reading year. The Girl with a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson had great promise and an interesting premise but was an extremely frustrating read. This mystery's main character is George Foss, who reconnects with his first college love some decades later, when she asks him for a pretty serious favor. Seemingly caught up in the nostalgia of the relationship they once had George agrees and finds himself caught up in a dangerous whirlwind.
The book is fast-moving, and the author's writing is intriguing. However, the story fell flat for me in the end because the ending really wasn't an ending at all. George was so infuriating, I'm not even sure we can call him a protagonist because he was his own antagonist. His love interest was equally difficult to follow and highly unlikeable. It just didn't seem like George made good choices throughout the book, and the author took the easy way out in the end - leaving this reader quite unfulfilled.
Recommendation: I read this book with the Fort Worth Library's awesome Stay at Home Book Club. It's an awesome group of people all over the interwebs that reads and discusses together, and the consensus was Mr. Swanson left much too be desired with this read. But, hey, that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.
Until next time ... Read on!
Regardless of whether I purchase a book, borrow a book, or receive a book in exchange for review, my ultimate goal is to be honest, fair, and constructive. I hope you've found this review helpful.
Welcome to 2021. I started this book in 2020, but it is my first one completed on the first day of the year, and I hope this does not portend my reading year. The Girl with a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson had great promise and an interesting premise but was an extremely frustrating read. This mystery's main character is George Foss, who reconnects with his first college love some decades later, when she asks him for a pretty serious favor. Seemingly caught up in the nostalgia of the relationship they once had George agrees and finds himself caught up in a dangerous whirlwind.
The book is fast-moving, and the author's writing is intriguing. However, the story fell flat for me in the end because the ending really wasn't an ending at all. George was so infuriating, I'm not even sure we can call him a protagonist because he was his own antagonist. His love interest was equally difficult to follow and highly unlikeable. It just didn't seem like George made good choices throughout the book, and the author took the easy way out in the end - leaving this reader quite unfulfilled.
Recommendation: I read this book with the Fort Worth Library's awesome Stay at Home Book Club. It's an awesome group of people all over the interwebs that reads and discusses together, and the consensus was Mr. Swanson left much too be desired with this read. But, hey, that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.
Until next time ... Read on!
Regardless of whether I purchase a book, borrow a book, or receive a book in exchange for review, my ultimate goal is to be honest, fair, and constructive. I hope you've found this review helpful.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Bit to messy
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Nice guy schmo protagonist well deployed. I liked the moment when he confessed all to his girlfriend and said he was going to the police. I knew it was all going to go to hell then but it took a little longer than I expected. I found the end confusing and unconvincing - where could she go?
I enjoyed this book but didn’t like it as much as some of his others. I found it kind of predictable and the main character was either really naive or just struck dumb by love. It definitely is a twisted tale about what some people will do for their first love no matter the risk.