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alice_speilburg's review against another edition
5.0
I'm the literary agent for this amazing new mystery series, debuting in October, and I love it. The characters jump off the page and they have so many interesting subplots that by the end of the book, you feel like you live in Stillwater too (and you kinda want to check the wooded area in your backyard to make sure there isn't a skeleton buried out there). I hope all you readers enjoy it as much as I did.
hsimonton's review against another edition
5.0
Solid mystery, good characters and story line. I hope this becomes a series.
ruthie_the_librarian's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
alissabar's review against another edition
2.0
Meh. After a 100 pages, I just wasn't invested in the story or characters. Some may love this one, but unfortunately I won't be finishing it.
2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge #8 A book with an upside-down image on the cover.
2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge #8 A book with an upside-down image on the cover.
leiamowen's review against another edition
3.0
Listened to audiobook as it was included in my Audible membership…
The writing was fine and the story was OK. I liked the characters, dialogue was good, descriptions of town were good. My biggest gripe is that it pretends to be too many things that it is not.
I agree with most reviews here and did read a few of them as I was listening to the book (I was afraid I’d missed something in the setup) — not really a mystery and had way too much romance. It wanted to be serious with western elements and big-time-crime … but had trouble holding on to those threads throughout. Definitely more of a police procedural than a mystery/thriller, and even that was overshadowed by romance and family drama. Some parts were unpredictable but overall it was a slow burn. The mystery itself (which, again, was secondary to the other elements) was interesting enough but a little chaotic in that there were crime lords, drug cartels, dirty cops, pedophiles, extortion, AND Nazis all in a small border town.
Also the end was frustrating … very abrupt and very obviously a set up for the next book (which on Audible you have to pay for… so I probably won’t listen?).
I don’t want to give less than three stars since none of it was “bad” and I did finish it … but the story had a bit of an identity crisis (perhaps a few) and it was it not at all what I was expecting based on summary and how it is presented.
The writing was fine and the story was OK. I liked the characters, dialogue was good, descriptions of town were good. My biggest gripe is that it pretends to be too many things that it is not.
I agree with most reviews here and did read a few of them as I was listening to the book (I was afraid I’d missed something in the setup) — not really a mystery and had way too much romance. It wanted to be serious with western elements and big-time-crime … but had trouble holding on to those threads throughout. Definitely more of a police procedural than a mystery/thriller, and even that was overshadowed by romance and family drama. Some parts were unpredictable but overall it was a slow burn. The mystery itself (which, again, was secondary to the other elements) was interesting enough but a little chaotic in that there were crime lords, drug cartels, dirty cops, pedophiles, extortion, AND Nazis all in a small border town.
Also the end was frustrating … very abrupt and very obviously a set up for the next book (which on Audible you have to pay for… so I probably won’t listen?).
I don’t want to give less than three stars since none of it was “bad” and I did finish it … but the story had a bit of an identity crisis (perhaps a few) and it was it not at all what I was expecting based on summary and how it is presented.
gifflesnooks's review
adventurous
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? Yes
3.75
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