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A review by powerpuffgoat
Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay
1.5
What can I say. It wasn't the worst book I've ever read but it wasn't good. Filled with clichés, too many POVs and implausibilities, it really wasn't very entertaining.
The story itself wasn't too bad, but to be honest, very little happened. We're told about the same events from multiple points of view, along with complete fluff.
Instead of the investigation of the initial crime, we are literally given a play-by-play of what happened, from the POV of the victims. No tension, no finesse. We know they died already. And no new information, because the agent on the case and the family member left behind are easily uncovering it all.
The writing wasn't good either. There was a lot of boomer humour, jokes that the author clearly heard somewhere and loved so much that he probably still chuckled to himself and he hamfisted them into the narrative. Several things were repeated, too, cause he must have been so pleased with himself for "analysis paralysis" and "BSD (big swinging dick)". The author might even believe that he came up with these himself, as well as that silly vegan joke.
It's not the jokes either. He inserted a quote from a book into the narrative, and referred back to it AGAIN later in the book.
The way he described technology, it was as if he was giving a presentation at a retirement home. Why wouldn't a 17-year-old high school student not know what deepfake is?
Conveniently, the teenage girl also doesn't know any famous people except for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a 20-year-old running a bar still had music from 30 years ago.
Oh, and of course, the Mexican characters spoke good English but couldn't help but say "Sí" instead of "yes". Just so we remember they are Mexican but presumably the author only knows like three words in Spanish.
So lazy and boring.
The story itself wasn't too bad, but to be honest, very little happened. We're told about the same events from multiple points of view, along with complete fluff.
Instead of the investigation of the initial crime, we are literally given a play-by-play of what happened, from the POV of the victims. No tension, no finesse. We know they died already. And no new information, because the agent on the case and the family member left behind are easily uncovering it all.
The writing wasn't good either. There was a lot of boomer humour, jokes that the author clearly heard somewhere and loved so much that he probably still chuckled to himself and he hamfisted them into the narrative. Several things were repeated, too, cause he must have been so pleased with himself for "analysis paralysis" and "BSD (big swinging dick)". The author might even believe that he came up with these himself, as well as that silly vegan joke.
It's not the jokes either. He inserted a quote from a book into the narrative, and referred back to it AGAIN later in the book.
The way he described technology, it was as if he was giving a presentation at a retirement home. Why wouldn't a 17-year-old high school student not know what deepfake is?
Conveniently, the teenage girl also doesn't know any famous people except for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and a 20-year-old running a bar still had music from 30 years ago.
Oh, and of course, the Mexican characters spoke good English but couldn't help but say "Sí" instead of "yes". Just so we remember they are Mexican but presumably the author only knows like three words in Spanish.
So lazy and boring.