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A review by sssnoo
Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen
2.0
Pay Dirt Road, overall, was a disappointment. The blurb looked promising, but I struggled to stay engaged. Often, the main character would start down an investigative thread, then divert into a nostalgic remembrance that often felt random. Unfortunately, these interludes disrupted the reading experience more than enhanced it.
The writing fell flat too. There were a lot of dropped or missing articles that read as poor grammar. The author (I think) was trying to use regional speech patterns/dialect, but I couldn't tell for sure, and it didn't add interest.
Connecting with the characters was difficult. Some were promising, and just when I thought there would be more insight into motivation or personality, the author shifted topics, leaving me frustrated. Mary Pat, for example, was underdeveloped. Many (most?) of the lead characters were alcoholics or alcoholics in the making, and the amount of drunk driving amongst the "good guys" was too much for me. There was a lot of throwing back whiskies in red Solo cups and then hopping behind the wheel. Maybe this realistically depicts rural Texas? It seemed like the author was working on a mash-up of the old detective noir genre with millennial angst.
The mystery itself was unremarkable—bad oil guys, a lot of toxic masculinity, and no surprises.
I usually read a first-in-a-series mystery with some level of patience. It can take a few books to get the characters on track. So I'll usually read the next book before I bail, but I'll pass on the next in this series.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an electronic copy of the book in return for an honest review.
The writing fell flat too. There were a lot of dropped or missing articles that read as poor grammar. The author (I think) was trying to use regional speech patterns/dialect, but I couldn't tell for sure, and it didn't add interest.
Connecting with the characters was difficult. Some were promising, and just when I thought there would be more insight into motivation or personality, the author shifted topics, leaving me frustrated. Mary Pat, for example, was underdeveloped. Many (most?) of the lead characters were alcoholics or alcoholics in the making, and the amount of drunk driving amongst the "good guys" was too much for me. There was a lot of throwing back whiskies in red Solo cups and then hopping behind the wheel. Maybe this realistically depicts rural Texas? It seemed like the author was working on a mash-up of the old detective noir genre with millennial angst.
The mystery itself was unremarkable—bad oil guys, a lot of toxic masculinity, and no surprises.
I usually read a first-in-a-series mystery with some level of patience. It can take a few books to get the characters on track. So I'll usually read the next book before I bail, but I'll pass on the next in this series.
Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an electronic copy of the book in return for an honest review.