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Probably 3.5 stars rounded up.
There was a lot to love for me, but this book was in terrible need of an editor. While I appreciate that the author is British, I can’t believe that an editor let this go to press with an American character using British language like “tyres” and “petrol” pervasively throughout the book. Inelegant tech metaphors also abounded, and while I am all for a hardboiled protagonist, this one stretched my empathy nearly to the breaking point between wallowing in self pity and descriptions of past and ongoing behavior that by all rights should have alienated everyone around him.
Otherwise, though, it was a good story, albeit one that was much less weird than I had expected based on others’ reviews. I’m looking forward to reading more of Smith’s later work to see if his writing improves with maturity and experience.
There was a lot to love for me, but this book was in terrible need of an editor. While I appreciate that the author is British, I can’t believe that an editor let this go to press with an American character using British language like “tyres” and “petrol” pervasively throughout the book. Inelegant tech metaphors also abounded, and while I am all for a hardboiled protagonist, this one stretched my empathy nearly to the breaking point between wallowing in self pity and descriptions of past and ongoing behavior that by all rights should have alienated everyone around him.
Otherwise, though, it was a good story, albeit one that was much less weird than I had expected based on others’ reviews. I’m looking forward to reading more of Smith’s later work to see if his writing improves with maturity and experience.