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A review by litwithleigh
UNSUB by Meg Gardiner
No rating for this one due to personal reasons. I DNFed it last night but I had less than 100 pages to go so I just powered through this morning.
One sentence review: Criminal Minds, but make it a fictional novel
SYNOPSIS
The Prophet is back and it's up to Caitlin Hendrix to stop what her father, the lead detective on the original case, failed to do.
MY OPINION
Lol. So, I'm not rating this because of this lil racist razzle dazzle: "The kid is just a kid. Chinese, or Korean maybe. But American." And to answer your questions: no, the kid is not a significant character whatsoever. No, this was not dialogue used to demonstrate another character's narrow-mindedness. Yes, this was 100% unnecessary. This book was published in 2017 with a Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Randomhouse. This is a total failure on the editor's behalf to let this slip through, especially when it has ZEROOOOO bearing on the story or context for that matter. Sorry, but I've heard enough "jokes" in my lifetime that "all Asians look the same." Thank you, next.
Anyways, if you're look for a book with OTT Criminal Minds drama that gives you nothing emotionally, doesn't develop or flush out any character backstories (which for a series debut is odd), or have an overarching themes/greater messages, THIS IS FOR YOU. And this isn't shade. Different strokes for different folks. However, I like my drivel to at least have one extra layer to it. This is a case where I'd rather just turn on the TV to get the full impact in 30/60 mins, than slog through a book for hours.
And because this book was giving me NOTHING else but TV-worthy dramaction (drama + action), all I could think of was the mechanics of The Prophet's attacks and how unrealistic they were. See, I don't get caught up in these details when watching TV because my other senses are stimulated. But when it comes to a book, where the reader has to do the heavy lifting with their imagination, I couldn't figure out how tf this mans (or woman... no spoilies lol) k!lled and then transported a car-full worth of crows and then somehow sourced a random assortment of doll heads to shove onto the crows before sticking them in the victim's car. And then how did he rig the victim's cell phone so quickly?
I know, I know, yeetage of disbelief, but again, since this book was serving up absolutely nothing else, it was all my swiss cheese brain could focus on. Recently I read Ragdoll, which also required yeetage of disbelief, but since there was solid character development/backstories, conflict, and an overarching theme/message, I had other things to think about. Does this make sense? Probably not. Welcome to my brain.
Anyways, another insignificant line that I couldn't get past was: "The lid popped off and coffee slurped onto my shirt." HUH??? Slurped... onto my shirt???? Sorry, did I miss that slurp can also mean splash? I am confusion. Again, editor, where art thou? This was a case of where I was so shook by such a simple mistake, I second guessed myself and looked it up in the dictionary. It's kinda like when you're taking a math test and use your calculator to make sure 7+7 is indeed 14 LOL.
Again, if you're looking for a mindless read full of dramaction, this is the one for you. And if you're not really into police procedurals, no worries. This is pretty much a citizen gone rogue masquerading as a detective.
One sentence review: Criminal Minds, but make it a fictional novel
SYNOPSIS
The Prophet is back and it's up to Caitlin Hendrix to stop what her father, the lead detective on the original case, failed to do.
MY OPINION
Lol. So, I'm not rating this because of this lil racist razzle dazzle: "The kid is just a kid. Chinese, or Korean maybe. But American." And to answer your questions: no, the kid is not a significant character whatsoever. No, this was not dialogue used to demonstrate another character's narrow-mindedness. Yes, this was 100% unnecessary. This book was published in 2017 with a Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Randomhouse. This is a total failure on the editor's behalf to let this slip through, especially when it has ZEROOOOO bearing on the story or context for that matter. Sorry, but I've heard enough "jokes" in my lifetime that "all Asians look the same." Thank you, next.
Anyways, if you're look for a book with OTT Criminal Minds drama that gives you nothing emotionally, doesn't develop or flush out any character backstories (which for a series debut is odd), or have an overarching themes/greater messages, THIS IS FOR YOU. And this isn't shade. Different strokes for different folks. However, I like my drivel to at least have one extra layer to it. This is a case where I'd rather just turn on the TV to get the full impact in 30/60 mins, than slog through a book for hours.
And because this book was giving me NOTHING else but TV-worthy dramaction (drama + action), all I could think of was the mechanics of The Prophet's attacks and how unrealistic they were. See, I don't get caught up in these details when watching TV because my other senses are stimulated. But when it comes to a book, where the reader has to do the heavy lifting with their imagination, I couldn't figure out how tf this mans (or woman... no spoilies lol) k!lled and then transported a car-full worth of crows and then somehow sourced a random assortment of doll heads to shove onto the crows before sticking them in the victim's car. And then how did he rig the victim's cell phone so quickly?
I know, I know, yeetage of disbelief, but again, since this book was serving up absolutely nothing else, it was all my swiss cheese brain could focus on. Recently I read Ragdoll, which also required yeetage of disbelief, but since there was solid character development/backstories, conflict, and an overarching theme/message, I had other things to think about. Does this make sense? Probably not. Welcome to my brain.
Anyways, another insignificant line that I couldn't get past was: "The lid popped off and coffee slurped onto my shirt." HUH??? Slurped... onto my shirt???? Sorry, did I miss that slurp can also mean splash? I am confusion. Again, editor, where art thou? This was a case of where I was so shook by such a simple mistake, I second guessed myself and looked it up in the dictionary. It's kinda like when you're taking a math test and use your calculator to make sure 7+7 is indeed 14 LOL.
Again, if you're looking for a mindless read full of dramaction, this is the one for you. And if you're not really into police procedurals, no worries. This is pretty much a citizen gone rogue masquerading as a detective.