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A review by eesh25
Zero at the Bone by Jane Seville
4.0
Jesus Christ, this book was gi-fucking-normous! I mean, by big-book standards, this is short but for a book that was supposed to be 308 pages long... let's just say that you'd need a seriously large book with some seriously tiny font to accomplish that because this was about twice as long as it was supposed to be. Stop lying to me, Goodreads!
But anyway, the confusion of length is one of the reasons I'm really confused as to how to rate it. Because I feel like I can't give it less than four stars just because I finished it. I mean, it wasn't exactly difficult to finish but still, I had some problems.
The story is about Jack and D. D is an killer-for-hire but he only takes contracts for people who, in his view, deserve to die or who are bad people. Jack is not a bad person. He's a doctor and recently witnessed a murder. He's putting his life on the line by agreeing to testify in court, and because he could get some bad people sent to prison, said bad people want him dead. And they blackmail D into taking the contract. But D can't do it. And since someone still wants Jack dead, not to mention the trouble D will be in for not killing Jack, they have to run away together.
That's where the whole thing starts. Jack and D are on the run, trying to escape the people trying to kill them while also trying to find out who's after D and why. They have to stay safe but Jack still need to show up in court on the date of the trial. In the meantime, they have to get along.
D is a very closed off person. Partially due to the reason he has the job that he does, and partially due to the things that his job require him to do; he's reached a point where you could say he's barely human. He exhibits almost no emotion, he sleeps and eats little and has no interest in intimacy of any kind. Jack, on the other hand, is an open kind of guy who requires some form of friendly companionship. He's not so good with isolation.
And I gotta say, I had some difficulty with Jack. For one, he just wouldn't shut up. But that's probably because the book would never go anywhere if he did. Still, he needed to tone down the nagging. The main problem wasn't with that though. It was with the way he was written, his narrative.
Jack sounded like a young man who was wiser than his years. Like when a character is mature but you still know that he's eighteen. Not that Jack sounded like an eighteen-year-old. More like in his early-to-mid twenties. Which is still to young for a guy who's supposed to be thirty-six! I just couldn't see him as an older man. He was sensible and stuff but he still sounded young. It didn't interfere too much with the story but every time I though about how old he was supposed to be, it was weird.
D was a better written character. And both he and Jack were likable. I liked their story and how their relationship transpired. There were two other characters we were introduced to who were also good. I liked the plot, and the sequence of events that took place were all good, they just needed to happen faster because really, they were stretched out.
Also, the sex scenes (and there were over half a dozen of them) were not hot. I mean, the author could have easily removed most of them from the book (mainly the ones that had no plot relevance) and nothing would have changed. In fact, the book would've been better because the length would have been reduced. Also, being female, I'm not expert on how sex goes between two guys, but isn't there supposed to be more of a mess or something? Or maybe Jack and D don't mind sleeping on sticky sheets.
Anyway, yes I had some problems with the book but, as a whole, this was a good read. I still can't figure out a rating exactly. Four seems high but anything less is too low. I'm confused so I'm just sticking with four.
But anyway, the confusion of length is one of the reasons I'm really confused as to how to rate it. Because I feel like I can't give it less than four stars just because I finished it. I mean, it wasn't exactly difficult to finish but still, I had some problems.
The story is about Jack and D. D is an killer-for-hire but he only takes contracts for people who, in his view, deserve to die or who are bad people. Jack is not a bad person. He's a doctor and recently witnessed a murder. He's putting his life on the line by agreeing to testify in court, and because he could get some bad people sent to prison, said bad people want him dead. And they blackmail D into taking the contract. But D can't do it. And since someone still wants Jack dead, not to mention the trouble D will be in for not killing Jack, they have to run away together.
That's where the whole thing starts. Jack and D are on the run, trying to escape the people trying to kill them while also trying to find out who's after D and why. They have to stay safe but Jack still need to show up in court on the date of the trial. In the meantime, they have to get along.
D is a very closed off person. Partially due to the reason he has the job that he does, and partially due to the things that his job require him to do; he's reached a point where you could say he's barely human. He exhibits almost no emotion, he sleeps and eats little and has no interest in intimacy of any kind. Jack, on the other hand, is an open kind of guy who requires some form of friendly companionship. He's not so good with isolation.
And I gotta say, I had some difficulty with Jack. For one, he just wouldn't shut up. But that's probably because the book would never go anywhere if he did. Still, he needed to tone down the nagging. The main problem wasn't with that though. It was with the way he was written, his narrative.
Jack sounded like a young man who was wiser than his years. Like when a character is mature but you still know that he's eighteen. Not that Jack sounded like an eighteen-year-old. More like in his early-to-mid twenties. Which is still to young for a guy who's supposed to be thirty-six! I just couldn't see him as an older man. He was sensible and stuff but he still sounded young. It didn't interfere too much with the story but every time I though about how old he was supposed to be, it was weird.
D was a better written character. And both he and Jack were likable. I liked their story and how their relationship transpired. There were two other characters we were introduced to who were also good. I liked the plot, and the sequence of events that took place were all good, they just needed to happen faster because really, they were stretched out.
Also, the sex scenes (and there were over half a dozen of them) were not hot. I mean, the author could have easily removed most of them from the book (mainly the ones that had no plot relevance) and nothing would have changed. In fact, the book would've been better because the length would have been reduced. Also, being female, I'm not expert on how sex goes between two guys, but isn't there supposed to be more of a mess or something? Or maybe Jack and D don't mind sleeping on sticky sheets.
Anyway, yes I had some problems with the book but, as a whole, this was a good read. I still can't figure out a rating exactly. Four seems high but anything less is too low. I'm confused so I'm just sticking with four.