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A review by rebbyreads
Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen
2.0
Read this if...you enjoyed the shows “Friday Night Lights” or “Mare of Easttown.”
Despite having a college degree, Annie McIntyre finds herself back at home in Garnett, Texas, waiting tables at a local diner. Her family has a private investigation firm and Annie gets the perfect opportunity to intern with her grandfather when a fellow waitress goes missing. Annie works hard to figure out what happened to the missing woman, finding it difficult not to identify with her. The case forces Annie to confront her own demons and try to move on from a traumatic experience that she has buried.
On paper, this sounded like the perfect read for me. I loved “Mare of Easttown” and enjoy small-town mysteries. Unfortunately, this book missed the mark. I found it very slow and difficult to get through. I contemplated not finishing multiple times and wish that I had that reading time back. The missing person mystery took a back seat to Annie’s relationship with herself and her family. The characters were very well-developed and the author definitely portrayed small, rural towns accurately. However, the several events that were meant to be exciting were underwhelming and it was obvious to me what the traumatic event Annie kept trying to forget about was. Overall, this was a big letdown. It is an award-winning book though, so obviously others enjoyed it and you might like it even though I didn’t.
A big thanks to Minotaur Books, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
Despite having a college degree, Annie McIntyre finds herself back at home in Garnett, Texas, waiting tables at a local diner. Her family has a private investigation firm and Annie gets the perfect opportunity to intern with her grandfather when a fellow waitress goes missing. Annie works hard to figure out what happened to the missing woman, finding it difficult not to identify with her. The case forces Annie to confront her own demons and try to move on from a traumatic experience that she has buried.
On paper, this sounded like the perfect read for me. I loved “Mare of Easttown” and enjoy small-town mysteries. Unfortunately, this book missed the mark. I found it very slow and difficult to get through. I contemplated not finishing multiple times and wish that I had that reading time back. The missing person mystery took a back seat to Annie’s relationship with herself and her family. The characters were very well-developed and the author definitely portrayed small, rural towns accurately. However, the several events that were meant to be exciting were underwhelming and it was obvious to me what the traumatic event Annie kept trying to forget about was. Overall, this was a big letdown. It is an award-winning book though, so obviously others enjoyed it and you might like it even though I didn’t.
A big thanks to Minotaur Books, St. Martin’s Press, and the author for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!
My rating: 2.5 stars out of 5