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A review by jamiereadthis
Last Call for the Living by Peter Farris
2.0
Very interesting premise, very first-novel execution. What I really liked got mired in what was trying too hard and ultimately, it just didn’t click. The characters fell flat for me in a way that made the book seem tame, not something that should happen when violence is roiling like electricity. It was very written, and maybe that’s a nebulous kind of distinction to make, and a personal one, but I’m hypersensitive these days to when the writer keeps interjecting over the freight-train story and doesn’t just get out of the way.
Three stars, possibly, had it not been for the dreams, and also Charlie. By the end I still didn’t know who he was, although the very end: that was right on.
And well, shit. I hate leaving less-than-enthused reviews for Goodreads authors because they’re real people, not a name on a book jacket, and I clicked through to Farris’s website and he’s reading Rick Bass and listening to Patterson Hood. Goddamnit. Four stars now?
Three stars, possibly, had it not been for the dreams, and also Charlie. By the end I still didn’t know who he was, although the very end: that was right on.
And well, shit. I hate leaving less-than-enthused reviews for Goodreads authors because they’re real people, not a name on a book jacket, and I clicked through to Farris’s website and he’s reading Rick Bass and listening to Patterson Hood. Goddamnit. Four stars now?