Jon

Disappointed

Reviewed: 10-04-24

This feels like an ai mashed together every project Michael Caine has participated in. So generic it’s unique in its lack of originality, almost entirely predictable, and with no decent narrative flow nor any character development, just a bunch of standard action scenes that happens to some passive stock characters. I’m a fan of the author and the genre, but I can’t recommend this.

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More, please

Reviewed: 23-01-24

Like a lot of listeners, I came here from Night Vale. But while that podcast sometimes struggles with an uneven mood, this series has a perfectly measured and balanced mix of a noir crime story and personal drama on the one hand, and some comedic bits on the other. The story of the first season is mostly self-contained, so even though you will find yourself hungry for more, the ending will not leave you feeling unsatisfied while we wait for season 2.
The story itself is a great mystery story with some interesting twists and well-written, multifaceted and sympathetic characters. The latter is aptly helped by some sterling performances.
Definitely worth your time if you’re even remotely interested in the genre.

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Stumble at the finish

Reviewed: 04-10-23

I’m a huge fan of the previous books, but this made me happy that the story continues on elsewhere. It’s too unfocused and poorly paced, I suspect another victim of editors not daring to make suggestions of cuts to a well-selling author.
The narrative device of using numerous narrators of varying degrees of reliability adds nothing except needless padding. Also, while I’m sure everyone will have their favourite side-character (usually with little to no actual impact in the story), that’s because the book is brimming over with them to a distracting degree.
As for the story, for the most part it’s something that happens to the protagonists, rather than being driven by them, with an unengaging result.
Furthermore, most attempts at moral ambiguity fall flat, as characters clearly supposed to be morally grey commit or attempts acts I can’t actually name in a review if I want it published, but “consent” is a key word. As is “age”.
If you’re interested in this book, you’ve read the previous ones, and you should complete the saga, but that’s pretty much all I can say to recommend this.

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Great for fans of the game.

Reviewed: 19-09-23

This well-written novel is a great addition to the story already presented in the games. It offers few surprises, but plenty of extra details, sometimes grim, sometimes heart-wrenching (reference not intended), but almost always intriguing.
The narrator is mostly competent, but I wish it had been read by someone who had at least heard the various accents allegedly attempted. The attempts here are sadly cringe-inducing and immersion-breaking. I stuck with it, but I can’t blame anyone who doesn’t.

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Good character-driven crime drama

Reviewed: 25-08-23

Chances are you are here because of Night Vale. This is not that. However, to quote my headline, it’s good character-driven crime drama set in a realistic setting with some likeable and somewhat eccentric characters, that the cast portrays perfectly. It has a mostly consistent tone that stays true to a modern crime noir-style, though some of the mysteries are slightly less mysterious than I believe was intended. Still, a clear recommendation for fans of the crime genre, and I hope there will be more of this, as I enjoyed the story and connected with the main protagonists.

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Sometimes less is more…

Reviewed: 13-02-23

The story and narration are good enough, but the music and effects are overly bombastic and intrusive, detracting from the experience rather than enhancing it.

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Well written spinning.

Reviewed: 25-01-23

This novel definitely has value for someone seeking insight to the mindset and life of the people caught up in the Civil War, and the author bends over backwards to portray the two sides equally. And therein lies the problem. No matter how much racism there was in the North, no matter how many gentlemen there were in the South, one side struck first and fought to preserve slavery, and the other did not. And so it comes across as extremely forced when the two are presented as equal. While some Northern characters (I must refer to them as such, this is a historical novel, after all) criticise slavery, the only time it’s brought up in regards to the Southerners, it’s so they make it clear that it’s “not really about that” to a near satirical degree. No doubt this is based on post-war memoirs, much like how there were apparently no-one in Nazi Germany who survived to write their memoirs who supported Hitler.
Apart from this, the book is well written, using the personal reflections of the characters to paint the larger picture.

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Falls short of horror

Reviewed: 27-10-22

The premise is an interesting take on a classic, and the atmosphere is fairy well built, but the execution of the story is just far too predictable, which is anathema to effective horror. You’ll reach conclusions so far ahead of the protagonist that the strongest emotion evoked at times will be annoyance with him.

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3 people found this helpful

Waste of time.

Reviewed: 24-10-22

Predictable, boring and unimmersive. It also somehow manages to be under-written and unfocused simultaneously.

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A disappointment.

Reviewed: 30-08-22

It’s hard to sympathise with protagonists whose partial motivation is “don’t want a job”, who try to sabotage workers who seek better conditions.

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