Book Review BLUE RIDGE Peter Malone Elliott

Thank you to the author Peter Malone Elliott, publishers Level Best Books, and Get Red Book Tours, for an advance paperback copy of BLUE RIDGE. Thank you also to NetGalley for an accomanying widget. All views are mine.



My feelings on this book are lukewarm. I loved the concept and storyline; I'm a sucker for both domestic thrillers and warring twins. But the book needed fleshed out; another 50 pages of description would have done this one some good!

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. The descriptions of Virginia are lovely. Tinged with shades of blue, purple, and green, I always say the majestic, rolling landscape of the Blue Ridge is nature's equivalent to the music of Patsy Cline-- an inexplicably perfect cocktail of sumptuous beauty, haunting melancholy, and dark-edged mystery.... Loc.49

2. Like many thrillers with clarity issues, this book has an excellent premise. Part political thriller, part domestic thriller, BLUE RIDGE abounds with tension and intrigue. I wish only that it had not been such a difficult read.

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. This book has grammar and syntax problems. This is an editing issue, not a writing one. Most of what I've noticed ought to have been caught in edit. 

2. ...like one of those face and voice changing masks from the Mission Impossible movies.... loc.100. References are already a heavy-handed writing technique. I don't think it's a good choice to make them so ham-fisted on top of that.

3. The metaphors are over-the-top. I looked down at my hands. My palms were lathered with sweat like a horse after an all-out gallop, slipping and sliding all over the steering wheel. Loc.101. This one really struck me because, if he was holding his steering wheel, he could not see lather on his hands. Also, human skin does not lather like horses' do. These heavy handed descriptions occur throughout the book.

4. The action scenes read more like summary: brief, condensed, and vague. Weak transitions. Really hard to get a sense for what's happening. Loc.425

5. The ending is too convoluted for me to follow. Some new characters are introduced at about the 70% mark and I never get a feel for their relevance to the mmc or the plot/stories. I really had to work for this book and the payoff was not great.

Rating: 🐎🐎 referential horses
Recommend? Not really
Finished: Dec 19 '23
Format: Digital copy, Kindle, NetGalley, Paperback arc, Get Red
Read this book if you like:
🏇 horse talk
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 family stories, family drama
👬🏻 brother stories
🔪 murder mysteries
🚔 crime thrillers

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: PAPER NAMES Susie Luo

Image
I found PAPER NAMES by Susie Luo on the Libby app. Check for your local library on the app and read great books for free!📚 In certain sections, this book is beautiful and moving. I enjoyed the primary characters, Engineer educated in China and working in the US, Tony, and his first-generation US-born daughter, Tammy, well enough, for what they were, which were unlikable characters who changed relative to each other through the course of the story. Their troubled relationship hurt for me to read, and felt rewarding when they gained personal ground: “Tammy! You did it!” he said, blocking the TV. “Did what?” she said. His heart swelled so rapidly that he lost his breath. He wanted to tell her about the entire day, what she had made possible, every one of her words that had come out of his mouth during the review. But only one thing, a memory buried deep in his bones, almost someone else’s voice, spoke through him. “Ni shi wo de xin gan.” “What’d you say?” said Tammy. How coul
Read more

Book Review THE WITCHING TIDE Margaret Meyer

Image
Thank you to the author Margaret Meyer, publishers Scribner, and as always NetGalley, for an advance audio copy of THE WITCHING TIDE. Martha is a mute midwife in 17th century England, who uses a form of sign language to communicate with those who are close to her. She's so different and aloof, and there's her proximity to every still birth in the last ten years, not to mention every birth defect, every single pregnancy. Once Makepeace, the witch hunter, comes to town, it isn't long before the townspeople set him on her scent. I read this book twice, as the first time through, I didn't keep up well with all the narrative turns. It's definitely a twisty, suspenseful tale, and the second time through, I was hooked. This time, I was more prepared for the wild plot, so I had no trouble following the many threads. Even though this book is not written in multiple timelines or perspectives, Meyer provides abundant detail about all the secondary characters, set
Read more