ospalh reviewed Far From True by Linwood Barclay (Promise Falls, #2)
Part 2 of 4
2 stars
Content warning mentions of violence, sexualized violence, plot points
Nowhere on the cover or inside the book does it say that this is part of a series. Nothing to keep you from picking this up on its own. No »Book 2 in the Promise Falls series«.
It just starts in the middle of some half dozen convoluted stories with tons and tons of characters you are supposed to be familiar with, they go around raping and murdering and being nasty to each other in not quite that evil ways for a while, a few new characters (i presume) are introduced, and we leave the story just as much in the middle of it like we came in.
The point i had the most problems with, story wise, is that there wasn’t as clear of a distinction between consensual orgies and gang rapes. Basically »Oh, no! What happens when news of our orgies come out?« »Orgies? You worry about orgies? You roofied and raped women!« »Yeah, if news of that got out, it would be a little bit worse.«
I also didn’t like how Crystal was described in general.
Pretty much the only adult who wasn’t an arsehole was that one lady who wanted to leave the town even before she could sell her house.
Writing-wise there was a lot of padding. And that about a quarter is written in first person and the rest in third is baffling. It isn’t to get better action scenes. One of the big ones isn't first person, and the one that is is just confusing.
