User Profile

Eh, could have put it in the main review. Anyway.

This book is set in the present, 2016, and we even get a one line mention of the short-fingered vulgarian as a politician. Still, this does not read like 2016. Main point is the central idea that media can’t be copied. There is a ton of talks about destroying video-DVDs, and not a single mention of maybe having dumped the raw video to a computer. Does that even work? Are there cameras that record directly to DVDs? I ges you could hook them up to some DVD-recorder. At some point the »discs« are even called tapes. Even VHS tapes could be copied by rather inexperienced folks.

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.

Plot Twist! Ok, i did not expect the bit at the end of chapter 36. Then again, thinking about it, the great plot twist ... doesn’t really change much. That must be a talent of its own, inventing a plot twist, that is than rolled out for more than one whole other chapter, only to not really change the story at all.

O, now i get it. Parts of the book is written in first person, an most of it in 3rd person. I find that annoying, but now i get why: Not to get good 1st person action scenes, but to get odd word usage like this. The author is trying for a hardboiled style, i think, but is utterly failing.

Exhaust. For me exhaust is what is called the tailpipe in America. But yes, according to Wiktionary it can also mean exhaust gas, what comes out of an exhaust or tailpipe.

Power down means switch off, and the two other transitive meanings Wiktionary has don’t fit. »rolled down«, or maybe »rolled down the power window«. The rest of the time the author is padding a lot, so using a few words more here should have been fine. Oh, well, not boiled hard enough, i guess.

This just looks ugly to me. The font, that is. Using Caslon was a great idea. Very fitting. The Declaration of Independence, that is, the Dunlap broadsheet, was set in it, so a book about that area: great font choice. But. Bringhurst has this to say on Caslon: »(...) His work is the typographic epitome of the English Baroque(.) (...) Caslon was the first great English typecutter, and in the English speaking world his type has long possessed the semi-legendary, unexciting status of the pipe and slippers, good used car and favorite chair.« So. High praise for a font. But the text goes on: »(M)any of the faces sold as Caslon now are merely parodies.« Yeah. Like ITC Caslon. This book is set in ITC Caslon, and i think it is just ugly. Some of it, like the inconsistent contrast, may be because this is print on demand. Some of it, like the f, the g and the T, wouldn’t be much better if set in metal.

OK, yeah, there is the rule that you can – or should – use a hyphen for compound modifiers. Still, aren’t all working shops used? So »used book store« is fine, and i just think it looks better. »Used-book store« looks like it should be stressed on the »used«, but i like to stress it more or less evenly. ... Huh. Looking it up, the most common form is »used bookstore«. I don’t like that either, precisely because it sounds like the store is used.