Chuck Hustmyre

Great Story Poorly Told

I am an avid fan and reader of true crime, but Mr. Hustlers will not be on my list of true crime authors. First, this was one of the most dreadfully edited Kindle editions I have read. Paragraphs were off, at times the text changed from black to blue, words were dropped or added; it was so bad it read like an unedited first draft. Secondly, I knew as much, or as little, about Antoinette Frank upon completion as I did at the beginning. The style....well, there is no style. What should be intriguing is just plain dull and lackluster. Would not recommend.… (mehr)

This book is a difficult one for me to rate. There are things I liked very much and things I didn't like at all.

What I liked: The characters of both Sean Murphy, the detective, and the killer have strong, unique voices. The plot moves along at a good pace with plenty of suspense. The writing itself is very good.

What I didn't like: This story is written in two points of view, which I have no problem with. What I didn't like is that Sean Murphy's character is written in third person past and the killer's POV is in third person present. I found the switch from past to present tenses jarring and unnecessary. The different POVs are clear on their own and the switch adds nothing to the story.

About midway through, Sean Murphy's character does something that took me right out of the story. It made no sense to me. I didn't feel there was enough development of his character to explain what he did. I kept questioning the reason he'd gone to such an extreme. That one action spiraled along, with a major effect on the plot, but I was left lacking a connection for the remainder of the book.

That issue might have been my own preference and another reader might love that development. Overall, I found this a good suspense/mystery.

** I received this ebook as an early review copy from Dorchester Publisher, through NetGalley. **… (mehr)