LOCAL WOMAN MISSING. A NOVEL by Mary Kubica, Park Row Books, 2021
I was looking forward to starting this book. I was intrigued by the teaser on the inside jacket and I’d never read anything by this author.
Waaahoooo! Time to dive in.
The books begins with a very strong prologue that caught my attention immediately and held it. Chapter one was similar in that it was emotional, riveting, and the character was fascinating, but it all fell apart after that.
After the initial emotional buy-in on my part as the reader, I felt like the chapters would never end.
Oh my god, this book took me forever to read.
I did keep going though as I wanted to see where the author was going with the story line. (This can be my downfall, but damn it, I spent $20 on this and I want my monies worth).
Unfortunately, the story line went straight down hill.
It seemed like the author was so hung up on leaving red herrings that she forgot how smart her readers actually are.
There were things like a female police officer lying… she didn’t want to upset one of the characters. Give me a frikken break.
And a huge discovery because of the keen observational skills of a teen who looked at a picture taken over ten years ago. OMG! Seriously?!
These are just a couple of examples.
It’s sad, but the plot holes are numerous, enormous and glaring.
The author ties it up with a pretty ribbon at the end and every one lives happily-ever-after which always peeves me off because none of it was earned.
All that happiness is pulled out of thin air and is not even in the least bit believable.
Oh man, so disappointing.
I liked Leo’s chapters for the most part, but the voice was all wrong. He’s supposed to be a teen but speaks like an old lady.
“You’ve got my blanket that makes me feel all sorts of things I’ve never felt inside. But I don’t point it out because I don’t want you to feel weirded out. And besides, externalizing feelings isn’t my thing.”
Really? A kid talking about “externalizing” feelings?
While the writing was okay, it was choppy and elementary. It felt unusually simplistic and near insulting. Here’s an example:
“I lead my students in a short guided meditation. We move into our warm-up. We work our way toward peak pose. I move around the room….”
The entire book is like this and it’s boring.
I chose this book because of four and five star reviews and I’m confused. Am I reading a completely different thing? Am I too picky?
Should I stop using reviews as a reason to buy book?
If you’ve read this book, please let me know your thoughts.
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I agree with your review. I had to stop reading as it did not intrigue me in the least. My time is precious and my TBR long.
I don’t go by review score, or #of reviews, but the blurb. However, it does go to show some people’s tea is another’s sour grapes.
I agree. time is precious. It is interesting though how popular some of these books get. That in itself intrigued me more than the lack of plot in the book 🤣. How sad is that? lol. It is true that 🫖 and 🍇fit into any and all scenarios of life. Thanks so much for commenting. It’s greatly appreciated.