Tag: spoiler free reviews

BooksReviews

Mini-Review | Blown by Mark Haskell Smith

Posted on by J.W. Martin

BLOWN
by Mark Haskell Smith

Grove Press, Black Cat
Publication Date: June 12, 2018

From Goodreads:

Bryan LeBlanc worked his way up into a plum position on Wall Street as the boy genius of the foreign exchange desk. Surrounded by acolytes of the free market, the true believers, the U.S. Marines of capitalism—“the few, the proud, the completely full of themselves”—Bryan soon realizes that being honest at a dishonest job is not the path to success. He decides to give Wall Street a taste of its own medicine and hatches an intricate plan to disappear permanently with just enough misappropriated money—and sailing classes—to spend his golden years cruising the Caribbean.

Bryan quickly learns that being a criminal, even a really smart one, is more complicated than he thought. He finds himself on the run in the Cayman Islands, wanted for murder. On his trail is an irresponsible team of investigators sent by his Wall Street firm, hellbent on reclaiming the millions before their clients notice its missing: his boss, Seo-yun Kim, who’s committed to not only clearing her name but escaping her suffocating fiancé and their pending nuptials; the investment bank’s collections agent, Neal Nathanson, depressed over a recent break-up with his boyfriend; and an ex-cop from Curaçao, Piet Room, who has traded in his badge for spouse spying as a private investigator. Their efforts are complicated by an Australian sailor begrudgingly circumnavigating the globe to fundraise for breast cancer awareness.

NetGalley and Grove Atlantic provided me with a digital ARC of Blown in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This one wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but not in a bad way. Truthfully, I’m not sure I knew what I was expecting, but I wasn’t expecting to laugh as much as I did. And once I was laughing, I was surprised to find such deep characters connected to something with so many laughs.

In any given chapter, you could find something humorous, intriguing, somber, erotic, brutal, or a mix of them all.

As I mentioned before, the characters were fantastic. Real. Wonderfully flawed, and capable of making a mistake just as often as the rest of us. They’ve been living lives long before the story picks up, and this book is just a blip that happens along the way.

The things explored among these characters were the most interesting parts. The ideals of marriage, work-life balance, sexuality, relationships, material things, and of course, money. It asks the tough questions like what even “good” people do when faced with a ton of money.

Fun fact about this post: This book was also a really quick read!
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Jack the Ripper fiction | The Lodger by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Posted on by J.W. Martin

THE LODGER
by Marie Belloc Lowndes

Chicago Review Press
Publication Date: 1913

From Goodreads:

Somewhere in London a madman was at large. And then one night there came a knock at the door of a quiet lodging house in the Marylebone Road. . . . This novel, based on the Jack the Ripper murders, was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock.

This book is over 100 years old! Normally, that would make me hesitate to pick it up. But, if the POPSUGAR Reading challenge has been good for one thing, it’s pushing me outside of my comfort zone. Not that this book was uncomfortable to read. It wasn’t. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

There isn’t much in the synopsis of this book, so I’ll elaborate a little. There’s an older couple, who makes their living renting out the extra rooms in their home to lodgers. They cook, clean, and serve any lodgers they get. Problem is, they haven’t had a lodger in some time. Money isn’t tight anymore, it’s non-existent. They’re on the verge of starvation when, on the unlikeliest night, a lodger comes knocking.

It’s a fiction, though it’s loosely based on the Jack the Ripper murders. As you can imagine, with the murders happening, and our Mr, and Mrs. Bunting not knowing their new lodger very well, suspicions are likely to run wild. Especially when their lodger turns out to be a very odd duck.

This book does an incredible job of showing London during one of its most stories events, completely from the view of a normal everyday person. No murder scenes, no visits to the scene of the crime, no investigations. All their information is from the rumour mill and a friend who works on the police force.

We mainly ride with Mrs. Bunting, as she deals with her own suspicions of the lodger, battling them with reasons and excuses. Insisting to herself he’s a good man. Even lying to herself in certain cases. Surely she doesn’t want to have a murderer in her house, but if he left, how could they afford to eat?

The Lodger was a fun read, despite the age of the book. I do think it could use a little updating. The amount of times the characters said the word ‘queer’ to refer to something strange was staggering. It certainly never confused me, but it’s just a bit jarring.

One thing I didn’t expect to get out of this book was a sudden interest in Jack the Ripper and all the history around those murders. Fascinating stuff!

Fun fact about this post: One of the theories out there is that it was actually JILL the Ripper.
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The End of a Series | The Core by Peter V. Brett

Posted on by J.W. Martin

THE CORE
by Peter V. Brett

Del Ray
Publication Date: October 3, 2017

From Goodreads:

For time out of mind, bloodthirsty demons have stalked the night, culling the human race to scattered remnants dependent on half-forgotten magics to protect them. Then two heroes arose—men as close as brothers, yet divided by bitter betrayal. Arlen Bales became known as the Warded Man, tattooed head to toe with powerful magic symbols that enable him to fight demons in hand-to-hand combat—and emerge victorious. Jardir, armed with magically warded weapons, called himself the Deliverer, a figure prophesied to unite humanity and lead them to triumph in Sharak Ka—the final war against demonkind.

But in their efforts to bring the war to the demons, Arlen and Jardir have set something in motion that may prove the end of everything they hold dear—a Swarm. Now the war is at hand and humanity cannot hope to win it unless Arlen and Jardir, with the help of Arlen’s wife, Renna, can bend a captured demon prince to their will and force the devious creature to lead them to the Core, where the Mother of Demons breeds an inexhaustible army.

Trusting their closest confidantes, Leesha, Inevera, Ragen and Elissa, to rally the fractious people of the Free Cities and lead them against the Swarm, Arlen, Renna, and Jardir set out on a desperate quest into the darkest depths of evil—from which none of them expects to return alive.

CAUTION: This review won’t spoil anything from The Core, but if you haven’t read the previous books in the series, there may be a spoiler or two.

For people like me, who’ve been along for the entire ride of this series, this book was very highly anticipated. We’ve been waiting for years for the Demon War. It’s coming was foretold. We’ve been watching people prepare, settlements enforcing defences, warding everything from fence posts to foreheads. Let’s GET IT ON!

If you haven’t read this series, but you’re still reading this post, The Demon Cycle is basically this:

Arlen Bales, as a young boy, decides he’s going to fight against the nocturnal demons that plague the world. The human race has all kinds of defensive wards, but no way of fighting back. Arlen’s had enough of that.

Jardir feels the same way, but battle wards have been lost for as long as anyone can remember. But when Arlen finds those battle wards, it changes the corse of history.

Then a bunch of stuff happens for another 3 books. We meet a lot of other characters. They love, they fight, they drink. And now we’re back to the final book.

The chapters that follow Arlen and Jardir as they attempt to get to the Core (where the demons live) are fascinating. It’s the really good stuff that I’ve been waiting for. It feels as fresh and as wondrous as the original first few books (before it started to feel too stretched out.)

Then, there was the fighting in the towns. While Arlen and Jardir are trying to find the Core, the rest of the Demon population is trying to eat the human race. Sounds exciting, right? Except the best fighters are trying to get to the Core (by now you can see why the book is titled The Core.) There were some other really kick ass fighters, but a lot of them died in previous books.

Peter V. Brett tried to combat this by bringing back characters that we haven’t seen since the first few books. While I think that was better than introducing brand new characters, it still felt kind of cheap. We haven’t seen these people for quite some time and to try and fall right back in line with them felt forced. Like if you haven’t seen a friend for 10 years, haven’t even seen a Facebook post from them, and suddenly they’re at your doorstep because they’re going to crash with you for a few days. You’re what now?

The other detail I wasn’t a fan of had to do with the demons’ arsenal of attacks. We’ve known for a while that a certain demon can take over a human’s mind. They have wards to protect against that. But it reaches a point where it seems to be the demon’s only mode of attack. Body snatchers all over the place. Seems like it should have been used a little more sparingly.

Overall, it wasn’t a unsatisfying end to a series. There were a lot of other things I wanted to see happen that didn’t. The ending was okay, but not the one I was hoping for. I think too much time was spent on elements that I didn’t care about, and not enough time spent on the stuff I was dying for.

I guess the word would be: Satisfactory.

Fun fact about this post: POPSUGAR Reading Challenge – The next book in a series you started. CHECK!
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Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe by Preston Norton

Posted on by J.W. Martin

NEANDERTHAL OPENS THE DOOR TO THE UNIVERSE
by Preston Norton

Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: May 22, 2018

From Goodreads:

Cliff Hubbard is a huge loser. Literally. His nickname at Happy Valley High School is Neanderthal because he’s so enormous-6’6″ and 250 pounds to be exact. He has no one at school and life in his trailer park home has gone from bad to worse ever since his older brother’s suicide.

There’s no one Cliff hates more than the nauseatingly cool quarterback, Aaron Zimmerman. Then Aaron returns to school after a near-death experience with a bizarre claim: while he was unconscious he saw God, who gave him a list of things to do to make Happy Valley High suck less. And God said there’s only one person who can help: Neanderthal.

To his own surprise, Cliff says he’s in. As he and Aaron make their way through the List, which involves a vindictive English teacher, a mysterious computer hacker, a decidedly unchristian cult of Jesus Teens, the local drug dealers, and the meanest bully at HVHS–Cliff feels like he’s part of something for the first time since losing his brother. But fixing a broken school isn’t as simple as it seems, and just when Cliff thinks they’ve completed the List, he realizes their mission hits closer to home than he ever imagined.

This book was provided by the good people at NetGalley and Disney/Hyperion in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

Now that that official-like mumbo jumbo is out of the way… I LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH!

I want the main character to be a real person, and then I want that real person to be my friend. Tarantino movies and making fun of stuff FOR LIFE!

Okay. What did I like so much beyond the main character? If I’m keeping it 100 with you, he’s pretty much the whole book. It’s told completely from his perspective. Most of us are a result of our environment, but Neanderthal’s environment is a result of him. Honestly, the supporting characters are great. Each one very real and very unique, but they’re living in a pretty big shadow.

Neanderthal (a.k.a. Cliff) is witty, funny, sarcastic, and full of pop culture references, most of which I know and love. All of that, of course, are the walls he’s put up to keep people from knowing the real Cliff, but fear not, dear readers. You will know the real Cliff in all his glory, warts and all. His less-than-perfect home life, the misery that lives in head, and the soft and squishy core of emotions that come out when they can no longer be contained. 

On the surface, this book seems to be light, fun, and goofy. A couple of high school kids running around getting into hijinks. And while it feels like that at times, it also tackles so many issues facing high schoolers—and adults—today.

Bullying, abuse, drugs, death, and suicide. Even Religion. I’m not about to start talking about religion, but I will say that no matter what your beliefs (or lack of) you’ll be comfortable reading this book.

So who should read this book? Good question. Definitely teenagers. There are a lot of messages in this book that teenagers need to read. Also, parents of teenagers. I can’t say how well this book represents the plights of today’s teenagers, but I think it’ll give a lot of insight regardless. If you know a teenager, you might as well give it a read as well. Or… if you ever were a teenager. So, yeah, pretty much everyone.

Fun fact about this post: I looked at Preston Norton’s other works and immediately added Marrow to my TBR. It’s about a 14-year-old genius who can smash through walls and leap a city block. Hell yeah!
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Na na na na na na na BATMAN: Nightwalker by Marie Lu

Posted on by J.W. Martin

BATMAN: NIGHT WALKER
by Marie Lu

Random House
Publication Date: January 2, 2018

From Goodreads:

Before he was Batman, he was Bruce Wayne. A reckless boy willing to break the rules for a girl who may be his worst enemy.

The Nightwalkers are terrorizing Gotham City, and Bruce Wayne is next on their list.

One by one, the city’s elites are being executed as their mansions’ security systems turn against them, trapping them like prey. Meanwhile, Bruce is turning eighteen and about to inherit his family’s fortune, not to mention the keys to Wayne Enterprises and all the tech gadgetry his heart could ever desire. But after a run-in with the police, he’s forced to do community service at Arkham Asylum, the infamous prison that holds the city’s most brutal criminals.

Madeleine Wallace is a brilliant killer . . . and Bruce’s only hope.

In Arkham, Bruce meets Madeleine, a brilliant girl with ties to the Nightwalkers. What is she hiding? And why will she speak only to Bruce? Madeleine is the mystery Bruce must unravel. But is he getting her to divulge her secrets, or is he feeding her the information she needs to bring Gotham City to its knees? Bruce will walk the dark line between trust and betrayal as the Nightwalkers circle closer.

This was my first introduction to Marie Lu, but I’ve read a ton of Batman comics over my lifetime. And I have to say, she kind of nailed it.

We known Batman. He’s dark, broods a lot, loves the colour black, enjoys gadgets and rocket-powered cars, hates crime, LOVES JUSTICE! But do we really know Bruce Wayne? Once Batman exists, Bruce Wayne becomes the mask. He’s Batman’s costume.

So writing from the perspective of a pre-Batman Bruce Wayne is a daunting task and a road less travelled.

Throughout Nightwalker, you can see the seeds of Batman, which were planted long ago, starting to sprout. Bruce’s desire of justice, his affinity for studying cases, the way he notices small details and deduces their meaning. We see him developing the tools.

We even get to see him whipping around the streets of Gotham in a kick-ass car. Though the car might be stepping on another icon’s toes… It’s an Aston Martin, which might not mean a lot to you, but that’s traditionally what James Bond has always driven. Look out, Bruce!

This book had the right amount of familiar characters to make me feel comfortable and the right amount of new characters to keep me intrigued and guessing. Will any of these characters turn out to be someone else? 

The foremost among them, Madeleine. She was mysterious, and intriguing, and you get the sense that a small piece of her rubs off on Bruce and will stay with him as he transitions into the caped crusader.

My only issue was that it was a little too much, awkward-unsure-of-himself Bruce, and not enough kickass-almost-Batman Bruce. I know this is before it all, but certain Batman characteristics would have to be there a lifetime and can’t be learned in a few years.

Whether you’re a Batman fan or just a fan of good YA books, this is one to pick up!

Fun fact about this post: It’s way more fun if you read the whole thing in Batman’s voice. Not just any Batman voice, the Kevin Conroy, animated series Batman voice. 
AllBooksReviews

A Boy + Graveyard x Dead People = 5 Stars! | The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Posted on by J.W. Martin

THE GRAVEYARD BOOK
by Neil Gaiman

HarperCollins
Publication Date: September 30, 2008

From Goodreads:

After the grisly murder of his entire family, a toddler wanders into a graveyard where the ghosts and other supernatural residents agree to raise him as one of their own.

Nobody Owens, known to his friends as Bod, is a normal boy. He would be completely normal if he didn’t live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead. There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy. But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack—who has already killed Bod’s family…

This was an incredibly fun, deeply emotional, thought-provoking read and I almost missed it!

There are a few people on the Blogosphere who’ve talked about this book, but not that many. I’d heard it was a children’s book and wondered if I could enjoy it at all. As fellow blogger Sophie pointed out, Harry Potter was a children’s book, too. Plus, it’s Neil Gaiman, who’s never steered me wrong in the past. Even with all that going for it, there was nothing putting this book at the top of my TBR.

Along comes the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge. Read a book about death or grief, it says. Okay, fine. And there’s The Graveyard Book. Just sitting there waiting for me. 

I had no idea it was partly inspired by the Jungle Book. I probably should have. There’s only one word changed out. Once I realized that (and after I stopped feeling like an idiot for not realizing it sooner) I started to see a lot of similarities.

I was looking closer at each character and trying to find their Jungle counterpart. Wondering if the things happening to Bod were inline with the things that had happened to Mowgli. I was in so deep I could practically hear the Bare Necessities in my head! Though, maybe it would have to become to Pall Bearer Necessities?? Never mind that.

I was already having a ton of fun with the book and looking for the similarities that I wasn’t ready for the book to make a quick pivot and become its very own story.

Maybe some there were still some parallels, but if there were I missed them. I was too invested in this new story developing before my eyes.

Intrigue, humor, and thrills were waiting around every corner. All the way up to an ending that was exciting and packed with raw emotion.

The characters are brilliant. Every single one of them. It didn’t matter if they were there from start to finish, or just for a single page. 

I kept finding myself amazed that this book was “for kids.” It seems to address some much bigger concepts and made me wonder if kids are going to understand everything. It just seems so much deeper than a children’s book, but, then again, maybe I’m underestimating kids ability to comprehend.

I heartily recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Even if nothing I’ve written here has you convinced, you just have to trust me and go read it. It may seem goofy on the surface; a boy living in a graveyard, being raised by dead people; but by the end I think you’ll learn something about the world, life, and maybe even about yourself. 

Fun fact about this post: Apparently if you ask Neil Gaiman to sign your copy of the Graveyard Book, he’ll draw your tombstone for you (as long as you’re not a child)
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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Posted on by J.W. Martin

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE
by Anthony Doerr

Scribner
Publication Date: May 6, 2014

From Goodreads:

Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.

In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.

All The Light We Cannot See is a historical fiction, set in a German-occupied France. The plot was a slow burn, without a lot going on. War, bombings, city takeovers… not much, right? These things mainly seem to happen between chapters, or somewhat ‘far away.’ What we keep seeing is how these characters keep living around the changing circumstances. Some of the characters we follow are French and trying to live their lives despite the violent changes, while other characters are German and pretty much doing the same thing.

That was the most interesting thing about the characters in this book. They were all enemies, but at the same time, not enemies at all. They weren’t fighting against each other as much as the circumstances that surrounded them. There were no true villains in this book.

I mean, sure, Hitler. But he wasn’t truly part of the book. That was just something that was happening at the same time. Even the characters that could be considered ‘bad’ believed they were doing the right thing. Though honestly, the guy who would probably be considered the villain was the most interesting character.

To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever read a historical fiction before. And though I enjoyed it, I’m not sure I’ll be running to get my hands on another historical fiction. 

Fun fact about this post: Two posts a day for two days in a row… Don’t worry. This isn’t the start of a new thing.
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The last guy on the internet to read Gemina by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Posted on by J.W. Martin

GEMINA
by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Crown Publishing
Publication Date: October 18, 2016

From Goodreads:

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminaecontinues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.

I don’t even know what to say about this book. You’ve already read it. You know how good it is.

When I first started reading it, I was a little disappointed to not be right back with AIDAN, Kady, and Ezra. But, I had a feeling that I’d be seeing them again.

Gemina starts aboard jump station Heimdall. If that sounds familiar, that’s the space station that the everyone in Illuminae was trying to get to. We immediately meet Hanna and Nik as the peeps we’re going to follow around Heimdall. These two grew on me very, very quickly.

I’m not sure if it’s the format of the book, or just the amazing writing skills of this author duo, but this book commands such fierce emotional investment that it leads you to do things like audibly gasp at surprises, shake your head in denial at the low points, and smile at the high points. In short, if someone were to watch you while you read this book, they’d think you were losing your mind. Whatever. Worth it.

On the off chance that there’s someone reading this who doesn’t know what I’m talking about when I mention the format, here’s the low-down: Gemina, along with the other books in the series, aren’t made up of pages and pages of traditional prose. The series is called the Illuminae Files. They’re made out to be a series of gathered files to serve as proof of events. What you end up reading are radio transmissions, chat histories, transcribed video, email, and more. That might sound off-putting at first, but by the 3rd page, you’re in. And it’s amazing.

No more questions. Just go read it. Unless you haven’t read Illuminae. Go read that first.

Fun fact about this post: I’ve been re-watching a lot of The Office lately. My GIF choices are slightly influenced by that.
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School for Psychics

Posted on by J.W. Martin

SCHOOL FOR PSYCHICS
by K.C. Archer

Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: April 3, 2018

From Goodreads:

Teddy Cannon isn’t your typical twenty-something woman. She’s resourceful. She’s bright. She’s scrappy. She can also read people with uncanny precision. What she doesn’t realize: she’s actually psychic.

When a series of bad decisions leads Teddy to a run-in with the police, a mysterious stranger intervenes. He invites her to apply to the School for Psychics, a facility hidden off the coast of San Francisco where students are trained like Delta Force operatives: it’s competitive, cutthroat, and highly secretive. They’ll learn telepathy, telekinesis, investigative skills, and SWAT tactics. And if students survive their training, they go on to serve at the highest levels of government, using their skills to protect America, and the world.

In class, Teddy befriends Lucas, a rebel without a cause who can start and manipulate fire; Jillian, a hipster who can mediate communication between animals and humans; and Molly, a hacker who can apprehend the emotional state of another individual. But just as Teddy feels like she’s found where she might belong, strange things begin to happen: break-ins, missing students, and more. It leads Teddy to accept a dangerous mission that will ultimately cause her to question everything—her teachers, her friends, her family, and even herself.

I was provided an eGalley of School for Psychics by NetGalley and Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I started this one, I was in love with it. I loved the main character, Teddy, and the pace of the book was great. Right into the fire. Tension, intrigue, humor, and a lot more.

Then it kind of pumped the brakes on me.

Once Teddy got to the school (the school for psychics) everything seemed to move at a snail’s pace. I realize a book can’t be full speed the whole time, when would we have a chance to breathe? There’s a balance between spots to breathe and action (or at least tension and intrigue!)

I think what really did it was a sudden obviousness of age. Before getting to the school, Teddy seemed like an adult. She is an adult, but she also acted like an adult. Then, she gets to school, and it’s like a bunch of teenagers at some kind of boarding school. I have nothing against teenagers, unless they’re adults acting like teenagers.

The relationships were odd as well. We were constantly told that certain people were important to Teddy, but no one ever felt important. Teddy walked around like a sociopath who didn’t have feelings or emotions, but was capable of telling us that someone was her closest friend.

The psychic elements of the book were described beautifully. It’s a tough thing to visualize, especially since if it was real there wouldn’t be anything to see. The author did a great job of describing these ‘invisible visuals.’ 

When the action did happen, it was well done as well. The pace quickened during these parts and kept me turning the pages as quickly as I could. I just wish there had been a little more of it.

Even though I wasn’t blown away by School for Psychics, I enjoyed the read and if a sequel is produced, I’d definitely check it out.

Fun fact about this post: I predicted a 4+ star rating on this in last week’s First Impression Friday… I was off, but not massively.
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Dayfall by Michael David Ares

Posted on by J.W. Martin

Dayfall
by Michael David Ares

Tor Books
Publication Date: March 13, 2018

From Goodreads:

FEAR THE DAY

In the near future, patches of the northern hemisphere have been shrouded in years of darkness from a nuclear winter, and the water level has risen in the North Atlantic. The island of Manhattan has lost its outer edges to flooding and is now ringed by a large seawall.

The darkness and isolation have allowed crime and sin to thrive in the never-ending shadows of the once great city, and when the sun finally begins to reappear, everything gets worse. A serial killer cuts a bloody swath across the city during the initial periods of daylight, and a violent panic sweeps through crowds on the streets. The Manhattan police, riddled with corruption and apathy, are at a loss.

That’s when the Mayor recruits Jon Phillips, a small-town Pennsylvania cop who had just single-handedly stopped a high-profile serial killer in his own area, and flies him into the insanity of this new New York City. The young detective is partnered with a shady older cop and begins to investigate the crimes amidst the vagaries of a twenty-four hour nightlife he has never experienced before. Soon realizing that he was chosen for reasons other than what he was told, Jon is left with no one to trust and forced to go on the run in the dark streets, and below them in the maze of the underground. Against all odds he still hopes that he can save his own life, the woman of his dreams, and maybe even the whole city before the arrival of the mysterious and dreaded event that has come to be known as…. DAYFALL.

Raincoast Books and Tor Books provided me with an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This book was not for me. To be fair, I am not the target market. Usually, anything with the main character having to do his or her job as detective sends me walking the other way. But the premise of the world not seeing the sun for so many years and it being about the re-emerge was too exciting as a premise.

So what didn’t I like?

The main character, Detective Phillips, was supposed to be this professional dynamo, but he didn’t act like it. He walked into the investigation thinking this guy Render was the bad guy. So he went and talked to Render. Render said he didn’t do it. Phillips believes him. Without a shred of evidence. He heads out on his merry way, off to find a new suspect. Really?! Did lying disappear with the sun?

There was more, but it all falls under the umbrella of this experienced cop acting like it was his first day on the job. I shouldn’t even say that, because I know plenty of people that haven’t spent a single day as a cop and act more like a cop.

I wanted to like this book (don’t we always want to like the books we read) but unfortunately, this one just didn’t hit for me.