Fifteen-year-old Brittney Ryan has taken to the streets. Leitha, her older sister and legal guardian, hires private investigator Nicholas Colt to find her and bring her home. Piece of cake, Colt thinks. With Brittney's forbidden boyfriend's address in hand, he plans to make a surprise visit and put this one in the scrapbook.But something more sinister is behind Brittney's disappearance, and Colt soon finds himself in an ever-widening maze of deceit, betrayal, and murder. When Colt learns what the mysterious phrase "Pocket-47" means, he is haunted even more by the plane crash that killed his family and rock band twenty years ago-a crash he now realizes might not have been an accident.Determined to save Brittney, Colt struggles to untangle the threads of his own tortured past. Unfortunately, one of the most heinous and violent criminals in modern history has other ideas.
Pocket-47
had a strong beginning. I liked the story and the suspense.At about the halfway point, I was left not caring about any of the characters. Normally the story and the suspense of the situation can get me through a lack of character depth, but just after the halfway point, the story changed dramatically. I had to struggle until the story and suspense of the second half caught up enough to hook me back in.
The reviews for Pocket-47 have been really high. 16 out of 19 reviews on Amazon are 5 star reviews. The other three are 4 star reviews. Publisher's Weekly gave it a starred review stating "Hardin gets everything right in his powerhouse thriller debut".
It's possible my expectations were simply too high. I read Jude Hardin's Unborn recently (pseudonym Carson Wilder) and really enjoyed it.
Pocket-47 wasn't on target for me, but Jude Hardin is a great writer, and I look forward to his future books.
Review copy provided by publisher
I hate when that happens to me. Expectations really shape how I view a book. I'm not sure what to do about that though. Oh well. Great honest review.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alexis. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're so right, expectations really come into it don't they? And I guess it is often an issue when we have read, and loved, other books by the same author. This one sounds like an exciting premise not convincingly executed. I enjoyed reading your honest review.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult when the plot is good, but you don't care about the characters. It's true about expectations. They're hard not to have. With that being said, sometimes I have to consciously erase any before I read a book and definitely before I go see a movie. Excellent job in expressing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how many books this author has out but usually I find that the more books, the less I enjoy them. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteAnn