Review of Final Act

[Stephen Christopher 1]

I am surprised with how much you are cheering for this series and how much you love them. I am also wondering why you have not reviewed the third book yet! I want to know what more ideas can there be based on this watch. Also, I am happy how the author accepted the feedback and improved his work, as we know some authors who can get very petty about it. Come on, we all know them.

I didn't know book 3 was out yet, switching to amazon dot com as I write this to find it.

[Chi Chiu Michael Mak]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Final Act" by Van Fleisher.]

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5 out of 5 stars

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If you had a watch that could tell you how long you had to live, what would you do with those remaining days? That was the premise of Van Fleisher’s first book Final Notice. In the follow-up Final Act, things are taken a step further when watch owners’ data gets into the wrong hands and is used by criminals to force them to murder public figures.

Tech wizard Vijay Patel and FBI agent Zoe Brouet return in the sequel, and it’s up to them to track down who has the leaked data before anyone else gets killed.

It’s not often that a sequel is better than the original, but with Final Act, that really is the case. The plotlines and characters introduced in the first book have been further developed in the second one. I was delighted to see the return of the protagonists from the first book, even if it was only for one scene. The relationship between Vijay and Zoe and their significant others are compelling sub-plots to the story.

The primary difference between the first and second novels is that this one is tech-heavier and raises some rather important questions about internet privacy. It's also quite revealing how much data the FBI has on us all, although that shouldn’t surprise too many people.

This story was a page-turner for me. As things unraveled, it became more confronting about the dangers of people having access to too much data. The twists and turns had me second-guessing characters and their motives. It was a fun adventure from beginning to end.

The first book had some flaws in it, but it appears that Mr. Fleisher has taken readers’ and reviewers’ comments seriously, as none of them were in the sequel. He even mentions in the acknowledgments section how grateful he is for the feedback.

There is nothing I can fault with this book. The storyline was engaging, as well as thought-provoking. The novel was excellently edited, and there were no errors. As a result, this book deserves its 5 out of 5 stars rating.

Rape scenes, swearing, and graphic gun violence make this a novel for adults only. Anybody interested in crime fiction with a technology focus will love this story. As book two was better for me than book one, I’m incredibly excited about his future work, and I’ll be one of the first in line to read his next one.

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Final Act
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The eerie concept of a life-countdown watch in Final Notice already made for an unsettling premise, but the sequel Final Act takes things further with the dangers of personal data leaks and criminal manipulation. Do you think the book’s exploration of internet privacy and surveillance feel realistic or exaggerated?

[Stephen Christopher 1]

The eerie concept of a life-countdown watch in Final Notice already made for an unsettling premise, but the sequel Final Act takes things further with the dangers of personal data leaks and criminal manipulation. Do you think the book’s exploration of internet privacy and surveillance feel realistic or exaggerated?

100% realistic. We hear about data leaks and hacks almost every day. I enjoyed this second book more for that content alone.