Review of Just Die

[Lauren Gallagher 2]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Just Die" by E Alan Fleischauer.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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I have enjoyed reading 'Just Die' by E Alan Fleischauer and have given it a rating of 4 out of 5.

I really enjoyed the plot and found the characters to be charming and relatable. The story follows Jake after he wakes up from a stroke with a curious new ability. We see Jake, his fiancée, and their new friend Omar coming to terms with it all as Jake struggles with his moral compass about whether to use his new skills and for what purpose. The story progresses at a good pace, so I didn’t feel like it dragged for too long at any point, but there were a few times when I questioned the procedures, for example, I’m a nurse and there is no way I would let a stroke patient be discharged after only 48 hours. Also, the police procedures are questionable, but then again, that might be the difference between the UK police procedures that I would expect and the procedures that the US police use.

Overall, this book is mostly funny and light-hearted, although it does get a bit dark in places where there may be a trigger point for survivors of sexual violence.

In terms of sexual content, there is nothing graphic at all; there is an implication of sexual assault early in the book, followed by the frank confrontation of a rapist towards the end of the book.

I docked one star from the review because of three things: Firstly, I had trouble identifying the ages of Jake and Beth Ann; I may have missed Beth Ann’s age in the book as she is still at school or college, whereas Jake is in his 30s - I still don’t know what the age gap is between them and for some reason, not knowing really bugs me! Secondly, I found the dialogue a bit stuffy and unnatural sounding, and, at times, bordering cliché. I found myself predicting the speech in places. Thirdly, there were a couple of places where I found the action hard to follow – particularly in one fight scene where there were five characters without names, three of which were referred to as ‘the guy’. Other than that, I found the book really enjoyable and finished it fairly quickly. This was an easy read, with practically flawless editing - I didn't pick up a single typo throughout.

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Just Die
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