Review of Just Die

[Joshitha Reddy]

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

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2 out of 5 stars

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Just Die by Alan E. Fleischauer is about a man who gets a stroke. Once he recovers from the stroke, he realizes he can point at anything and make it die by saying "Just Die." Jake Silver’s mom told him when he was young that instead of flipping the bird, he should point at people and utter the words "Just Die." Who would have thought that years later, they would actually die when he pointed his finger at them.

I liked the idea behind the book. The plotline was pretty unexpected and kept you on your toes. Some of the descriptions in the book were very vivid and interesting, especially the fight scenes.

There were many things I did not like about the book. Firstly everything happened too fast. The character development was not up to par. For example, the friendship between Jake Silver and Omar seemed very out of the blue. Second, I would expect some hesitation on Jake's part to tell people about his powers. It was a little off-putting how no one showed apprehension toward his powers. I also feel many side characters were given unnecessary attention in the book. It misled me into thinking they had some importance later in the book. It would have been better to cut off some side characters immediately after their contribution to the plot was over. The whole story felt very black-and-white morally, but considering the nature of the idea, I think a bit of moral grayness would have made the book better.

I rate this book 2 out of 5. I thought the story idea was intriguing, but the plot as a whole could have been much better. It was well-edited, and I did not find any grammatical errors.

I recommend this book to people above 16 years of age as it mentions drug abuse, suicide, and sexual assault. Personally, this book would not be at the top of my recommendation list, but people who enjoy fast-paced novels might enjoy it.

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Just Die
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