Review of Final Notice

[Alan Baker]

[Following is an OnlineBookClub.org ARA Review of the book, Final Notice.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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Review of Final Notice by Van Fleisher


3 out of 5 stars


Fleisher’s novel tells a story about a sports watch that is developed to tell someone the exact day they are going to die. The developers of the watch find a group of senior citizens to test the beta versions of the watch and out of the group a handful resort to committing violent gun crimes. The guns the seniors possess were apparently purchased as a result of an NRA “discount” for senior citizens to obtain weapons to protect themselves. The main characters, Vince and his wife Trudi, introduce a lot of the story’s premise and their involvement and eventual decisions present some good plot twists and turns.


The story premise is very good. It drew me in right away. Answering the question about what a person would do if they knew they were going to die in a few days is intriguing. This is what attracted me to read this book and is easily it’s strongest characteristic.


The storytelling is a miss. I had a hard time reading this book. There is no flow in the progression of the story between the various characters and sub plots. Often times the author jumps around within chapters between different scenes and there doesn’t seem to be a natural reason for it. In addition, none of the characters seemed real and I had a hard time relating to any of them.


Dialogue was another issue for me. Very few passages of dialogue seemed genuine or sounded like a real person was speaking. There was very little to no diversity in the way each character spoke, which created for very dull conversation exchanges. Also, there were multiple instances of passages where characters would go on lengthy soliloquies as they spoke to one another. For example, the main character and his wife attend a dinner party and all the attendees exchanged passages of dialogue that were each one-third to half a page long. For me, this made it very difficult to engage in the conversations. Lastly, as it relates to dialogue, the characters often said things that were completely unbelievable or just didn’t need to be in the story. For example, Trudi asks Vince about purchasing an iPad and what the “pros and cons” are. Vince gives a long-winded response as if he were a salesman in an Apple store.


Last issue I had with the book was the message. I found the delivery of the Author’s intended message (anti-gun, pro-immigration) was to “in your face” for my taste. I’m a big fan of books that tell a story and also send a message, but the story is most important. To this Author’s credit he tells readers up front (in the first few pages) the reason he wrote the book, and even commits to donate a portion of his profits to his cause.


The middle to ending of the book does pick up and there are plenty of interesting scenes and eventual plot twists. Due the issues I stated it was difficult to get through this book with all the distractions. I gave it three stars because overall it does not have major grammar/spelling issues, has a compelling premise, and some good action scenes. The aforementioned issues with storytelling, dialogue, and overall message is what drags this book down.