Official Review: Wages of Sin by Dave Ewans
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Official Review: Wages of Sin by Dave Ewans
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Wages of Sin" by Dave Ewans.]
4 out of 4 stars
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Wages of Sin by Dave Ewans is a captivating murder mystery with a science fiction twist. The book has high appeal for any reader who enjoys a good mystery or characters with extraordinary talents.
Erick Rider has a unique ability: when he looks at people, he can read their memories. It is almost as if a small screen in the corner of his eye rushes through a person’s entire history in the space of a few seconds. Erick has, of course, put this talent to good use in various occupations: as a con-artist, a psychic, and (most recently) as a mental health counselor. However, Erick is soon put to the test when one of his friends and one of his patients are both murdered on the same night. Along with his adoptive mother (who possesses her own unique gift), Erick must use his talent to uncover the truth of what happened that night.
The characters are a definite strong point in this novel. Each one has a dynamic personality and serves a key function, even though some of the characters seem unrelated up until the last few chapters. Not only that, but every character is given a backstory at some point, whether Erick is reminiscing about how he met someone or viewing someone else’s memories to determine a motive. Some characters have lived long enough that they have various backstories, which are revealed in pieces as other characters are introduced. At some points this can make the story a bit convoluted, and there are enough characters that I sometimes had to stop and think about who knew whom before certain events took place, but the overall effect was that of a jigsaw puzzle. Until I had enough of the pieces, I didn’t know what the image would be.
My favorite part of the book was undoubtedly the way the author used Erick’s ability to read memories. It allowed the characters to jump through time, so that one chapter had the characters conversing in the present moment and the next chapter was recounting someone’s memories from twenty years before those characters ever met! It certainly allowed for a more natural flow; rather than having each character sit down to tell what they knew, the author instead transported the reader directly into the action of the relevant memories. I especially liked that this forced some measure of honesty from antagonistic characters.
That being said, I thought continuity was a bit of a problem. I was under the impression that the entire conflict took place in the space of a few days, maybe a week or so. However, certain things the characters said or referenced outside of the main plot made it sound like weeks or months had passed instead. For example, in the beginning of the novel a minor character is pregnant but is early enough in the pregnancy to be talking about having an abortion; later in the story, another character reports that she recently had the baby. It wasn’t extremely important to what was happening (it was more of a passing remark), but it threw me rather roughly out of the story in my confusion.
There were also some minor spelling and punctuation errors that got rather annoying by the end of the novel, but did not detract from the story as a whole. The author has a tendency to use a lot of commas where stronger punctuation such as a semicolon would have worked better. It made some sentences seem like run-ons, but it could have been more of a personal preference on my part than anything else. Spelling errors were along the lines of using similar words in place of each other (for example, the author used “sweat” a couple of times when he clearly meant to say “sweet”).
Overall, this is a remarkable novel. It is generally fast-paced and keeps the reader focused on the action. While some of the surprises that are revealed throughout the story are rather obvious, there was one bit of information that the author teased magnificently right up until the final chapter to keep the suspense going. It was frustrating not knowing this particular identity, but the frustration only fueled my desire to keep reading. For these reasons, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to unravel a good mystery, enjoys the quirks and interactions of dynamic characters, or simply wants to read an enthralling tale that will make them really think about power, corruption, and “necessary evils” in life.
******
Wages of Sin
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Barnes and Noble | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Like Lovely_Loreley's review? Post a comment saying so!
4 out of 4 stars
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Wages of Sin by Dave Ewans is a captivating murder mystery with a science fiction twist. The book has high appeal for any reader who enjoys a good mystery or characters with extraordinary talents.
Erick Rider has a unique ability: when he looks at people, he can read their memories. It is almost as if a small screen in the corner of his eye rushes through a person’s entire history in the space of a few seconds. Erick has, of course, put this talent to good use in various occupations: as a con-artist, a psychic, and (most recently) as a mental health counselor. However, Erick is soon put to the test when one of his friends and one of his patients are both murdered on the same night. Along with his adoptive mother (who possesses her own unique gift), Erick must use his talent to uncover the truth of what happened that night.
The characters are a definite strong point in this novel. Each one has a dynamic personality and serves a key function, even though some of the characters seem unrelated up until the last few chapters. Not only that, but every character is given a backstory at some point, whether Erick is reminiscing about how he met someone or viewing someone else’s memories to determine a motive. Some characters have lived long enough that they have various backstories, which are revealed in pieces as other characters are introduced. At some points this can make the story a bit convoluted, and there are enough characters that I sometimes had to stop and think about who knew whom before certain events took place, but the overall effect was that of a jigsaw puzzle. Until I had enough of the pieces, I didn’t know what the image would be.
My favorite part of the book was undoubtedly the way the author used Erick’s ability to read memories. It allowed the characters to jump through time, so that one chapter had the characters conversing in the present moment and the next chapter was recounting someone’s memories from twenty years before those characters ever met! It certainly allowed for a more natural flow; rather than having each character sit down to tell what they knew, the author instead transported the reader directly into the action of the relevant memories. I especially liked that this forced some measure of honesty from antagonistic characters.
That being said, I thought continuity was a bit of a problem. I was under the impression that the entire conflict took place in the space of a few days, maybe a week or so. However, certain things the characters said or referenced outside of the main plot made it sound like weeks or months had passed instead. For example, in the beginning of the novel a minor character is pregnant but is early enough in the pregnancy to be talking about having an abortion; later in the story, another character reports that she recently had the baby. It wasn’t extremely important to what was happening (it was more of a passing remark), but it threw me rather roughly out of the story in my confusion.
There were also some minor spelling and punctuation errors that got rather annoying by the end of the novel, but did not detract from the story as a whole. The author has a tendency to use a lot of commas where stronger punctuation such as a semicolon would have worked better. It made some sentences seem like run-ons, but it could have been more of a personal preference on my part than anything else. Spelling errors were along the lines of using similar words in place of each other (for example, the author used “sweat” a couple of times when he clearly meant to say “sweet”).
Overall, this is a remarkable novel. It is generally fast-paced and keeps the reader focused on the action. While some of the surprises that are revealed throughout the story are rather obvious, there was one bit of information that the author teased magnificently right up until the final chapter to keep the suspense going. It was frustrating not knowing this particular identity, but the frustration only fueled my desire to keep reading. For these reasons, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to unravel a good mystery, enjoys the quirks and interactions of dynamic characters, or simply wants to read an enthralling tale that will make them really think about power, corruption, and “necessary evils” in life.
******
Wages of Sin
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on Barnes and Noble | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Like Lovely_Loreley's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: "Vanished in Berlin" by Gry Finsnes
