Official Review: Dire Salvation by Charles B. Neff

[jcheiser]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Dire Salvation" by Charles B. Neff.]

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Dire Salvation, by Charles B. Neff, is your classic whodunit, sleuth story; a murder occurs and the authorities work with evidence and interviews to deduce who the murderer is. In this case, there is also a hint of Native American culture and lore interwoven throughout the story.

I did enjoy this book, but I am sad to say that it really doesn’t have anything special. There is no ‘wow’ factor or anything to set it apart from the other books in this genre. The writing style left me confused as to the intended audience; it is written in a way that is fairly simplistic, too much so for an advanced reader unless they are looking for a ‘quick and easy read’, but the content is such that it is not quite appropriate for a younger audience (not inappropriate, mind you, but not appropriate, either).

Throughout the book, I sort of felt as though there was an attempt to increase the reading level target by using a thesaurus for given words in order to make it sound like a higher-level read. However, this caused a strange lack in continuity. I would rather read a book that is ‘below my reading level’ and consistent than read a book that randomly has higher-level vocabulary thrown in for flair.

I also feel that this book would have been much better if it had been longer. In many parts of the book, I felt like I was watching a movie and somebody kept hitting the fast-forward button, only playing a few scenes here and there and speeding past other parts. The story was filled with scenes that were fully described, and then there would be a section of ‘and then this happened, and then this, and then we wind up in this new scene.’ There was one section in particular, where one of the characters was described as telling another character some Native American stories that they had grown up hearing, and it was mentioned that those stories connected to the case. I, personally, would have liked to have those stories included and made those connections for myself. That brings me to another point: I felt like I was being handed clues, rather than having to find them for myself. I think this was partly due to the ‘fast-forward’ quality because the book essentially skipped over the ‘unimportant’ stuff, so all that was left was ‘here’s something important, remember this’.

Finally, I was very unimpressed with the ‘twist’, if that’s what it was intended to be. With this genre, there is typically a suspect that looks completely guilty until, big twist; it turns out to be someone else. However, the way that the guilty party was presented in this story was more like a slow turn than a big twist.

I give this book 2 out of 4 stars because, while it was in no way a bad book, it really wasn’t anything special. I wish it had been longer, gone into more detail, and allowed me to find the clues for myself rather than have them shoved in my face. I do hope that this author continues to write, however, because the foundation is there for a really good story; the author just needs to expand more and give the audience a little more.

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[Kappy]

Good review. "Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule." (Stephen King)

[jcheiser]

That Stephen King quotation says it all! I can't stand "thesaurus writing" - thank you for posting that.