Review of Cookbook for Revenge

[Precious_Nzeakor]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Cookbook for Revenge" by Gilber Alan Sanchez.]

---

4 out of 5 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Aaron is a young man in the hospitality industry, specifically the restaurant business. For most of his life, he has been maltreated, abused, and even taken advantage of at work until he decides he has had enough. He begins to create a special kind of cookbook, one filled with recipes on how to take revenge on everyone who has ever crossed him in one way or another. Along the way, he falls in love with a lady named Vanessa and slowly yet steadily builds a team of people who have the same objective as him: to get revenge. Would they be successful in this endeavour? And for how long?

Cookbook for Revenge: Revenge is a Process by Gilbert-Alan Sanchez is a slow-paced thriller. With the turn of each page, we see the quick degradation of a man's psyche as he finally makes the decision to seek revenge on all who have ever wronged him. However, we're hit with the introduction of several new characters, changing the dynamics of how the book was initially set. We also see the protagonist, Aaron, who makes some out-of-character contributions that will perhaps cause the readers to hold mixed views of him. I love how this book exposes the abuse and harassment that occur in the hospitality industry as well as other service industries. I also love how it highlights the emotional damage that can occur from abuse, as seen in the case of Emmanuelle. Some of the "recipes" created were also creative, albeit gory, like in the case of the couple who had been rude to Emmanuelle.

However, I feel like the book left a lot to be desired. For starters, at some point, the book seemed to deviate from the point of the plot, which was revenge, to concentrate on sexual content. It started to feel like the book genre was erotica instead of thriller. That said, I found a lot of the sexual scenes very unnecessary and irrelevant to the storyline of the book.

Secondly, near the middle of the book, I started encountering a lot of pronoun misuse. It became harder to identify which speaker was narrating at different points in the book, and this left me confused a lot of times. Also, all of the murder victims and plans just seemed very convenient and added little to no thrill to the murders carried out. Finally, aside from the pronoun misuse, there were several errors in the book, which suggests that this book was not professionally edited.

I did enjoy reading this book, thanks to some of the creative "recipes." However, I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars. Perhaps if the grammar issue had been addressed and a little more thrill added to the storyline, I would have rated it higher. If you're someone who loves reading murder thrillers of any category and doesn't mind some erotic scenes in the mix, then this book would be a perfect read for you. Enjoy!

******
Cookbook for Revenge
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes

[Rica Concepcion]

This book is for me, who holds grudges against all those who wronged me, used me, and abused me. I bet I can relate to this novel. I hope I can learn something from this book I appreciate the comprehensive and honest review. Great job! 

[NetMassimo]

This novel's basic concept seems intriguing but some choices don't seem to add much to the storyline, so I have mixed feelings about it. Regardless, thank you for your great review!

[satsu]

Hmmm your review has definitely left me intrigued and I will certainly be giving this one a read. Reminds me of the film ‘the menu’ similar theme but this one is hopefully has a more personal level to it.