Official Review: Game Piece by Alan Brenham

[bluegreenmarina]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Game Piece" by Alan Brenham.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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Game Piece by Alan Brenham is a story about detective Barry Marshall, who comes across a once-in-a-lifetime case. The stakes are high, as the killer responsible seems to be targeting victims who all have a connection to detective Marshall himself. A series of threatening phone calls leads Marshall to realizing that these crimes are not random, and that his wife and child may be at risk as well. Complicating matters is the fact that he and his wife are having problems communicating, and the stress of his workload (and this particular case) creates additional obstacles at home and at work. As the body count begins to rise, detective Marshall must fight to uphold his reputation, save his job, and keep his family safe.

This crime novel gets straight to the point, wasting little time on scene setting and deep character exploration. The writing style is minimalist and abrupt, sometimes even choppy as the author makes frequent use of incomplete thoughts and sentences when describing the main character’s thought process. The writing style is also very expository – both the detective and killer often “conveniently” explain the entire set of motives behind their actions, which creates a reading experience in which the reader has to do very little thinking. One of the things I enjoy about the crime thriller genre is a chance to make guesses and put clues together, yet there was little opportunity for this within this story, as the details were often obviously placed and little detection was needed.

Though the story itself was engaging, and the author managed to create a main character for whom I wanted to root, several other aspects of the writing style negatively affected my enjoyment of the story. There were quite a few typos and punctuation errors, giving the impression that the novel was written in haste with little or no editing after completion. Several of the details were sloppy; for example – when one character is in the hospital, there is a very clear statement that “the doctors tried but couldn’t save him” yet the character turns out to live, with few severe injuries! The writing tends to switch in point-of-view from the detective to the killer, and at times there is inconsistent use of the first person and third person within these sections. Some of the decisions made by the characters seem illogical, and the explanations they give for making those choices are illogical as well; in these cases it is almost as if the author was trying desperately to fit in a certain crucial plot point without paying much attention to doing so in a realistic way.

For those who don’t read too deeply into a story or care more about the central plot than the peripheral details, these issues may seem minor. In general terms, the book is exciting and fast-paced, and comes to a climactic conclusion that resolves most (if not all) the loose ends. I was left with some questions about the motivations of one of the side characters who was involved in the crimes, and I did not entirely feel satisfied with the ending and the various clues and details that had been presented up to that point. For this reason, and the others mentioned above, I decided to rate this book 2 out of 4 stars.

I do believe some readers might find this a more satisfying read than I did. I tend to pay close attention to the details of a story, as well as the psychological elements that contribute to characters’ actions, and was not quite satisfied with the level of nuance in this book. However, this story may lend itself better to a quick read, such as one does while traveling or waiting at the DMV, as the big-picture elements of the book tend to hold up better to scrutiny than the minor details.

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Game Piece
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Like bluegreenmarina's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Debjani Ghosh]

Great review! I, for one, like to pay attention to details of a story, especially of the crime/thriller genre and I would definitely like to use my grey cells to put together the clues and deduce the killer myself. Hence, I will skip this one.

[kandscreeley]

This one is not for me. I don't like when the characters explain the reason for everything they are doing as they do it. Definitely not my style. Thanks for telling us about this one, but I'll pass.

[wendos]

This crime thriller is amazing, though the characters seem to give too much away. I would love it if the reader is kept guessing all through. It makes the reading interesting.

[Sonya Nicolaidis]

I think I would lose interest in a story where the author seems to forget that his character has died! As a lover of crime thrillers, the hasty writing and careless editing are enough to put me off. I will pass on it. Thanks for your opinion.

[HollandBlue]

Thank you for your review. This story reminds me of a detective book that I read when I was younger. Both the detective and the murderer traced their steps as the story progressed, leaving little to figure out. I'd rather figure out more of the details myself so I'll probably skip this one.

[T_stone]

The author didn't leave much room for readers to wonder how the story goes thereby, killing the suspense and thrilling part of this book. I might read this eventually; probably much more later. Thanks for the review.

[fredrick otieno]

For me what keeps me going in a book is its complexity, buy when everything is made clear and i do not have to scratch my head, then i feel that there is no need to continue with the reading. Anyway since i love thriller and detective stories i am still willing to give this a try.

[Caylie_Cat]

I agree with previous comments regarding the motives being explained. The whole idea of a 'whodunnit' is to find out at the end who the baddy was, and why they were bad. Having said that, I think there is a place for a well-written rollicking read to take your mind off more pressing matters. Great review!

[Hiruni Bhagya 81]

The story seemed not well thought out, but I'm curious about the reason for targeting the victims who have a connection to the detective. But a mystery not being a mystery is a huge turn off for me. Because of this, I'm at an impasse. I'm not sure whether or not I'd give it a try. Most probably I'll just skim over it till I find what I want.

[Mbrooks2518]

It's too bad that this is so poorly executed. It sounds like a story I would have liked. Thanks for the thorough review!

[BelleReadsNietzsche]

The writing style is also very expository – both the detective and killer often “conveniently” explain the entire set of motives behind their actions, which creates a reading experience in which the reader has to do very little thinking. One of the things I enjoy about the crime thriller genre is a chance to make guesses and put clues together, yet there was little opportunity for this within this story, as the details were often obviously placed and little detection was needed.

Ugh, this is one of my biggest pet peeves in this genre!!!!!!!! Definitely kills a book for me. Thanks for your review!