Friday, February 15, 2013

I give up! Or, Allison actually can't bring herself to finish a book

THE GIRL WHO CRIED WOLF by Robert Ferrigno: I'm going to preface this review by emphasizing that I only made it 20% through the e-galley, so this is far from a complete review. And with blurbs from Elmore Leonard and Michael Connelly, Ferrigno has more credibility than I do. Still, I'm going to explain why I was able to put this book down (and I'm never able to stop a book in the middle) and you can decide for yourself whether or not it's for you.

The premise had more than enough interest for me: a kidnapped girl who turns the tables on her kidnappers, terrorists moved to unspeakable acts by their concern for the environment. But the characters are little more than cardboard cutouts, and I didn't care the least bit what happened to them. If you're looking for suspense with humor and an environmentalist bent, Hiaasen does it far better. Remy, the kidnap victim, has an unbelievably blasé reaction to her plight, Tree and Eli are clueless puppets, Glenn is more irritating than menacing, and Cleo is a cliche. No, cliches have more personality. When the kindle said I was only 20% in, I could not see my way to slogging through what I expect is a formulaic, predictable plot drawn from stilted prose. (I did scroll to the end to verify that the "plot twists" I could see coming from four miles away unfolded as I expected. No surprises.)

This might be a satisfactory beach read in paperback. Used paperback.

Source disclosure: I received an e-galley from the publisher.

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