Book Waffle | Spilled Blood (2012) - Cliche Bingo

  


Spilled Blood (2012) written by Brian Freeman -

I don't read a lot of mysteries, and this book didn't help my impression of them. The writing is amateurish. It's full of eyeroll-worthy cliches, passive language, and telling. The author does not trust the reader to understand what is happening; everything must be spelled out and overexplained. Maybe this is a hallmark style of mysteries, or maybe it's just Freeman. I'm not sure which.

The Hatfields and McCoys drama between the two towns is so outlandishly unbelievable that I audibly laughed on multiple occasions, and the ending can't help but feel a little contrived. A religion theme pops up one minute and is gone the next. The not-so-subtle Monsanto evil corp is cartoonish.

This book desperately needed focus. There are so many characters and so much random surface-level tosh that I found myself zoning-out for minutes at a time, yet I never missed a beat because everything this book has is superficial. It really does feel like Disney for adults.

At least it manages to make a few scenes thrilling. Otherwise, it's completely forgettable.

Rating: 4/10


| Previously reviewed on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7300779886

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