2 Stars
First things first: Dear co-worker who sits across from me - I apologize for what you had to experience upon me finishing this yesterday . . .
The office is really not the place for that type of outburst. And to all of my friends who have already read and loved this book – I wish I could join your ranks.
Here’s the deal. Redemption Road got put on my TBR simply for the author name. Although I have not yet read Hart’s first novel, I have owned it for some time and it has prime seating on the “I will save this in case I ever become housebound” shelving system. When I noticed friends enjoying this (4.80 collective rating – holy crap!) I immediately grabbed it from the library without even bothering to read a synopsis. All I knew was errrrrrrryone loved it and that words like “dark” kept getting tossed around. I love dark. It gives me a reaction that is a complete 180 of this chick . . .
(Ha! Told you I’d work that in somewhere this week, Shelby!)
My reaction after wrapping up the aforementioned bitchfit????
Basically, this is the synopsis of Redemption Road . . .
“A story about dead brothers, bored housewives, and a town full of dirty little secrets.”
The problems I had were several. First, John Hart pales in comparison to Dennis Lehane and Redemption Road was trying really hard to be a Lehane story. Second, having not read a synopsis, I didn’t realize at the end of the day this was simply a whodunit with everything but the kitchen sink added in to supposedly keep readers on their toes. I’m not going to spoil anything, but there was a gaping hole the size of the Grand Canyon that basically worked as a flashing neon sign pointing out the bad guy. I assumed since it was so obvious that meant the story would get twistier and turnier, but that was not the case. And finally, as for the “dark” storyline. Here’s a selfie of my heart . . .
The plot points here barely even reached a shade of grey on my scale of dark.
Per usual, I probably read this wrong. I definitely recognize I went in with my expectations set way too high. The good news is that this is ‘Murica and . . .
ARC requested and promptly denied by NetGalley because they like to keep me guessing about what they will/will not give me.
The office is really not the place for that type of outburst. And to all of my friends who have already read and loved this book – I wish I could join your ranks.
Here’s the deal. Redemption Road got put on my TBR simply for the author name. Although I have not yet read Hart’s first novel, I have owned it for some time and it has prime seating on the “I will save this in case I ever become housebound” shelving system. When I noticed friends enjoying this (4.80 collective rating – holy crap!) I immediately grabbed it from the library without even bothering to read a synopsis. All I knew was errrrrrrryone loved it and that words like “dark” kept getting tossed around. I love dark. It gives me a reaction that is a complete 180 of this chick . . .
(Ha! Told you I’d work that in somewhere this week, Shelby!)
My reaction after wrapping up the aforementioned bitchfit????
Basically, this is the synopsis of Redemption Road . . .
“A story about dead brothers, bored housewives, and a town full of dirty little secrets.”
The problems I had were several. First, John Hart pales in comparison to Dennis Lehane and Redemption Road was trying really hard to be a Lehane story. Second, having not read a synopsis, I didn’t realize at the end of the day this was simply a whodunit with everything but the kitchen sink added in to supposedly keep readers on their toes. I’m not going to spoil anything, but there was a gaping hole the size of the Grand Canyon that basically worked as a flashing neon sign pointing out the bad guy. I assumed since it was so obvious that meant the story would get twistier and turnier, but that was not the case. And finally, as for the “dark” storyline. Here’s a selfie of my heart . . .
The plot points here barely even reached a shade of grey on my scale of dark.
Per usual, I probably read this wrong. I definitely recognize I went in with my expectations set way too high. The good news is that this is ‘Murica and . . .
ARC requested and promptly denied by NetGalley because they like to keep me guessing about what they will/will not give me.
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