by Bill Bennett

A Mystery/Thriller, 2025 by BillBenn Books, 357 Pages 

What I Didn’t Like:

• Awkward, uneven prose. The details of the case are thrown out quick but then we spend time languishing on how things look or smell. It’s stilted and strange.
• Characters are flat. There’s figurative language (too much of it, honestly) to compare them to things or feelings you’d know but they have no personality or realism. Someone dies and you’re told they all feel grief but it doesn’t feel realistic.
• Scene jumps are jarring and confusing. One paragraph two characters are walking on a pier, talking. The next paragraph one of them is home alone. No warning, no end of the conversation. Just jump. It happens multiple times. 
• Repeated ideas. The most jarring was that the full solution was repeated twice in the ending. So you read the book and discovered the solution along with the main character and then it’s recapped twice. Overkill.

What I Did Like:

• The setting has potential. This is an interesting police department that also has to deal with and be aware of protected animals. That’s interesting.
• The case has potential. The players and the case are original and interesting. 

Who Should Read This One:

• Unfortunately, as it is, we can’t recommend this one.

My Rating: 1 Star

• This one needs serious editing before we can recommend it.