The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
jrobles76's review
4.0
Great intro to the series. Nice believable characters. Already own the next book and ready for more.
keclark's review
4.0
Overall a good, suspense filled book. There were parts that I wanted to skim over and areas I wanted more information. It is obviously set up to be part of a series about the main character, Vanessa.
justkellyann's review against another edition
2.0
November 4, 2013
I received this book in a First Reads giveaway.
You got bounced around from different characters' angles (I do not want to say point of view here since the whole book is written in third person); there were so many acronyms and initialisms, I couldn't keep them straight, so I ended up writing them down for reference; city/town and country settings weren't very clear, you would get the name of a city or a town, but the country was mentioned several chapters back in a passing glance, so there was constant flip-flopping of pages to figure out settings; and a character would be introduced with name and full title (if applicable) and then when a character would be mentioned again, you would get one or the other, but it was different every time, making it hard to keep minor characters straight.
What I read of the book was an easy read, but it had no voice and I honestly never understood what people would mean by that until I read this book.
I'm sad to say that, as excited I was for this book, it really fell short and missed the mark. I did not finish this book. I may revisit it again someday, but not soon. 2.5/5 stars.
UPDATE FEBRUARY 6, 2015
I lent this book to a friend, and she made it farther than I did, and has informed me that it improves. When she is done reading it, I will be picking up the book again and attempting to read it through to hopefully revise this review.
I received this book in a First Reads giveaway.
Spoiler
I was really excited for this book, I read the synopsis of it several times, and each time I was even more excited. When it finally arrived, I dove right in, and within the first chapter or two, a lot happened and made me want to keep reading. Sadly though, 100 pages in, I had lost all interest in the book.You got bounced around from different characters' angles (I do not want to say point of view here since the whole book is written in third person); there were so many acronyms and initialisms, I couldn't keep them straight, so I ended up writing them down for reference; city/town and country settings weren't very clear, you would get the name of a city or a town, but the country was mentioned several chapters back in a passing glance, so there was constant flip-flopping of pages to figure out settings; and a character would be introduced with name and full title (if applicable) and then when a character would be mentioned again, you would get one or the other, but it was different every time, making it hard to keep minor characters straight.
What I read of the book was an easy read, but it had no voice and I honestly never understood what people would mean by that until I read this book.
I'm sad to say that, as excited I was for this book, it really fell short and missed the mark. I did not finish this book. I may revisit it again someday, but not soon. 2.5/5 stars.
UPDATE FEBRUARY 6, 2015
I lent this book to a friend, and she made it farther than I did, and has informed me that it improves. When she is done reading it, I will be picking up the book again and attempting to read it through to hopefully revise this review.
valerie_msa's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
sun_dog's review against another edition
3.0
The first 10 pages almost caused me to stop reading it. The prose just felt...amateurish. But I gave it another shot, and pretty soon the plot kicked in, so I kept going. By the last half of the book I was genuinely pulled in, and read it avidly.
I found the similarity of the protagonist to the author (her looks, name, circumstances, job, etc) to be distracting, as every compliment for the main character takes on a tone of self-congratulation, vs just the creation of a skillful/smart/beautiful/driven character. Not only is it narcissistic, it becomes a constant reminder that it's "historical fiction", interposing questions of "would that really happen?" into an otherwise engrossing fictional story.
But hopefully future books will shed some of that dynamic, and keep up the final level of quality, to give the world an interesting woman spy character, and a peek into the real world of international espionage.
I found the similarity of the protagonist to the author (her looks, name, circumstances, job, etc) to be distracting, as every compliment for the main character takes on a tone of self-congratulation, vs just the creation of a skillful/smart/beautiful/driven character. Not only is it narcissistic, it becomes a constant reminder that it's "historical fiction", interposing questions of "would that really happen?" into an otherwise engrossing fictional story.
But hopefully future books will shed some of that dynamic, and keep up the final level of quality, to give the world an interesting woman spy character, and a peek into the real world of international espionage.
sherylk's review against another edition
2.0
I really wanted to like this book. I had read Plame's [b:Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House|1815529|Fair Game My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House|Valerie Plame Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327869499s/1815529.jpg|1815022] about her life as a CIA spy and figured this would be a really fun novel.
It barely qualifies as a good airport read crossed with a bad episode of Covert Affairs. The story followed spy Vanessa Pierson as she hunts down a known nuclear arms dealer who is otherwise impossible to find. She has assets, a secret boyfriend, and people who don't trust her in the CIA.
While I have a lot of respect for Plame in real life, her novel was not much more than pulp.
It barely qualifies as a good airport read crossed with a bad episode of Covert Affairs. The story followed spy Vanessa Pierson as she hunts down a known nuclear arms dealer who is otherwise impossible to find. She has assets, a secret boyfriend, and people who don't trust her in the CIA.
While I have a lot of respect for Plame in real life, her novel was not much more than pulp.
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