Reviews

13 Jours by Valentina Giambanco

kbranfield's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5 stars.

balthazarlawson's review against another edition

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3.0

Alice Madison is a new detective working in the Seattle Police Department Homicide. Her first case turns into a life and death struggle for herself, her co-workers, her friends and family when the perpetrator targets her along the way.

This sounds interesting enough but unfortunately the execution I found to be slow, drawn out and rather predictable. Enjoyable but too slow and not very captivating.

proudlocks's review against another edition

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4.0

Really liked this. Usually with thrillers I'm bored, but this one kept me on the edge of my seat.

atfatesend's review against another edition

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4.0

I hate when books end the way this one did but overall great storyline.

tabatha_shipley's review against another edition

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3.0

This book stars a young detective named Alice Madison. As with detective novels, we are going to follow the case she's working and learn a little about Alice in the process. I'm an avid reader of detective novels, and I enjoyed this one. Alice is a refreshing take on the main character detective.

The direct plot line was enjoyable for me, probably more like 4 smiles, but I felt like it got bogged down a little by the subplots. Someone who really likes psychological books with a lot going on would think this bumped it up.

Overall: The book was good, I recommend it.

okenwillow's review

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1.0

Nous voici avec un pavé plein de promesses, qui mêle passé et présent, et utilise les flash-back pour distiller les informations. Rien de neuf à ce niveau-là, mais une recette potentiellement efficace qui a fait ses preuves : deux affaires distantes de vingt-cinq ans qui se trouvent être liées, et qu’une jeune inspectrice ambidextre va démêler les doigts (des deux mains) dans le nez. L’intrigue n’est pas si mal quand on y pense, mais tellement ponctuée d’invraisemblables et d’infos inutiles qu’elle en devient lourde. Que le coupable souffre de synesthésie ou que l’inspectrice soit ambidextre, n’apporte absolument rien à l’histoire et ne change pas le cours des choses. Les longueurs, trop nombreuses, ne donnent que l’illusion d’un gros effort d’écriture et de complexité de l’intrigue, qui finalement ne sortent pas du lot. Le duo Alice/Brown ne m’a absolument pas convaincue, car si certains personnages, comme Alice, sont assez développés, d’autres, comme Brown, manquent cruellement de substance. La psychologie des personnages est selon le cas, inexistante, incohérente, ou d’une simplicité à faire peur. Les motivations du tueur laissent perplexe, son évolution en tant que tueur est totalement invraisemblable, d’autant plus consternante lorsque l’on connaît le motif de sa vengeance, d’une simplicité rare. Sa révélation nous offre d’ailleurs un dénouement digne d’un téléfilm de M6. Si les relations entre certains protagonistes ne manquent pas d’intérêt (Cameron/Quinn, Cameron/Alice, Quinn/Alice), celles-ci auraient pu être encore mieux exploitées, l’évolution d’Alice par rapport à Cameron est sans doute le seul aspect positif de l’intrigue, avec peut-être le thème de la vengeance personnelle. L’opposition entre la vengeance légitime de Cameron et celle plus barbare et aveugle du coupable aurait pu être intéressante, si cette dernière n’avait pas été aussi cousue de fil blanc. J’ai rarement vu un tueur aussi peu crédible dans son évolution et ses motivations, on s’attend à un une intrigue complexe, profonde, et finalement, les derniers chapitres achèvent de cumuler les clichés et les grosses ficelles, au point de devenir risibles.

Je me suis ennuyée ferme jusqu’à 50% du livre, ce qui pour un thriller n’annonçait rien de bon. J’aurais pu abandonner avant et ne pas le terminer, mais je voulais voir la chute, caressant l’espoir d’une amélioration tardive. Que nenni ! L’action démarre réellement vers 70%, pour partir en cacahouète jusqu’à la fin.

Je remercie néanmoins les éditions Albin Michel pour cette proposition de lecture qui avait pourtant attisé ma curiosité.

thona's review against another edition

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5.0

this book is peak thriller. the main character alice and the surrounding characters that are entrapped in a dangerous game of predator vs predator is so well thought out and mesmerizing love to see it honestly a strong crime to set the scene and a enthralling hunt and shakedown to find who did it this book outsells itself for this genre

pilgriminal's review against another edition

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3.0

Slow to start with choppy dialogue. Things really started to pick up in the last 100 pages. Shame that momentum wasn't there from the start.

sarahinreaderland's review against another edition

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3.0

I got my hands on this book as a free download from Starbucks so I have to say my expectations weren't high. I jumped straight into it without having looked into what the book was about but was hooked fairly quickly. I didn't read it all in one go; I put it back and came back to it a few times but the moment I picked it back up I was engrossed as though I hadn't put it down.

I loved the character Alice. She's such a strong woman and is extremely good at what she does, even if it means not following the rules every now and again. If Alice was a detective where I lived I would be happy and feel extremely safe.

There is a lot of detail in this book and it's extremely visual (some parts aren't for the light hearted in my opinion) but one thing I wish was in more detail was the character's backgrounds. Having finished this book I want to know more about Madison, Cameron, Brown and Quinn. I was to know past in more detail and I most definitely want to know what happens to them next. If there was to be a Madison/Brown series I would definitely read the others.

This was something different to what I usually read however I really enjoyed it and I'm so glad I picked up the free download with my caramel hot chocolate :)

suze_1624's review against another edition

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3.0

I enjoyed this story, it was a slow build up to the last 50 pages.
The build of history and investigation was necessary but did feel like a struggle at times.
The final scenes were at a more frantic pace as everything came together.
Alice is a rogue and it will be interesting to see how she gets on on the police force.
Quinn is a shady lawyer but loyal friend and in the end a guy who does the only thing to save a child.
Cameron actually becomes a sympathetic character and I hope we havent seen the end of him.
I do feel that I am missing something to finish this story off, and dont know what that is - maybe book two will help.