A review by drey72
Wide Open by Deborah Coates
3.0
Wide Open is the story of a young woman who has ten days to solve her sister’s murder. Never mind that everybody says it was a suicide, Hallie just can’t believe that her sister would do such a thing. So off she goes, poking around and raising questions (about her own mental health) and hackles, from the very minute she steps off the plane. Before she knows it, she’s antagonized the town’s police, got into a bar fight, and accumulated a ghostly following – including her sister Dell.
There are some fantasy elements to this story, but I wouldn’t consider it a true fantasy or even urban fantasy (not as I think of the category anyway) – rather it’s a mystery with some paranormal elements. The plot is pretty straight-forward: Hallie needs to find her sister’s murderer before her ten days are up. There is no true repercussion to failure – except in the event that she, too, is killed – the murderer is simply free to continue on his wicked way.
I have to say I really enjoyed reading Wide Open, even though its story could have been told better. I got annoyed at Hallie’s behavior quite a bit – I thought she could be better, even though I know she’s exhausted, both mentally and physically, at having to deal with everything she’s facing. I know she needs to find out what really happened to her sister – and I applaud her efforts in that direction – but I thought some of the story felt a bit far-fetched, without enough reason and plot to hold it together for the entire book. However, all in all, it was an entertaining enough read, and I liked that it was more mystery than fantasy, i.e. it didn’t hit you over the head with all these supernatural creatures that populate urban fantasy. I would check out the next book (whenever it’s released)…
drey’s rating: Pick it up!
There are some fantasy elements to this story, but I wouldn’t consider it a true fantasy or even urban fantasy (not as I think of the category anyway) – rather it’s a mystery with some paranormal elements. The plot is pretty straight-forward: Hallie needs to find her sister’s murderer before her ten days are up. There is no true repercussion to failure – except in the event that she, too, is killed – the murderer is simply free to continue on his wicked way.
I have to say I really enjoyed reading Wide Open, even though its story could have been told better. I got annoyed at Hallie’s behavior quite a bit – I thought she could be better, even though I know she’s exhausted, both mentally and physically, at having to deal with everything she’s facing. I know she needs to find out what really happened to her sister – and I applaud her efforts in that direction – but I thought some of the story felt a bit far-fetched, without enough reason and plot to hold it together for the entire book. However, all in all, it was an entertaining enough read, and I liked that it was more mystery than fantasy, i.e. it didn’t hit you over the head with all these supernatural creatures that populate urban fantasy. I would check out the next book (whenever it’s released)…
drey’s rating: Pick it up!