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A review by bdowning81
Family Business by Jonathan Sims
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This rating is a challenge because I listened to the audiobook and I'd love to be able to give three separate ratings - the story was great, I enjoyed it a lot. I picked this up as a fan of The Magnus Archives and Thirteen Storeys, as I love Jonathan Sims' authorial voice and actual voice.
I'm not 100% sure where I think this story lands within the precedent set by the others, though, because of the big negative: the narrator. She started out strong, but by halfway through the book seemed like she was phoning it in with no attention given to the meanings of the things she was reading. Every sentence, had the same, intonation structure with, entirely too many extra, auditory commas, and a question-lift, at the end? I had to pause frequently to mentally rewind what I'd just heard, visualize it as printed text, and reimagine it with the appropriate tone and emphases.
That said, the use of the "cameo" narrator is absolutely brilliant.
I'm not 100% sure where I think this story lands within the precedent set by the others, though, because of the big negative: the narrator. She started out strong, but by halfway through the book seemed like she was phoning it in with no attention given to the meanings of the things she was reading. Every sentence, had the same, intonation structure with, entirely too many extra, auditory commas, and a question-lift, at the end? I had to pause frequently to mentally rewind what I'd just heard, visualize it as printed text, and reimagine it with the appropriate tone and emphases.
That said, the use of the "cameo" narrator is absolutely brilliant.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder