Downshift

Sid Rafferty #1

by Matt Hughes

Sid Rafferty is between writing jobs, a rock and a hard place, and the poles of his luck.

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2012

Reviews

[Sherry D. Ramsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short novel is a nice detective story with an interesting main character and, for the most part, a fast-moving plot. The only slow parts are some tangents where there's a bit too much explanation of some political aspects of the plotline--that could be just me and my very limited tolerance for political "stuff", but I skim/skipped over most of it and it didn't hamper my understanding of the story. Other than that, the book is a quick read, well-written, with a nicely complicated plot, interesting characters, and a narrator I'd like to hear more from. I'll be watching to see if he turns up in other novels.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won Downshift as a Goodreads Giveaway. I would give the book 3 stars as most of the time I found it enjoyable to read but there were a few sections I found a little confusing and overwhelming (mostly related to the political content of which I know nothing about). As well, there may have been a few too many story lines going on throughout the book of which some did not seem to flow well and were not completely necessary (more specifically the love story). All in all, it was a pretty decent book and enjoyed the mystery behind some of the scenarios.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the story line of this book but got a little confused as to some of the history of Canadian politics. It was interesting but a little long in that it wasn't completely pertinent to the story. I will look for other books by Matt Hughes. I think that people familiar with Canadian politics and love a good mystery will enjoy this book.
I couldn't put it down.