Cast On, Bet's Off

by Jack Olesker

Genres: Knitting

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was hoping to read a good yarn about a murder mixed in with some local Michiana color. What I got instead can only be considered a vanity press novel written by a guy who is way too impressed by himself, his "imagination," his wealth and his apparently smokin' hot wife. Think I'm exaggerating? Read the description of Max and Lisa, then look at the picture and mini-biography on the back of the book of the author and his wife, then decide for yourself.

From a proofreader's standpoint, too many misspellings, grammatical errors, and awkward sentences. From an editor's point of view, line-listing all the expensive things in your character's home is not prose; name-dropping yarn patterns, people and wine didn't do anything to establish character or plot except expose the author as a name-dropper; and the set up of other characters in the novel were cartoonish at best - wonder how the stereotype of native Americans as gamblers, drinkers and wife beaters played with the local tribes in Michiana, oops, I mean Indigan!

Perhaps the most annoying thing was the relationship between Max and Lisa, the married, rich, everyone-is-jealous-of-us-and-who-could-blame-them deputized couple for which this "novel" was built around. The "steamy" love scenes promised on the cover, verbal and sexual, were nauseating, self-serving, and bordering on unbelievable.

As for the story, once you got past the first half of the self-lovefest this is Max and Lisa, the story moved along pretty quickly. If you are paying attention, you can figure out who killed the casino developer well before the end of the book. Not a lot of mystery in the mystery, predictable plot twists and turns, right up to the last sleazy detail.

[Georgene · Rating 1 out of 5]

After finishing this book, I read some of the GoodReads reviews of it. Had I known, I would have NOT wasted my time reading it.

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was OK. Good enough to finish just to see who the murderer was. Other than that, good grief. Using car models to illustrate privilege, the perfectness of their tidy little lives. I could go on but I don’t want to think about this book any longer.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry I bought this book. Wish I had read the reviews first. Only made it through about 2 chapters before I gave up on it. Time I will never get back.

[Cara · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was a nice little mystery read. Five stars to its geographic location - on the border between Indiana and Michigan, on the Lake, a little (fictional) town called Indigan. The main characters - Max and Lisa - are likeable if a little lovey-dovey for me. The bad guys are bad, but predictable and the who dunnit...I could have probably guessed...but it sort of seemed obvious. And, the reason why, nice little twist.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would be embarrassed to recommend this book to anyone. I bought it at a Stitches Midwest and was drawn in by the author. He used to write for the Care Bears, which I loved growing up. He autographed my book and so I felt obliged to finish it after a slow start. This book contains gratuitous sex, an unbelievable story line, typos, and editing errors.

[Mary Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not impressed with the first chapter so far. Found lots of errors in the book that make reading it unenjoyable. I don't know that I would get another book by this author. The story was a good one, but it could have done without all the "How good looking we are" sections and he should have had someone proof it before publishing due to all the errors throughout the book.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I wasn't turned off like some reviewers. This is certainly not a great book, but I found it interesting and enjoyable. It's a good story line. It has interesting characters. Maybe not real people, but come on, it's a novel.
This wouldn't be the first book I'd recommend to my friends, but I did finish it - I even wanted to finish it - and I wasn't disappointed.

[Susan Banner · Rating 1 out of 5]

Charming premise, murder weapon Addi needles. Really, not even lace needles? The characters were not appealing to me at all. This was like slogging through jell-o, eventually you stop! Wish it had been entertaining!