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Stalker
Advanced Reader Copy.
As we enter the mind of a troubled and clinically depressed Wally Wheldon, we begin to learn of his distressing past. Following the untimely death of his wife, Wally spends each day questioning his own existence. In the wake of his illness, he made a series of mistakes and with it a number of enemies, all of which still continue to haunt him no matter how he tries to shut out his past.
When he begins to visit a psychiatrist, Wally is forced to dig up the demons from his past, a past rife with death, sin and adultery and bring with it all of the difficult and painful memories that he had wanted to bury and the consequences thereof.
As he tries to reconcile his past differences he inadvertently sets into motion a series of eerie and unforeseen events for those he had been close to. Strange noises in the night begin to disturb their sleep, unexplainable movements and shadows follow them around every corner.
On edge and afraid, some try to fight against the torment but for others it becomes too much.
With Wally unable to avoid the label of prime suspect, he must gather what little strength he has in order to clear his name before more victims are claimed. However, the deeper he probes the more secrets he unveils. Discovering suicide, fraud and murder he very quickly begins to realise that his entire past is unravelling out of control and threatening his future.
Stalker is a psychological thriller which delves into the tormented mind of the mentally ill and the twisted mind of a psychotic killer.
As we enter the mind of a troubled and clinically depressed Wally Wheldon, we begin to learn of his distressing past. Following the untimely death of his wife, Wally spends each day questioning his own existence. In the wake of his illness, he made a series of mistakes and with it a number of enemies, all of which still continue to haunt him no matter how he tries to shut out his past.
When he begins to visit a psychiatrist, Wally is forced to dig up the demons from his past, a past rife with death, sin and adultery and bring with it all of the difficult and painful memories that he had wanted to bury and the consequences thereof.
As he tries to reconcile his past differences he inadvertently sets into motion a series of eerie and unforeseen events for those he had been close to. Strange noises in the night begin to disturb their sleep, unexplainable movements and shadows follow them around every corner.
On edge and afraid, some try to fight against the torment but for others it becomes too much.
With Wally unable to avoid the label of prime suspect, he must gather what little strength he has in order to clear his name before more victims are claimed. However, the deeper he probes the more secrets he unveils. Discovering suicide, fraud and murder he very quickly begins to realise that his entire past is unravelling out of control and threatening his future.
Stalker is a psychological thriller which delves into the tormented mind of the mentally ill and the twisted mind of a psychotic killer.
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First published October 18, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 13, 2018
Going through my DNF shelf and revisiting to finish the books I started. It has taken me ages to keep with this. I don’t like to write a review unless I’ve finished the book.
I FINALLY finished it.
I still feel the same :(
As an established reviewer/proof reader and beta reader I can only write my review from my point of view.
I am not a writer.
So I commend the author.
I do hope he takes others brilliant advise I have seen in reviews and carry this book forward to establish its worthiness.
I was contacted by email from this author to see if I would like to read and review his work for an honest review.
My review is mine and mine alone and I am finding this very hard to write.
I contemplated for several days and agonized over if I should just not leave a review at all because its below a 3 star.
After chatting it over with a couple of book buddies I felt that I had a duty really to write a review, as the reviews are not for the authors alone, they are also for potential buyers of a book or product we write reviews for...right?
I REALLY was going to settle down and read this. I love a good "stalker" book at times. But this is riddled with typing errors. I am not just talking of your spelling mistakes now and again. I read a lot of Indie authors books and I beta read and proof read, so I am used to over looking errors and concentrating on the story knowing this will be picked up at a later date by the editor.
I am seriously wondering if this book has had its final proof reading or even a check of spelling and grammar.
Its very difficult to concentrate on the story so I tried.
Believe me, I DID try
I gave this every effort and concentrated very hard but the story was very choppy.
I couldn't understand why there were so many good ratings on this book, so I thought I would check as maybe I was sent a wrong copy??!!
When checking the members who read this book and left reviews I could see that they are new to Goodreads, only this coming month or two. AND they have no other books some of them on their shelves.
One is actually giving away a copy of this book.
I couldn't help but ponder on that.
Readers are not silly.
The characters were flat.
The story jumped so much I just was sighing and getting more frustrated as I tried to concentrate.
Maybe, just maybe with some help and a lot of tweaking and help from others this book could appear on more readers shelves. However, at this presentation, I would give it a pass.
**This is not an easy review for me to write...
so I hear you ask...
Why write it then.
Because, I read and review. I cannot recommend a book that is as badly written as this.
I could ignore and forget I tried to read it.
But this is a diservice and I feel not an honest part of me, and seeing that I say I am "honest" I would hiding something.
I telephoned Maxine who is a book buddy of mine and we talked. Because I had already read the book. I had been hesitating adding my review. When I saw hers, I was WOW, yes, I felt the same way.
Thank god, relief.
Truly sorry for the author as Michael has not got the review he wanted and hoped for. I am happy to read this again and re-evalute when it has been altered and readable.
October 5, 2016
I could not finish, but let me explain...(please note since I read this book a week ago the number of "reviews" mentioned in my post have now halved)
Okay, I was baffled at 20% in at what I was missing. So I looked at all the 4/5 star reviews so far (21 of them). I read them all, then looked at the reviewers. ALL new to Goodreads, as in brand new (this month or last), for most this is their only book read at all with no other activity, others with maybe a few books read but no other reviews. Nothing on to-read lists. Just coincidence? Not likely.
As a seasoned reviewer this speaks volumes to me. After reading thousands of books I thought I was going mad that this isn't lining up with these awesome reviews. Something doesn't add up and that's put me off hugely.
This book is hard to follow, jumping from first to third person narrative. At times you get no idea which character you are even presented with. It's slow and disjointed with not much happening truly. I was open minded, overlooked the errors with typos and spelling, text inconsistencies also, I support new authors hugely as you all know.
It took all my energy to try to follow events, characters and frankly you don't want that when you escape with a book. I had a headache. It did not have the thrills or the buzz that a book in this genre should. I have read lots of Indie authors, love them, but it's important the book is READY for the public market and that is where very honest reviews are important. Very important, because if you keep getting told you book is awesome once you start to get reviews that say different it's a big kick. It's better to re-look at the book early, polish it up. Put it back out there. But as it stands? Could not even finish it, as besides from the errors, the entire book just goes nowhere and is too hard to follow. I never knew who was "speaking" or which characters head we where in, or not in, or if they even had a head.
Now, what I do respect is authors who have their book out there for sometimes months with only 2-3 genuine reviews, heart wrenching I'm sure. I promote and help many of these new Indie authors. However, my spidey senses are on alert with numerous 5 star, brief, and praise filled reviews from members who literally joined Goodreads this month and one book read and reviewed, being this one. It just sits wrong with me. If you disagree with me, that's okay. Maybe it's a best seller and I've just missed it somehow.
Hey, you read it and maybe you will love it. I'd be keen to see established readers and reviewers review it and follow ongoing reviews. I can't keep going with this one and my friends and followers know that's rare for me. I have not much idea what's going on.
It's given me a poor first impression and believe me I went in ready to praise and rave. Honest reviews are critical to an author really knowing if their work needs tweaking, improving, or shaping and in my opinion this book needs some honest experienced beta readers (I'm one!) as well as a good Editor. Then put it back out there.
I had to be honest. I can't give this anything but 1 star. I need to be true to myself. It's what I'm known for in my reviews. Disappointing reading. Was my review one star because it was obvious friends and family reviewed the book? No, it was a one star review because of the book itself and how it's written, but it didn't help perceptions overall.
I received a copy of this book to review from the author, I also was assessing this professionally. I wish it had left a better more genuine impression.
Yes, I sleuthed and checked every reviewer profile. It's from years of reading crime fiction. I'm a good Detective now.
Okay, I was baffled at 20% in at what I was missing. So I looked at all the 4/5 star reviews so far (21 of them). I read them all, then looked at the reviewers. ALL new to Goodreads, as in brand new (this month or last), for most this is their only book read at all with no other activity, others with maybe a few books read but no other reviews. Nothing on to-read lists. Just coincidence? Not likely.
As a seasoned reviewer this speaks volumes to me. After reading thousands of books I thought I was going mad that this isn't lining up with these awesome reviews. Something doesn't add up and that's put me off hugely.
This book is hard to follow, jumping from first to third person narrative. At times you get no idea which character you are even presented with. It's slow and disjointed with not much happening truly. I was open minded, overlooked the errors with typos and spelling, text inconsistencies also, I support new authors hugely as you all know.
It took all my energy to try to follow events, characters and frankly you don't want that when you escape with a book. I had a headache. It did not have the thrills or the buzz that a book in this genre should. I have read lots of Indie authors, love them, but it's important the book is READY for the public market and that is where very honest reviews are important. Very important, because if you keep getting told you book is awesome once you start to get reviews that say different it's a big kick. It's better to re-look at the book early, polish it up. Put it back out there. But as it stands? Could not even finish it, as besides from the errors, the entire book just goes nowhere and is too hard to follow. I never knew who was "speaking" or which characters head we where in, or not in, or if they even had a head.
Now, what I do respect is authors who have their book out there for sometimes months with only 2-3 genuine reviews, heart wrenching I'm sure. I promote and help many of these new Indie authors. However, my spidey senses are on alert with numerous 5 star, brief, and praise filled reviews from members who literally joined Goodreads this month and one book read and reviewed, being this one. It just sits wrong with me. If you disagree with me, that's okay. Maybe it's a best seller and I've just missed it somehow.
Hey, you read it and maybe you will love it. I'd be keen to see established readers and reviewers review it and follow ongoing reviews. I can't keep going with this one and my friends and followers know that's rare for me. I have not much idea what's going on.
It's given me a poor first impression and believe me I went in ready to praise and rave. Honest reviews are critical to an author really knowing if their work needs tweaking, improving, or shaping and in my opinion this book needs some honest experienced beta readers (I'm one!) as well as a good Editor. Then put it back out there.
I had to be honest. I can't give this anything but 1 star. I need to be true to myself. It's what I'm known for in my reviews. Disappointing reading. Was my review one star because it was obvious friends and family reviewed the book? No, it was a one star review because of the book itself and how it's written, but it didn't help perceptions overall.
I received a copy of this book to review from the author, I also was assessing this professionally. I wish it had left a better more genuine impression.
Yes, I sleuthed and checked every reviewer profile. It's from years of reading crime fiction. I'm a good Detective now.
October 22, 2015
Okay. So here I am writing a review of a book I found a hard time getting through. But I did and am very proud I had. As an author myself, my first start at a book was tragic, horrible. I did not know how hard the whole process was. So I'm hoping this author will take my advice.
Not every reader will like your book and most of them have never written a book, so they do not understand the hard work it takes into writing it, so their reviews can and will be harsh at times. There are three things that you have to make sure that you do.
1. Use an editor, this is the most viable point I can give, if you don't have someone to look at your grammatical errors, sentence structure other than yourself you will be screwed. The one thing I learned was once your book gets a bad rap you might as well take if off the shelf.
2. Take advice from every reader and reviewer out there and use it for your advantage, instead of taking it to heart. This will help you to grow and learn from your mistakes.
3. Never give up writing. No matter how painful it may be to see people downgrade your hard work, practice makes perfect and if you take the time to learn that, then you will see that I'm right.
So my rating, why 3 stars? One star for all your hard work. Two stars for having the courage to put it out there.
Not every reader will like your book and most of them have never written a book, so they do not understand the hard work it takes into writing it, so their reviews can and will be harsh at times. There are three things that you have to make sure that you do.
1. Use an editor, this is the most viable point I can give, if you don't have someone to look at your grammatical errors, sentence structure other than yourself you will be screwed. The one thing I learned was once your book gets a bad rap you might as well take if off the shelf.
2. Take advice from every reader and reviewer out there and use it for your advantage, instead of taking it to heart. This will help you to grow and learn from your mistakes.
3. Never give up writing. No matter how painful it may be to see people downgrade your hard work, practice makes perfect and if you take the time to learn that, then you will see that I'm right.
So my rating, why 3 stars? One star for all your hard work. Two stars for having the courage to put it out there.
November 5, 2015
I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
For those reviewers who claim this was well-written, please don't. The spelling, grammatical errors, lack of use of appropriate punctuation (so, therefore, far too many run on sentences), awkward shifting of viewpoints, and unrealistic dialogue simply don't allow it to be considered well-written. Quite frankly, this is nothing more than a messy first draft.
I toyed with the idea of giving this three stars, as I think the weaving of multiple plot lines into one and the general premise of the story has some potential. With a serious rewrite (or two, or three, or...) and a reasonably good editor/set of proofreaders, I wouldn't be surprised if this story became decent.
The plot line itself isn't anything super original, but that didn't bother me too much. I did find myself extremely disappointed in how the main character, Wally, just seemed to disappear into oblivion. Considering how part of the story was told from his perspective, it just seems implausible how that happened.
As an author in the genre myself, I do see some potential in Stoney-Channon. Some of his descriptions are vivid and the plot idea is solid enough. Everyone gets better with time, and I suspect that the author will improve as well. With that said, in order to not damage your reputation, I would strongly consider un-publishing this for a while. I see that this is considered an ARC, which I hope is true, because this book needs some serious work. All books have errors - it's inevitable - but there are just far too many to ignore in this. And I'm not just talking spelling and grammar either, but structure as well. My advice would be a STRONG rewrite before trying to push this to readers. As independent authors we may not get a second chance if we leave a poor impression the first time, so just keep that in mind.
For those reviewers who claim this was well-written, please don't. The spelling, grammatical errors, lack of use of appropriate punctuation (so, therefore, far too many run on sentences), awkward shifting of viewpoints, and unrealistic dialogue simply don't allow it to be considered well-written. Quite frankly, this is nothing more than a messy first draft.
I toyed with the idea of giving this three stars, as I think the weaving of multiple plot lines into one and the general premise of the story has some potential. With a serious rewrite (or two, or three, or...) and a reasonably good editor/set of proofreaders, I wouldn't be surprised if this story became decent.
The plot line itself isn't anything super original, but that didn't bother me too much. I did find myself extremely disappointed in how the main character, Wally, just seemed to disappear into oblivion. Considering how part of the story was told from his perspective, it just seems implausible how that happened.
As an author in the genre myself, I do see some potential in Stoney-Channon. Some of his descriptions are vivid and the plot idea is solid enough. Everyone gets better with time, and I suspect that the author will improve as well. With that said, in order to not damage your reputation, I would strongly consider un-publishing this for a while. I see that this is considered an ARC, which I hope is true, because this book needs some serious work. All books have errors - it's inevitable - but there are just far too many to ignore in this. And I'm not just talking spelling and grammar either, but structure as well. My advice would be a STRONG rewrite before trying to push this to readers. As independent authors we may not get a second chance if we leave a poor impression the first time, so just keep that in mind.
October 26, 2015
Hi Michael
I have just finished your book, and left a review for you on Amazon. As you will see, I have rated it 4/5. This is for the storyline which I think is very good. I know the other reviewers on Amazon have marked it down for the spelling and grammar issues and the co fusion over the first and third person narrative. I don't think you are responsible for this being published in that condition. I feel it is the responsibility of your publisher.
The storyline I thoroughly enjoyed, and with a bit of tweaking, the way you have written it in first and third person makes the story even more thrilling! Yes you have to keep your wits about you as you read it, but that makes it all the more interesting! I hope you aren't disappointed, because on the whole it was a good book. Thank you for much free copy, and if I am being honest i think the best advice I would give you is to change publisher and editor, and find one who is willing to do their job!
I have just finished your book, and left a review for you on Amazon. As you will see, I have rated it 4/5. This is for the storyline which I think is very good. I know the other reviewers on Amazon have marked it down for the spelling and grammar issues and the co fusion over the first and third person narrative. I don't think you are responsible for this being published in that condition. I feel it is the responsibility of your publisher.
The storyline I thoroughly enjoyed, and with a bit of tweaking, the way you have written it in first and third person makes the story even more thrilling! Yes you have to keep your wits about you as you read it, but that makes it all the more interesting! I hope you aren't disappointed, because on the whole it was a good book. Thank you for much free copy, and if I am being honest i think the best advice I would give you is to change publisher and editor, and find one who is willing to do their job!
November 1, 2015
"Muddled"
A very difficult plot to follow. It took a lot of concentration for me to get through to the end. My overall view is that it wasn't very well written and could benefit from a good editor, because the basic premise could have been the breeding ground for a good book.
A very difficult plot to follow. It took a lot of concentration for me to get through to the end. My overall view is that it wasn't very well written and could benefit from a good editor, because the basic premise could have been the breeding ground for a good book.
September 30, 2015
Great book. Could not put it down and finished it within a couple of days.
Well written with classic british humour!
Well written with classic british humour!
April 10, 2016
I found this book very easy to read.
December 10, 2015
Stalker by Michael Stoney-Channon is a thrilling read that will leave you guessing and wondering until the very last page. The thought provoking plot and the breathtaking action makes this novel a page turning nonstop read.
The writing has its moments of confusion with the back and forth format used to tell the stories of each character. However, it is that confusion that, in a way, adds to the suspense. You are left wondering who is who and what is going to happen next.
The author does a good job of building the characters and creating a thought provoking and thrilling novel. This is a fantastic book for fans of the thriller genre and those looking for a book full of twists and dark turns. I believe the author will only succeed in getting better at his art as he continues to write. I look forward to seeing what Michael Stoney-Channon has in store for us next.
http://novelideareviews.blogspot.com/...
The writing has its moments of confusion with the back and forth format used to tell the stories of each character. However, it is that confusion that, in a way, adds to the suspense. You are left wondering who is who and what is going to happen next.
The author does a good job of building the characters and creating a thought provoking and thrilling novel. This is a fantastic book for fans of the thriller genre and those looking for a book full of twists and dark turns. I believe the author will only succeed in getting better at his art as he continues to write. I look forward to seeing what Michael Stoney-Channon has in store for us next.
http://novelideareviews.blogspot.com/...
October 3, 2015
Brilliant piece of writing. If anyone's looking for a decent crime thriller then look no further. The storyline is captivating and very clever with twists and turns throughout!
October 6, 2015
Good for a first novel but I wasn't blown away
November 16, 2015
I had a hard time getting in to this book. The Stalker is a book of very complex characters. The story stagnates at times but not a bad read.
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October 28, 2015Recommend. Good read
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews