Kim S > Recent Status Updates

Wooh, boy, I'm going to try to slog through this one because it's gotten fairly consistent high ratings, but so far - setting aside the slightly ludicrous story for a moment - the syntax and writing errors are distracting me on almost every page. Just one example for now: "There was at least 30 pictures." This book seems to have seriously suffered from poor or nonexistent editing.

At this point, I'm too far into this book to give up on it, but the clunky writing continues to threaten to give me a migraine. An example: "Not an anomaly, the murders, Wirskye wanted to show, fit Eric’s psyche." I copied that verbatim - I didn't add any commas.

Related sidenote: I don't remember seeing a single semicolon in this book yet. I'm sure they exist, but I don't recall any.

The way this author writes drives me occasionally BONKERS. Take this sentence, for example: "Registered to Kim, the Smith & Wesson held three spent casings, totaling the eight." Why wouldn't you say "The Smith & Wesson, registered to Kim, held" etc.? The writing is frequently clunky and clumsy like this - it's maddening!

I'm really trying to give this book a chance, but this book suffers from a serious lack of editing. Take this sentence, for example: "There was a famous bloodhound up in Seattle, a bloodhound named Brady, who had caught himself a few criminals over the years." I feel like I wrote better than this when I was in middle school!

This book is fascinating so far, but *oh my stars* I don't think anybody edited this. Just one of many examples - the definitions of direct and alternating current are backwards! Some of the verbiage is also quite simplistic, almost like it was written by a high schooler - someone's career "really took off," something could be "stepped up" by something, using "though" when "however" sounds much better...

This book is starting to semi-lose my interest with the forced romance that just came up... I'm going to push through it, but it's really rather lame at the moment.

So far I'm really on the fence about this book... it's got some good elements, but there's almost too much spooky/ ghostly stuff. A horror movie wouldn't be as scary if the maniac killer was in plain sight the whole time, y'know?

So far this book is pretty good, despite some editing errors, but I just had to point out the author's clear affinity for the word "milieu." It's on pretty much every other page. I know loosely what it means, but its repeated use is going to force me to have to look it up here soon. Darn you Ethan Brown for expanding my vocabulary against my will 😄

It's taken a while but I'm finally getting into the action! :)

This book has some good parts, and I'm hoping for an exciting and/or twist ending, but the plot has suffered from being variously too cerebral (for a thriller), and VERY unrealistic.

While this book has been interesting so far, some of the critiques I've read were spot-on... John Barry starts the book with a seemingly gratuitous history of medicine and healthcare. I'm about 70 pages in and haven't read much about the flu itself.

I just read another Ann Rule book prior to this one, so her writing style and tropes are more apparent than usual. I have to ask an uncomfortable question - did she ever once write about a victim who was unintelligent, plain Jane, or not sociable and pleasant? Her sycophantish fawning over the victim in this book and the last one I read - vs. just a healthy and reverent respect - gets a little tiresome after a while

This book is so RIVETING! I assume I'm among a minority of non-British readers to read this book; thankfully it's so well-written and engaging that the little things I stumble over (as a non-Brit, things like MP and the different political parties) are so easy to get past.

Perhaps this applies to only the edition I'm reading, but this book has a fair number of distracting typos. Example: "stand by the bad of a sick child." It's almost like this book was rushed to print shortly after the first draft was written.

Slowly I continue to slog through this epic read!

This book should come with a pullout bookmark with names, titles, and descriptions of all the people involved, because it's an especial challenge to keep track. Otherwise this is a GREAT read so far!

This is already SO incredible - I'm so pleased I gave this a chance. I was a little skeptical to read another book about the Titanic - I've read a lot about it, and seen multiple documentaries/movies about it, so I didn't think there was any new ground to cover. I'm glad I was wrong!

The author does an amazing job building a sense of cold dread as the book goes along. While the source material might tee that up a little - a nuclear disaster is *just a bit* frightening, after all - it's still well written.

This is already SO GOOD just a few dozen pages in!

This book has some slow-burn moments, but overall it's quite good. I have a feeling the action is about to pick up!

This book is still really riveting, but the typos and wording errors are starting to grate on my nerves a little. A few examples: "Perhaps because he knew there was there no help to be had," and "there where 41 black men." VERY distracting, and could have been fixed with a copy edit!

Case in point, from my last update - interjected editorial comment: "Hess had lobbied hard to keep his position, but Grace wanted change (just not too much change; he wasn’t progressive enough to appoint a woman)." Maybe it's just me, but I don't like reading nonfiction history through a modern lens. Nobody was "progressive" in the 1880s, so leave the 21st century opinions out of it, and just report facts.

Quite good so far, and enthralling; but a minor thing I could have done without is the writer's occasional editorializing and pithy commentary and/or judgmental references to modern times... this is supposed to be nonfiction (supposedly presented without overt author judgment or opinion), not an op-ed column.

This is so much different from "Ender's Game," and not necessarily in a great way. I liked the sci-fi action and suspense in "Ender's Game," that isn't really present in this one. Kind of a letdown so far.