Marjo’s Reviews > Mind Games > Status Update

That was quick! And it was the boy band crush! lol Single dad of a generic cute kid, and that is not enough to hook me now that I've given up on the rest of the book.

The pacing has gotten really bad over the last 50 pages or so. I'll push through until I get to the introduction of the love interest, and then I think I'll skip.

Wait... Tyler... one of the reviews I read said the love interest's name was Ty... is the protagonist going to marry her boy band crush? Is the romantic subplot an off-brand 1D fanfic or something? What!?
(That might make me sound mad. What I am is cackling. This is ridiculous! It's brain goblin food, I love it for all the worst reason.)

Also, we are about 70 pages away from meeting the love interest, if I did the math right. Now I'm assuming that they'll meet as adults, so that's a lot of timeskip in a very short time, considering the protagonist is still 12. (And has been the whole time. I can't help but think other choices could have been made, pacing-wise.)

Isn't the villain 18? And he already killed 9 people?
This might be one of the most consistently weak spot of NR's writing: all the villains are the same, just evil for the sake of being evil, with no variations and no personalities. It's both over the top and boring, and nothing should be both of those things at once.

Ok, the skeptical asshole cops subplot better wrap up quick, because I'm already over it.

Ok, that was sad. That was effective. Is it cynical for me to think "hopefully they won't drag this on for too long and ruin it"? Maybe, but here I am.

They're spending a lot of time talking down the California grandparents. It would make be believe that the children are going to end up over there, or might, if not for the official blurb spoiling otherwise. This could have been a source of tension and drama, instead it's much ado about nothing.

End of the free preview. Now I just need to remember from what I've read in other reviews: the romance sub-plot is introduced very late and is rushed. I can't expect a romance novel or I'll be disappointed.

The premise for this one makes me really nervous (I'm not one for psychological thrillers, mind f-ery sort of stories), but I liked the free preview enough to give this a try. (Curse my completionist streak.)