I correctly predicted who the killer was before I was even a fourth of the way through. I guess I watch too much Criminal Minds, lol.
Dates read: April 23 - April 26
Genre(s): thriller, mystery, police procedural
Rating: 2 stars (it was ok)
I read this author's first book in the original Riley Paige series, Once Gone (2015), last year and I remember liking it quite a bit. This one, not so much. Watching (2018) is the first in the two-book (and counting?) prequel series about Riley leaving college and beginning her journey with the FBI.
I realized about a third of the way through this that I don't really care about "the making of Riley Paige" if it's going to be this uneventful and repetitive. Frankly, I'd rather read the series set when she's already an FBI agent. The author, for some reason, decided years after writing the series set in the present that he needed to go back and write a prequel series set in the '90s about Riley before the FBI, around the time her profiling senses kicked in. He did not need to at all.
A reader can enjoy the Riley Paige series without knowing every single boring detail about how and when she acquired her "abilities." In fact, I recommend skipping this "making of" series altogether and getting to the actual suspense and action of Agent Paige's career catching killers. Many of the sentences throughout the novel read like notes that the author made to himself about the characters while writing, and therefore, they were unnecessary fillers.
I was not a fan of the point-of-view shifts to Riley's friend and to the FBI agent. The shifts were sudden and didn't fit well or make any kind of sense in the narrative. The series is the making of Riley Paige, not Trudy Lanier or Agent Crivaro. We don't need to know their thoughts and even if we did, we'd need more than just one chapter or section of each POV.
There was also a large amount of repetition in thoughts and phrases a few lines or paragraphs apart. Examples: Riley kept thinking "what am I doing?" or "what am I thinking?" over and over and OVER; Riley repeatedly "fought" sighs down, and was "startled" or almost startled more times than I could count. A thesaurus is truly a writer's best ally.
In addition, there were quite a few mistakes and continuity errors that should have been caught by the editor. Example: at one point, one of Riley's professors addresses her as "Riley Paige" when her name is actually Sweeney since she is not married to a "Paige" yet. That was weird. Maybe it's just the Kindle printing that's off.
The ending had me laughing out loud, which is not a good thing, considering this is a serious thriller and not a comedy. And speaking of the end, I correctly predicted who the killer was at the beginning of the story. It was not surprising at all. I guess I watch too much Criminal Minds. Sidenote: the killer's monologue was boring and unoriginal, too. That's all there is to say about that without spoiling anything.
I will say that since the first books in the author's other three series are free (Before He Kills; Cause to Kill; A Trace of Death), I will be reading them at some point to see what they are like, as well. I really hate to not like them, but we'll see. I will not be continuing this "making of" series.
I realized about a third of the way through this that I don't really care about "the making of Riley Paige" if it's going to be this uneventful and repetitive. Frankly, I'd rather read the series set when she's already an FBI agent. The author, for some reason, decided years after writing the series set in the present that he needed to go back and write a prequel series set in the '90s about Riley before the FBI, around the time her profiling senses kicked in. He did not need to at all.
A reader can enjoy the Riley Paige series without knowing every single boring detail about how and when she acquired her "abilities." In fact, I recommend skipping this "making of" series altogether and getting to the actual suspense and action of Agent Paige's career catching killers. Many of the sentences throughout the novel read like notes that the author made to himself about the characters while writing, and therefore, they were unnecessary fillers.
I was not a fan of the point-of-view shifts to Riley's friend and to the FBI agent. The shifts were sudden and didn't fit well or make any kind of sense in the narrative. The series is the making of Riley Paige, not Trudy Lanier or Agent Crivaro. We don't need to know their thoughts and even if we did, we'd need more than just one chapter or section of each POV.
There was also a large amount of repetition in thoughts and phrases a few lines or paragraphs apart. Examples: Riley kept thinking "what am I doing?" or "what am I thinking?" over and over and OVER; Riley repeatedly "fought" sighs down, and was "startled" or almost startled more times than I could count. A thesaurus is truly a writer's best ally.
In addition, there were quite a few mistakes and continuity errors that should have been caught by the editor. Example: at one point, one of Riley's professors addresses her as "Riley Paige" when her name is actually Sweeney since she is not married to a "Paige" yet. That was weird. Maybe it's just the Kindle printing that's off.
The ending had me laughing out loud, which is not a good thing, considering this is a serious thriller and not a comedy. And speaking of the end, I correctly predicted who the killer was at the beginning of the story. It was not surprising at all. I guess I watch too much Criminal Minds. Sidenote: the killer's monologue was boring and unoriginal, too. That's all there is to say about that without spoiling anything.
I will say that since the first books in the author's other three series are free (Before He Kills; Cause to Kill; A Trace of Death), I will be reading them at some point to see what they are like, as well. I really hate to not like them, but we'll see. I will not be continuing this "making of" series.