recently, i discovered every time i buy a new book (or several, as the case may be), i often forget and ignore the books that have been there the longest. So, in order to right this horrible wrong, i have committed to reading the OLDEST books that have been sitting there the longest.

in this post, i’m reading the CHRISTIAN CRIME/SUSPENSE books that have been there so long, they’re growing mildew. Here are the results:

Dark Deception by Nancy Mehl

2 STARS

A intense, trigger inducing, convoluted mess.
It was such a convoluted and unnecessarily confusing plot. So many names, aliases, and killers… really? Just… really?
Trigger warnings were child abuse, assault and suicide. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have read it at all.
Too dark for me, and I skimmed most of it because I just couldn’t wait to find out the killer (or killers as the case was on this book) was for sure (which I guessed at least the big baddie).
Yeah, a big no from me.

The Last Plea Bargain by Randy Singer

2 STARS
I’ve marked this book as read, but in full transparency after the first 100 pages I skipped to the end.
I found this book irritating. The writing was good, but the content wasn’t for me.
Taking out my opinion on the death penalty, the storyline’s of people on death row, dying slowly, twisted and convoluted plots – it was all just a bit much. Content wise, I just couldn’t connect with anyone or anything.

No One to Trust by Lynette Eason

2 STARS
Normally I like Lynette, but this book wasn’t it for me.
I hated all the characters – nobody was likeable and everybody was annoying, ridiculous or dumb.
The dialogue was cheesy and the plot felt clunky and uninspired.
I really like a bunch of her other stuff, but this one felt lacklustre.

Seconds to Live by Susan Sleeman

3 STARS
Pretty solid middle of the road book for me.
Characters overreacted about personal issues, put in place larger than life solutions to criminal danger, and save the day… standard.
I will say, I noticed – particularly at the beginning – the writer of this book seemed to voice to the reader that she knew what she was talking about, so even if it seems over the top – you, as the reader, are wrong. That was irritating.
Explaining complex technological babble doesn’t have to come across as patronising, and I found those scenes done my characters who were either ignorant about tech, frustrated they had to spell it out, or dismissive of those around them who didn’t understand. This made me, as the reader, feel stupid if I wondered what something meant. Not ideal.
Nice job at threading the characters faith in an organic way and the friends to lovers – meeting from online to IRL was nice to watch unfold.

End of the Roadie by Elizabeth Flynn

I made it to page 50 of this book before giving up. i wasn’t interested, it wasn’t hooking me

in and i just couldn’t subject myself to trying to slog through this one. the only thing that kept me engaged was the musical element, but even that failed to get me over even the halfway mark. the writing was somewhat dull and felt uninspired. it felt like every other crime book out there, and there wasn’t an interesting enough hook for me to keep me interested.

Well, those are the books i got through, have you read any of those? if you want to know more about them, now that i have provided colour commentary on them, you can click on the titles for the link to Goodreads and hear all about it.

See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace