The problem with self-publishing is that it is too easy (relatively). Writing a whole novel, even a rough draft, is a Big Deal. Writing's hard. But writing a good novel, ah. That takes not just work, but more than one pair of eyes, and some of those readers MUST be critical readers. And the writer must listen.

I bailed on reading this at 15%. Out of boredom, and despair. It's worse than her first book, which at least had heart.

This is almost like a first draft. The sentences are fine, but the paragraphs add up to tedium in repetition and in telling rather than showing a character's emotional state and response. These are common new writer problems, I am still working my way past them in my own work.

They should be far less predominant in a published work. Yet here we are. Normally I don't post one- and two-star reviews, but I read an ARC in return for an honest review. Honestly, for what the first chapter contains, it should be half as long. Same for the second chapter. There's so little substance. At the point I bailed, they were investigating a boring bank robbery.

What's wrong is fixable. But we never should've seen this stage. I am quite sure it gets no better. Reviewers who give this more than three stars are uncritical readers, which is fine, just, be aware what that means. ( )