Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsWonderful story. Author is a cheat.
Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2020
Right, I absolutely *loved* the story. I felt cheated that I paid real-book prices for a novella. 260 to 270 pages! That's half a normal book. Yet, it costs me $12 for each book (text & audio). Many minor authors sell books for this kind of price, but they are actual books, not overblown comic books, or novellas, or whatever you call a 261-page booklet.
Besides that, Ell is to die for! I just love her, every moment. That's part of what makes me mind the short story format. Right when I'm expecting her to conquer the next evil person, overcome the next obstacle, she just quits. In the case of Book 2, she kisses her mom and leaves all the big threads unresolved. The absence of a denouement means nothing is resolved about the boys, the evil kidnappers, the success (or not) of her commercial venture, the divorce, the autistic Johnson, her new disguise, and much more. Sort of like if you had a real book, say 450 pages and you just casually lopped it off at the 261-page mark, discarded pages 262-450, and sold the 261 pages as a "book".
Since the author keeps cranking out books, he clearly is not out of ideas. I believe he is willfully engaging in what almost amounts to unethical marketing. True, we know going in what we're getting - a novella at a book price - but it seems an ill gesture for him to offer this product in that manner. And then not even close the story.
In summary, if you, like me, are willing to keep buying his miniature books despite this sneaky sales approach, then you will, like me, be thrilled and engaged by every page. I can hardly think of two more authors out of the hundreds I've read that are so fun to read.
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Eben Visher in California
