Hell Road is the first book in Tom Lash Kilo's The Courier series. This book's blurb was absolutely engaging and promised a thrill ride story, but it doesn't quite reach my expectations, unfortunately.
The author introduces you to the main character, Seba (short for Sebastian) right from the beginning. He has no idea that he's being set up to be double-crossed, but that's the plan. He's to do his job, deliver a package, but he's not meant to leave the location alive. What unfolds throughout the book promises to be a thrill ride of a cat and mouse "game" between Seba, individuals he knows, and a man in the shadows as well.
When I started reading this book I was eager to dive deeper. Unfortunately, right from the beginning, I was thrown back by the amount of detail and overly worded sentences. It was just too much. I thought that I would be able to push through it and adjust, or even that the word trappings would be toned down, but that's just not the case. The over-word usage only continues to dominate the book. A prime example is "At the voice of thunder, Seba got a call. His Sky Pavilion apartment, suavely perched within the core of West London, quaked in awe, on arrival of celestial waters rattling its shores." At one point I was expecting this to be a scifi thriller novel from some of the wordage/details used in this book. That's just not the case.
For me, it takes away from the storyline. I thought, and you might think differently, that quite a bit of the word used just doesn't fit with this type of novel. This is a political thriller mixed with secret ops so to speak. I was expecting words that were more mundane and not something that I would expect a college professor to expect in a student's dissertation. I really needed and wanted the author to tone things down and bring it down to more of the average reader's level. Some of these words I'm afraid you'll need a dictionary to really understand.
Add into this, for me, the characters quickly become unlikeable. There was just no connection to them. Seba is supposed to be "in love" with this woman, but yet he has no problems hopping into bed with whoever? Then the woman in question hasn't seen or spoken to him in almost a year? I'm sorry, but on no level does that equate to "this is the one." It feels like a reach for Seba, and desperation on the part of the woman. I struggled a bit with this book because if I don't like the characters or struggle to connect to someone I'm not really going to enjoy this book that much.
I will admit that there were moments in this book when I was engaged in the storyline. There are thrills and plenty of danger that the main character manages to just escape, but unfortunately, he's the character that I like the least. He has no problems putting other people in danger, and that's just a flaw I can't look past. Yes, his survival is essential to the storyline, but he could have at least considered others in his actions. I guess you can say that the author is looking to play towards "believability/reality" with some of the scenes, but that only goes so far. Because if that were to be the case, the body count would be a lot higher.
I appreciate the details that the author puts into this book as Seba and other characters take us, readers, through Africa. You get some idea of the garb that they wear, and even the attitudes that some of them have towards certain individuals...and women in certain situations. These moments I found the most interesting as they ended up engaging me the most. The learning about another country I should specify. Not so much of the objectifying of certain characters. LOL!
Normally, I'm an avid reader of thriller novels that are packed with twists and turns, but this book falls short for me. I struggled to get through due to the overflow of wordage throughout. Cut back on a lot of it and this book will become more palatable. This book doesn't need all the descriptive terms packed into it, it makes it feel like the author is going for a specific word/page count and less about the story itself.
With a bit of work, and some serious editing this book has a lot of potential, but for me, it's not a series that I will be interested in continuing.
I'm choosing to rate this book 3 out of 5 stars. I wanted to like this book, but it just doesn't come together for me. The storyline has a lot of good points, but some things need to be rethought, edited down, and reimagined.
My sincerest thanks to the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment