Rating: 
Summary: Great first book
Review: While I agree with some of the editing comments, I have to say such a great and big idea for a first novel holds some bit of allowance. Can't blame the author. The idea is out there and involves so many different areas of popular fiction that anyone could pick it up and enjoy a great read. My only comment is that you may have to come in rested for one of two reasons..1) Matt is going to at times take you over your bedtime by 1 or maybe 2 hours. 2) My only discount towards this novel is that is at times complicated. You need to stay on your toes, but well worth the effort. I keep looking back at Matt's name on my favorites list to see if he has another novel I can enjoy. Overall, very recomended.
Rating: 
Summary: POW! BAM! fizzle
Review: This novel started out with a bang, great action, suspense, creepiness, but then it just fizzled. It got really random and boring, I was no longer interested about halfway through or so, i flipped to the end and moved on. Being this authors first book i will say good try.
Rating: 
Summary: Good confused war/horror mystery
Review: Good mystery from a young writer that shows promise, but needs more discipline. USMC has two training depots: San Diego (west coast) and Parris Island (east coast); there were no daftees in the USMC during World War II; and no Marine likes to be called a soldier (I know, I am a MARINE.) I almost put this book down, because of these
'mistakes', but I do enjoy this genra, and I am glad I did not. Very good and enjoyable. I just suggest that he more thoroughly research what he does not know before he writes about it. Stick with it, I think you will enjoy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Great premise, but...
Review: ...really poor execution. Dangling plot threads abound. The dialogue seems fake and forced for a lot of this book. The author can't seem to make up his mind as to what story he's trying to tell (is it a jungle drama with a monster? a prison with a monster? A war torn counry with a monster?). And finally, the editing is absolutely horrendous. Typos, wrong names, etc. crop up frequently enough to be jarring.
Rating:
Summary: Great novel with a few flaws
Review: As others have said,this is a novel with a compelling plot, and it was hard at times to put it down: always a good sign in a novel. It reads like a Michael Connolly mystery, except that the murderer is a demon, and reincarnation, voodoo and even the Crusades come into play. It starts out like a war story and ends like a historical romance, and the fact that Delaney can pull it all together so well is amazing.
I give it 4 stars instead of 5 because of the occassional confoundments that stopped me short. For instance, the novel doesn't have a very good sense of time. As the detectives investigate the first murder, they arrive around 2 am and proceed to interview various suspects and witnesses, who all are bright and chipper, which seemed bizarre until I realized the story must have been--without any sense of it--brought into mid day. And the detectives and medical examiners also seem to be extraordinarily rich. For instance, McKenna has a beachfront house as well as an apartment in Boston. At one point, McKenna and Jefferson just pop over to the Prudential Center and buy themselves a gorgeous ballgown and fitted tuxedo (respectively) in ten minutes. Add in a last minute jaunt to Russia (for both of them without any flack from their departments) and the fact that both of them are only in their early 30s at most, and, well, maybe now I know why Bostonians have to pay such high taxes.
However, I still recommend this novel for any fan of genre fiction (and genre! but especially mystery and fantasy).
Rating:
Summary: His creative writing teacher should be fired!
Review: OK, the kid can write, but he's sorely lacking in discipline -- and by the way, his publishing company did a real disservice by not putting a strong editor on this manuscript. Rule number one -- write what you know... and it's hard to believe this recent college grad could know much about jungle battles in WWII, technological advances of the near future, post-traumatic stress, and the cynical wisdom of a pair of veteran homicide detectives. I finally gave up around page 300 of 450 pages... I just didn't care about the people or the mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Great first book
Review: While I agree with some of the editing comments, I have to say such a great and big idea for a first novel holds some bit of allowance. Can't blame the author. The idea is out there and involves so many different areas of popular fiction that anyone could pick it up and enjoy a great read. My only comment is that you may have to come in rested for one of two reasons..1) Matt is going to at times take you over your bedtime by 1 or maybe 2 hours. 2) My only discount towards this novel is that is at times complicated. You need to stay on your toes, but well worth the effort. I keep looking back at Matt's name on my favorites list to see if he has another novel I can enjoy. Overall, very recomended.
Rating:
Summary: Great idea, sloppy execution.
Review: The story started interestingly enough, in the jungles during WW2, but once it jumped to present day, it lost it's flow. It was like he was trying too hard to write it for a movie script. If Delaney were to write an all period horror story, I might pick him back up. Also, I'm no editor, but neither was the editor who got paid to edit this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent first novel
Review: It's a nice first effort and I don't blame Delaney as much as his editors. The thing is, the book sucked. The characters were one dimensional and confusing - at one point, during a flashback, the names of the characters are changed without explanation and then the people in the flashback start using the names of present-time people. At another point, a character who has a sucking chest wound is sent running down a hall. He could have asked any ambulance driver - they can't do that.Maybe it's hard to write without an outline, this book was certainly hard to read with the typos and mistakes.
So...when Mr. Delaney either learns to write better characters, or gets better editors, he'll be worth it. This book isn't worth the time.
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