A book should be judged on what it is trying to be, rather than what you think it should be. You wouldn't judge Goodnight Moon by the same standards that you do Atlas Shrugged ("Sadly lacking in total page count!"). You can't say that Crossing the Chasm doesn't have nearly as good a plot as A Tale of Two Cities. They're totally different books with different goals.

With that in mind, this book accomplishes its purpose admirably. A simple text, a simple plot, a reading level suitable for middle schoolers, but the words and plot targeted directly at grownup readers. It's rather like the scene in A League of Their Own, where the young illiterate lady is taught to read by her friend using soft-core pornography. This book, however, is aimed at male readers, alternating as it does between bedroom scenes and shoot-em-up style action sequences. The simple story and scenes work nicely for readers who need less of a challenging text, but with something more meaty than Winnie-The-Pooh.

In this later age of entertainment via screen rather than words, the demand for this sort of book is much less, but for the right audience, this book is squarely on target.