Scott Wittenburg

Holy flying FROGS!

1) Self published, so as expected abysmal editing.
2) Clichés abound! Overwhelmingly...
3) "That word, you keep using it...I do not think it means what you think it means."
4) Repetitive words and phrases.
5) Inconsistencies, i.e. the rental car is initially a Taurus then miraculously is all the sudden a Honda Civic...these kinds of things make me feel like the details aren't important to the author, so why should I care?
6) The cheesy soapbox dialog oh my! It was like a bad after school special. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm whole heartedly against human trafficking as well, but PREACH IT BROTHER!! And, again, preach it with deplorably cheezzzzzzy dialogue that made me cringe. There were even statistics. Uh huh. And, super clichés, like, "Wow, Beth, you've really done your homework!"
7)Product placement, anyone? The author is CLEARLY an Apple guy. If he said "iPhone" one more time I was going to send a letter to Apple telling them they should pay him some sort of advertising fee! Though, Dell was also mentioned, Starbucks, Honda, Mac again with the computers...I lost track, it was all over. Oh, and beer. He never just had a beer, it was almost always a Michelob, though I think he had another kind once and it was named as well. Oh, and Panera. He even named his new dog after that one!!
8) It was all utterly convenient. He's a former PI who gave up the life. His good friend (who he hasn't talked to in years) is a Women's Rights / Human Trafficking activist, his other buddy is the best hacker EVER and he miraculously finds this abandoned (completely trained) dog the day after he starts the investigation who saves his life from the bad guys and blows the whole thing WIDE open by finding the yellow ribbon. Huh?

Also, can I just say, I doubt a retired cop turned Russian mob thug would carry a Walther PPK...that's a James Bond gun, son. It's tiny and easily concealed, but not a lot of fire power there. You'dve been better off going with a Glock. Sad, but true.

I'm sure this is up someone's alley, and bless them. I bought it for my mom who liked mysteries, so Wittenberg got my however many dollars (I don't even remember now), but I can't say I enjoyed it, it'd be a lie. I can't say I'd recommend it, that'd also be a lie. I can honestly tell you that if it wasn't filling one of my Book Bingo Challenge slots it would have been a DNF early on.… (altro)

The suspense of Lost, but the agenda killed it...

Mr. Whittenburg knows how to write a suspense novel that keeps you turning the pages like a monkey hitting a lever for food. The story was surreal. You knew in the back of your mind why and the story did not disappoint, but then how it tied back in was also surreal (in a good way).

What killed the story was the character was not very admirable (which was intentional ... and okay). But the whole thing seemed tied to a right-wing political agenda (I wont' say what as it would spoil it ... but it got to the point it just killed the story). Had the agenda been more subtle, it would have been okay. But when you pound your agenda from beginning to end, you begin to find yourself asking, 'will this story just end?'

My advice ... read the next suspense thriller as this author knows how to keep you turning pages ... but hope they kill the political agenda. It killed an otherwise good story.… (altro)