Tuesday, November 17, 2009
 
Book Report: Jinx by Susan Shank (2008)
At first, I thought this book was going to be a mash-up between a pulp paperback thriller and a romance novel. The cover looks violent. The back mentions the title character was trained in a mercenary camp. The first chapter features her infiltrating rebel-held territory for the second night to make a deal with a rebel leader and ends up in a mixed martial arts fight with a couple of mercenaries.

But then it turns completely on that and becomes a bit more of a romance novel. The character changes into a photojournalist at the mercy of her feminine nature and under the protection of the males in the book, even going so far as striking out on her own a couple times to ill effect and the merciful rescue of the handsome mercenary she's trying to resist.

Also, it ends abruptly.

Maybe it's a good romance adventure or something, but that genre ain't my bag, baby, and I was disappointed. In my defense, I picked up the book because Shank (which sounds like the pseudonym on a pulp thriller, so understand one of the reasons I bought a romance novel) lives in the area. The book is a little amateur, or maybe that's just because I'm not familiar with romance, but on the plus side, it's not hack work like some of the pulp series books I've read recently. Keeping the main character tough as she's pitched would have made for a better book, but perhaps not one fitting the genre.

Now I better read some Ray Chandler or Andrew Sugar to rinse.

Books mentioned in this review:


- posted by Brian J. @ 8:28 PM
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