Book Review

 I give it one star.

Out of respect for the author, I am NOT including the title. 

I ordered the book online because I liked the title and the blurb, plus I am interested in anything that is against trophy hunting. This one was written as a memorial to the horrible death of Cecil the Lion by a rotten man who lured the lion into a hunting zone, shot him, and left him to die until the following morning. Men like this and even women who get a kick out of killing for "fun" are not good people. 

The book "...Hunted..." was a payback to Trophy Hunters. I have already written about the lack of editing that was needed in this book. This is the sad part. IF the author had edited the book ... IF the author had added emotion ... IF the author had added the five senses ... and IF the author had fleshed it out, this would have been a GREAT READ. But it wasn't. 

I wanted to shake some sense in the author and tell him to pick up a thesaurus. You can describe the same word in different ways. I have this problem in my own stories and am forever checking for an alternative way to say something like "look."  For example: "He looked at her and noticed how the dress looked on her. It was a great look. Bring the reader in and change a few things. "He noticed the way the dress hugged her curves and brought out the color of her eyes." Isn't that better? It's simply reworded. Show. Don't tell. Get rid of unnecessary words and repetitive words. Don't tell me the character is scared. SHOW me. The reason I enjoy reading is because it takes me away. A well-written character can emotionally connect the reader to the story and the situation. Immerse your reader!

The author could have taken some time, set the book aside, and found someone to help him with the edits, and it would have been a good book. But then the ending ... oh heavy, heavy, groan. It didn't answer any of the questions the author set up. It didn't wrap up the story. It showed the character wanting to change and screaming he would change but ended with ... a freakin dream. 

A dream. 

There was so much potential. I wanted to rewrite the whole thing and make it better. Instead, I will give it one star for the effort and write my own story, my own payback on the subject matter.

-Gina G

(random photo chosen)


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