The Short Drop by Matthew Fitzsimmons is one of those books that got pretty popular with thousands of reviews on Amazon yet I have no idea how. It’s really one of those things that is so mysterious to me but when I saw it on sale for $1.99, I quickly swiped it up. Everyone needs to read a good mystery story from time to time. I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “meh” in any of my reviews. It’s unprofessional and well, not really a word at all. But I just can’t help but label this book as anything but “meh”. I’m sorry author, but I had to do it. The “reveal” was hardly anything worth plowing through this 400 page book for. Characters teetered on the borderline of me not really caring for. Not to mention, a closure with characters that literally, and I mean literally had me blurting out the words “Are you serious?”. All this combined to make me drop that three letter bomb on this book.
The author does give us characters that are at least believable in that they aren’t dodging bullets every other chapter like the second coming of the matrix. However, these very same characters are very cookie cutter like and stereotypical. Like hmm, where have we met these guys before? Oh that’s right, every other book out there. I can almost guarantee that by the time you finish with the book, you’ll hardly remember any of them the day after.
The pacing of the story was a bit slow going but I didn’t have any trouble following the plot or what was going on. The actual writing was average in that he did just enough to not make me fall asleep or stop reading altogether. Some of the cliff hangers at the end of the chapters made sure I read just a little more than I should. The biggest disappointment with this book was the actual mystery itself. Once that tiny bit of hint was dropped, I kept thinking please don’t do what I think you’re going to do. Please don’t. Ah crap. You did.
The other disappointment came from how things actually ended or unfolded with a couple of the character at the end. It was just mind boggling to me of how the author chose to end it. It was hilarious but in a very bad way. I definitely have to drop the hammer in my spoiler section below.
As you can gather, my review is pretty negative. There’s not much to like and many of the ideas used could have been more original. It just felt like something was holding the author back. If he could have been more daring, I think the story might have interested me a lot more.
CLICK FOR SPOILER!!!
Billy – A littleclosure would have been nice since he loved Suzanne so much. He most likely would have found out about what happened to Lombard in the end but again, a little closure for the story would have been nice.
George – You did him dirty. We follow him for the better part of the book and we have no idea what happens to him in the end. I can only assume that Jenn was able to find and save him.
Tinsley – Let’s be friends? Are you serious? Let’s be friends? After all that talk about the meaning of time for Tinsley throughout the book, I expected something a lot more clever in the end than “Let’s be friends”. Come on man.
Lombard – Biggest joke of a closure I have read in a while. After all that, we as the readers don’t even get to witness the final exchange between Lombard and his wife when she confronted him. You serious author? Why even devout sections to Lombard if all you’re going to do is this in the end and block it out for the readers? It was a waste of time. I would have expected for the big, bad and witty politician to put up a fight and at least deny things. In fact, there wasn’t even condemning evidence as Tinsley had the report! All the wife had was some writing in Suzanne’s book which could have been misconstrued for something else if he played it smart!
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