Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

After reading the synopsis of this book, I immediately bought it. It is unique, and I was curious as to where the author would take it. He surprised me some, and that was welcomed. While the climax might have been a bit overboard with too many working parts for my taste, I don't have any real problem with the author's treatment of the storyline. Bottom line is that the plot created a good, enjoyable yarn. However, and this is a big however, the editing and some aspects of the writing were really pretty bad, which is somewhat ironic as the author thanks the editor in the acknowledgements for being so thorough. While I have read other books where the proofreading might have been worse, the fact remains that there were too many proofreading errors in this book. There were numerous spellcheck word errors with the wrong word used. There was a multitude of missing words and punctuation errors, most simple things like missing a period. As the book drew to a close, the errors piled up as if whomever was doing the proofreading simple got tired and wanted to rush to finish. One annoying aspect was that certain sentences and even large sections of writing were somewhat faded when viewed on my Kindle. The nice crisp black lettering was replaced with a dull, faded lettering. This was probably a result of a formatting issue. The proofreading issues were annoying, but the editing, both copy and content, were more egregious, in my opinion. The editor should have caught the many, many mistakes in the writing. When an author means to write "nineteen fifty five" and instead writes "nineteen ninety five," that is what a copy editor is supposed to catch. There were mistakes in timing, in who was doing the action, in what happened before, in sequences, and in character traits that contradicted what was written earlier. It is a copy editor's job to catch these mistakes. I don't mind the use of an electric chair in Nevada nor the prison. As the author explained, this is fiction, and these things were vital to the plot. However, there were other mistakes concerning what were essentially throw-away details that were simply wrong. I got the impression that the author had never even been in Las Vegas but merely looked on the internet for some hotel names. He writes about going to the Bellagio buffet and eating only fried chicken? I doubt they have ever served that in the history of the buffet, and with so many unique aspects about it, an author would be better served in creating verisimilitude by writing about any of the other dishes or stations. People who have actually been to Las Vegas would probably be taken aback by descriptions of the Luxor, a supposed diner near the airport, a "small bar and grill" across from the Bellagio, and even a Bellagio that still uses physical quarters in slot machines. Geography was also quite far from reality. All of these might seem minor when taken separately, but along with many other like mistakes, it all added up to detract from the story itself. Generally, the author is a decent wordsmith. I thought his fight scenes, though, were more WWE than UFC. They just did not ring true. Some things were simply improbable, some physically impossible. Overall, though, I think the story flowed well, and the paranormal aspects of it took care of many plot devices. With better research and proper editing, this book could really be so much better, a groundbreaker in the genre. I see the potential, but that is why I was so disappointed. The plot deserves a better effort, especially in editing.