Sinister by Lisa Jackson, Nancy Bush, Rosalind Noonan
My Rating: 2/5 Stars
I applaud authors that take chances, and in this case we have three authors that have decided to color outside the lines. Rosalind Noonan and sisters Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush took collaboration to a whole new level by dividing SINISTER into parts and then each author seized a particular section(s) and made it her own. While author collaboration is not a new concept in the writing universe, this particular brand of teamwork has not been seen by these eyes, or if I did see it, I lived in a world of blissful ignorance (which can be a perfectly acceptable playground if you’re so inclined).
But that’s where my applause ends, and the criticism begins. If you’re going to trip and fall and possibly end up doing a face plant on an icy patch of sidewalk, you should at least do it in style. While these three ladies have earned style points on collaboration originality and character voice consistency, the style points ended as this romantic suspense novel took hold. The dialogue felt forced and sometimes trite; the romance was packaged a little too well and wrapped in a secondhand bow; the suspense needed an anticipation injection along with a tad more unease; and there were scenes where the moments felt erratic and jerky, because of the choice of viewpoint character.
While Ira, Hunter, and Sam certainly had personality, Renee, Ricki, Sabrina, and Delilah proved more fleshed out than their male counterparts. And I had trouble identifying with and getting behind any particular character, and not just because I’ve never been to Wyoming and have very limited experience with barns and horses and farms.
So, yeah, I’d been excited to see this one come, but in the end, I was rather glad to see this one go.
I received this book for free through NetGalley.