Genre: Suspense/Mystery
The Analysis:
Loved the premise, wasn’t sold on its execution. 21 Dares by J.C. Gatlin, lets book review it. TRS BOOK review blog is the site you can count on for unbiased reviews.
Heres the Blurb:
For her 21st birthday, Abbie Reed’s friends throw her a surprise party and plan an outrageous game of 21 Dares. The rules are simple: Abbie must follow each dare to the letter as they pop-up on her phone–each one sent as a text message from a secret guest. Starting off funny, if not a little humiliating, the dares send Abbie and her friends across her college campus and through downtown Tampa. But the closer they get to the mystery man behind the text messages, the more deadly the dares become.
Harboring a vendetta against Abbie, the mysterious guest won’t stop until she pays. Now, it’s up to Abbie to figure out who he is and what he wants, before her 21st birthday becomes her last.
[/one_half]I liked this book cover. It effectively communicated what the genre was and its books contents. I expected to be thrilled and scared. The character of the girl looked cool and interesting. Comment below what you think?
So in this book Chapter 1 should have been the prologue. Chapter 2 picks up years after the scenes in Chapter 1. This is my first time seeing this type of set up. But I won’t take points off for a number of reasons, but the main one being.
- Some readers don’t read Prologues
Chapter 1 yanks you out of your chair and sits you down right in the middle of one of everyone’s scariest fears. Its written quite well. And at the end of it, you’re saddened for this little girl who will become the main character for the rest of the novel.
After that great start, I find myself reading the rest of it on autopilot. And it’s not until I get to the midpoint, when the dares finally start, that I ask myself. Wait. What have I been reading this whole time? On reflection, the whole beginning reminds me of a mediocre Netflix movie.
Where my husband comes into the room and asks me, how is this movie going and I shrug and say its something to watch on a Saturday night, but it’s not that great. And the reason for that is because its predictable. It calls to mind hundreds of other movies/books that occupy the same genre without adding anything new. The first half is supposed to be suspenseful, but there’s nothing there that makes you sit on the edge of your seat. Worrying about her and trying to connect the dots for her. It just doesn’t work.
You’ve got a stalker there and the author gives the reader glimpses into his actions. But none of its particularly mind-boggling or scary. And at the end, I get why. But I think he could have used more imagination, in the beginning, to make the reader just as scared of this man as the main character would come to be.
Which leads me to predictability problem number 2. Once the stalker was revealed, you knew the rest of the story and how it would end. Which made all of the main characters hesitations and foolish actions, well, foolish.
Lets Talk About The Main Character:
She’s seeing a therapist and rightfully so. She’s also introverted, which is also understandable. How can anyone, open there heart and mind to others, knowing the evil that’s out in the world, as she does.
That’s where the sympathy ends. The character is obsessed with a certain tv show about a group of friends. How can anyone not be? I also love that show and there the inspiration for some novels I’m writing in the future. Anyhoo, in her mind, those are the only friends worth having. And she acts it. Making her wholly unlikeable. She really does need a therapist to tackle her unhealthy beliefs about friendships.
Should she consider the characters that throw her a surprise birthday party complete with 21 Dares as friends or not? A question I would be happy to debate her over. They had good intentions and genuinely wanted her to have fun. She was coming off as not an introvert, but a stick in the mud, who couldn’t get out of her own way. As if it never occurred to her that there are all types of Friends in the world. And since she loves tv reference. I’ll throw in some of my own like Friends, In Living Single, and Sex In The City. If I had to choose some tv friends I’d probably have to choose, In Living Single, those girls were fun. Who would you want to be your favorite tv buddies in real life?
Now you know I love a good romance.
But this one only had hints of one, and not anything remotely romantical. Not sure if that’s a word, but I’m using it. Which leads to blunder number 3. This, sort-of love interest saving the day lost all its impact.
When they met it was the cutest thing ever, and I liked the guy with his corny jokes. But they didn’t spend any time together after that. Didn’t go out on any dates. The reader never really saw her pining for him. Except for one minor little jealous scene that could have been fleshed out more.
Which regulates this book not to the level of a Netflix movie, but of that of a Lifetime movie. A lower rung in my book. Lifetime doesn’t give enough time to the relationships in their suspense movies. They leave you with questions like, why are they together? Where they ever happy?
Story At A Glance:
Overall Story:
Well written, but much like the mystery stories of olde.
Pacing:
Slow. You don’t even realize how slow until the dares start.
Characterization:
It was well done for the main character and the supporting characters. I just didn’t like the main character’s personality.
World/Building Setting:
Well done. In the action scenes particularly, you felt it in your bones when the light fell. The setting was an extension of there fear.
Language:
Simple. Everyone was speaking English. Easy to follow.
Feeling:
I didn’t put it down feeling dissatisfied. More like it left me with an average feeling. The meme says it better than I.
Recommendation: No
The Ratings:
My Thumbs Up For:
- Different Characters Personality
- Bringing the Setting to Life
My Thumbs Down For:
- Story Predictability
- Unlikeable Heroine
THE TRS BOOKS SYSTEM:
Book Cover Appeal:
🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓
Story & Narration:
🍓🍓🍓🍓
Romance:
🍓
Sex Scenes:
Not Applicable
OVERALL READING EXPERIENCE:
21 Dares gets three strawberries from me. Its ranked at 3 1/2 on Amazon. But for different reasons, read the author note to know more.
Book Info:
Pages: 270
Author: J.C. Gatlin
Available: On Amazon
Author Note: I’ve started to read the Amazon reviews after I’ve read it and done my critique. Which is just better for me. But the reviews for 21 Dares are unusually harsh and off the mark. So I decided to speak on some of them. But don’t worry I won’t be doing this for every book. Heres a few I disagree with.
- After the first few pages, the book made absolutely no sense.
Uh, it made perfect sense. That was the problem. Furthermore, there’s not a lot going on beyond the stalking and it wasn’t anything head scratching about it. Dude in bushes watches girl. While girl goes to therapy and home. Nothing hard to understand. After the reveal, it wasn’t mind boggling either. Spoiler alert: There was more that one person in on it together and they were all connected which you knew in the beginning because everyone had a ghoulish ghoul painting or tattoo etc. What are the odds of that? One killing the other was a classic, killers turning on each other trope, predictable move.
2. To the author just because everyone can write a book now and self-publish does not mean that everyone should.
Repeat after me authors, readers, and fans.
Do not ever say this to an author on a book review, beta read, critique or anywhere else.
I don’t think I have personally read a book that made me feel this way. However, this certainly isn’t it. It was well written. I liked most of the characters. The fact that I disliked the main character isn’t a sign that he should never write again. Furthermore, writing a book isn’t something you pick up because it’s a Thursday and you’re bored. Self-Publishing is a costly and difficult endeavor. That everyone deserves to explore if they have the heart for it.
3. The problem is that the story itself has a level of ridiculousness that’s hard to overlook.
It was frequently mentioned in the bad reviews that the story had plot holes. I neither found it ridiculous or noticed any plot holes. And I read all the reviews trying to figure out if there was maybe something I missed. But I couldn’t figure it out. Maybe they were trying to avoid spoilers or the simple fact that no one knows themselves. I was never able to pinpoint the reasoning why this statement or the others would be true.
