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[Following is a volunteer review of "The Touch" by Robert Flynn III.]

Alabama is a 60-year-old nurse providing end-of-life care to the terminally ill. Gabriel is an 11-year-old orphan living with a secret. Many people misunderstand him, except for his best friend Joshua. Gabriel has been receiving messages since he was born. They come from a voice that only he can hear. But he doesn't know where the voice comes from, or whether to trust what it tells him.

All over the world, children just like Gabriel are hearing the same voice. It helps them make decisions and protects them from evil people. They also find out that this voice can be passed on to others by touch. But where is the voice coming from? Is the voice good or evil?

It took me a long time to finish reading this book. Usually, if I am enjoying a book, I will read it within a single sitting or two. However, I struggled to finish reading The Touch by Robert Flynn III. The ideas behind the book had promise, e.g. good can overcome evil and the power of good can spread to others. I found the writing bland, the characters were forgettable, and the plot was slow and repetitive. The story followed multiple main characters living in the US, Iran and Afghanistan. Perhaps if fewer perspectives were taken, the reader could connect better with the main characters.

The novel was advertised as a supernatural story, but I would describe it as more of a spiritual or religious novel. Therefore, this novel may appeal more to those who enjoy books about religion, rather than the supernatural.

I disliked the writing style the author used. There were not many contractions in the text. So the full terms were given e.g. “has not” instead of “hasn't.” Even though this is grammatically correct, this writing style made the book seem too formal. In general, the dialogue was quite awkward. Many of the characters also had similar speech to each other, despite ranging approximately from age 5 to 60. For example, 5-year-olds would be unlikely to produce sentences such as, “...he never really spoke to me audibly, like you and I are speaking.” Formal speech such as this example made the characters seem unrealistic.

I was reviewing the Kindle version and I found a total of 30 errors while reading. These included continuity errors, misspelt character names, wrongly placed apostrophes, and misused commas. While most of the errors were not too distracting, I think The Touch could do with another round of editing to clean it up.

Due to the dull storyline, forgettable characters and frequent errors within the book, I have given The Touch 2 out of 4 stars. I would have rated it lower as I really did not enjoy reading this. However, I wanted to award more than 1 star because I appreciated what the novel was trying to achieve and believe it could be enjoyable for some readers who like the religious genre. Even though I liked the ideas behind the novel, I will not be reading the sequel.

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The Touch
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Sounds like this one had a great concept but really fell flat on execution. Too bad the writing style was so bland and unrealistic. Thanks for an honest review.

unamilagra wrote: ↑03 May 2019, 12:07 Sounds like this one had a great concept but really fell flat on execution. Too bad the writing style was so bland and unrealistic. Thanks for an honest review.

I was really hoping for something more interesting! Thanks for commenting

I’m really curious about the voice only Gabriel could hear. However, I’ll skip this book following your review. Thank you for giving us an overview of this book!

Fazzier wrote: ↑03 May 2019, 15:03 I’m really curious about the voice only Gabriel could hear. However, I’ll skip this book following your review. Thank you for giving us an overview of this book!

The good thing about the book is that you do find out where the voice comes from. But I'm not sure it's worth reading to find out! Thanks for your comment

The dialogue clearly needs some work, if that statement was made by a five-year old. It does seem as though, with better execution, the book could make an interesting tale. Maybe even a series, like The Messengers. They seem to have similar concepts. Great review!

Dentarthurdent wrote: ↑06 May 2019, 08:05 The dialogue clearly needs some work, if that statement was made by a five-year old. It does seem as though, with better execution, the book could make an interesting tale. Maybe even a series, like The Messengers. They seem to have similar concepts. Great review!

I can accept a mysterious voice coming from an unknown source, but unrealistic vocabulary is too much haha. Thanks for your suggestion, I'll check that out!

I admire that you were able to stay with this book, regardless of how long it took. Your review was very fair, insightful and engaging. Great job!

I considered reading this book, but I'm glad I didn't since reading your review. It certainly doesn't sound like something I would enjoy. Thanks for a great review!

Bluebird03 wrote: ↑08 May 2019, 15:35 I admire that you were able to stay with this book, regardless of how long it took. Your review was very fair, insightful and engaging. Great job!

This one definitely wasn't for me unfortunately! Thanks for your lovely comment

Prisallen wrote: ↑09 May 2019, 07:06 I considered reading this book, but I'm glad I didn't since reading your review. It certainly doesn't sound like something I would enjoy. Thanks for a great review!

I was confused as I had read some really positive reviews for this before I reviewed it. I guess it just wasn't for me! Thanks

I've been wondering whether or not I would enjoy reading this to review. From what you've said about bland writing style and a host of errors, it sounds like something I wouldn't want to read. I appreciate you noting that the book isn't actually supernatural, but more religious in tone. That detail alone would make me want to avoid it. Thanks so much for the honest review! Now I know that this isn't one for me to pick.

Kelyn wrote: ↑10 May 2019, 16:31 I've been wondering whether or not I would enjoy reading this to review. From what you've said about bland writing style and a host of errors, it sounds like something I wouldn't want to read. I appreciate you noting that the book isn't actually supernatural, but more religious in tone. That detail alone would make me want to avoid it. Thanks so much for the honest review! Now I know that this isn't one for me to pick.

I honestly felt quite misled, as it wasn't really anything like the description I had read. I wanted to give it a chance though, as it had an interesting few opening chapters. But it was a struggle to finish unfortunately. Thanks for your comment!

Great review! You outlined the book well, and succinctly highlighted the downfalls of the book. I can definitely see why you couldn't rate this book higher, there were just too many faults with what I would classify as the most important elements of a book i.e. plot and characters.

BuzzingQuill wrote: ↑19 May 2019, 12:46 Great review! You outlined the book well, and succinctly highlighted the downfalls of the book. I can definitely see why you couldn't rate this book higher, there were just too many faults with what I would classify as the most important elements of a book i.e. plot and characters.

Thanks for your lovely comment!

Initially I thought I'd like this book. But, after reading your complete review, I don't think so. I understand why you gave your score and it seems fair. Even if I'm not going to be reading this book, I enjoyed reading your review. You were very clear and precise about what you found lacking in this book. It's refreshing.