Official Review: The Heart Taker Murders by Carl A Chase

Joy Boudreau · Post by **Joy Boudreau** » 01 Dec 2016, 09:26

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Heart Taker Murders" by Carl A Chase.]

2 out of 4 stars

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The Heart Taker Murders by Carl A. Chase is an interesting juxtaposition of a traditional crime novel and a plot that could have come from the X-files. Lt. Charles Washington is investigating a serial killer case involving young female victims who are left with their hearts taken out and their blood drained. During the investigation, Lt. Charles Washington stumbles across a prior unsolved crime that matches the MO of the killer in his current case leading him to re-open that cold case. Eventually, Lt. Washington finds hard evidence that the cases are indeed linked. He deduces that the killer is living an unnaturally long life due to unsavory practices connected with his crimes. Once Lt. Washington makes this find, solving the case becomes a race against time. The stakes are upped significantly when more people die and threats are made against Lt. Washington and his family. Finding the killer becomes a matter of personal safety to Lt. Washington.

The author includes some interesting plot twists. It is safe to say that I was unable to figure out “who done it” until it was revealed toward the end of the book. However, I can’t say that the storyline was easy to follow. The narrative often jumps from one person to another without warning, and some characters are not consistently referred to by first or last name. Overall, I feel the writing style is rough.

While I feel that The Heart Taker Murders has definite points of interest, it needs considerable development in order to overcome some major problems. The language is typical of what one would expect from a crime novel complete with investigative details; however the pace is not steady and the characters are not fully developed. Transitions between scenes are rough. I am sorry to say that these issues greatly hindered my enjoyment of the book.

My other major critique is that a better editor is desperately needed. Spacing needs to be adjusted throughout as the necessary space is often missing after a period or a comma. The author regularly switches between past and present tense within the same paragraph or even within the same sentence, such as “Later that night, I was sleeping like a baby when I’m awakened by the pounding of the phone.” One character is introduced with a last name of “Rosado.” This character is consistently referred to as “Rosa do” throughout the rest of the book.

I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars, due to the lack of plot development as well as the pacing and editing issues. I would suggest that the author comb through the The Heart Taker Murders for mistakes, smooth out transitions, fix the pacing issues, and further develop the characters. The book should not be thrown away. With the right improvements, this could be a decent read.

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The Heart Taker Murders
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Elaine5 · Post by **Elaine5** » 03 Dec 2016, 22:28

Sounds like quite a disappointing book. Good job on the review. It's always difficult to write a review when you didn't enjoy the book.

Joy Boudreau · Post by **Joy Boudreau** » 05 Dec 2016, 08:34

Elaine5 wrote:Sounds like quite a disappointing book. Good job on the review. It's always difficult to write a review when you didn't enjoy the book.

Thank you! Yes, I did want to enjoy the book, but there were just too many things that needed to be fixed.

andrewchase · Post by **andrewchase** » 06 Dec 2016, 09:50

I wish people would realize that just because one reviewer does not enjoy a book, does not make it a bad book. Another reviewer might not feel that way.

peprica21 · Post by **peprica21** » 06 Dec 2016, 16:09

Thanks for the review! I love a good crime book but a true heart stopper is hard to develop when the plot is under developed and characters fall flat.

Celticlady · Post by **Celticlady** » 06 Dec 2016, 16:17

From your review, this book sounds like it has potential but just doesn't quite get there. Thank you for your honest review. It always helps to read the not so good reviews about a book so the reader can determine if the book is worth reading. Happy Holidays!

Joy Boudreau · Post by **Joy Boudreau** » 07 Dec 2016, 11:25

andrewchase wrote:I wish people would realize that just because one reviewer does not enjoy a book, does not make it a bad book. Another reviewer might not feel that way.

I do agree with you about that.

-- 07 Dec 2016, 11:26 --

Celticlady wrote:From your review, this book sounds like it has potential but just doesn't quite get there. Thank you for your honest review. It always helps to read the not so good reviews about a book so the reader can determine if the book is worth reading. Happy Holidays!

There is definite potential in this book - I did enjoy the storyline.

Kdonegan91 · Post by **Kdonegan91** » 07 Dec 2016, 17:36

Too bad the book contained so many errors, because the storyline sounds promising. Thank you for such an honest and well-written review.

Kia · Post by **Kia** » 09 Dec 2016, 11:41

I hope that the author can take your constructive criticism and allow their book to reach its potential. Thank you for such an honest review.

Joy Boudreau · Post by **Joy Boudreau** » 02 Jan 2017, 16:06

Kia wrote:I hope that the author can take your constructive criticism and allow their book to reach its potential. Thank you for such an honest review.

Thank you for your kind words!

-- 02 Jan 2017, 16:07 --

Kdonegan91 wrote:Too bad the book contained so many errors, because the storyline sounds promising. Thank you for such an honest and well-written review.

Thank you, also! The storyline was good - I think this could become a top book, with some tweaks and a good editor.

Post by **bookowlie** » 13 Jan 2017, 09:28

I enjoyed reading your honest review. You gave constructive criticism while still highlighting the positives. The story seems to have a lot of potential.