Official Review: Pocket Dial by Sandy Magner

[readingbooks1toall]

most important part is that Jennifer being questioned by the police about Dylan and the phone call she received from him so that they may have investigation

[Mallory Whitaker]

I can't decide if this book would be a good fit for me or not. I love mysteries. They are one of my favorite genres. Although your review is good, this one doesn't quite grab me.

Mysteries are great. Sorry this one didn't grab you but thanks for checking out the review!

Sounds like an interesting suspense story full of excitement and twists. Too bad about the lack of a solid format pattern. Thanks for the review!

It's definitely full of excitement and twists - even better, not the kind of twists I would have expected either. Thanks for checking it out!

I have an interest in detective, suspenseful and intriguing novels. This book fits the criteria. Thanks for the review.

Ohlala, then this should be great for you. Let me know if you read it! Thanks for checking it out.

Sounds like a good, quick read for a rainy day. I liked how you reviewed the characters in such detail, but it's a shame some of the book could be predictable.

It's absolutely perfect for that. Yeah, I found some of it predictable, but I mean, I think everyone has different things they expect so it might not be predictable for others. Thanks for checking out my review.

Nice review but not a book I will read though I love suspense and mystery book's

Bummer this one doesn't seem like a good fit, but thanks for checking out my review.

most important part is that Jennifer being questioned by the police about Dylan and the phone call she received from him so that they may have investigation

That's definitely a major part of this book and it's the catalyst for the whole story.

[Amelvin1977]

I have mixed emotions on this crime fiction book! In the beginning I found myself somewhat confused and not quite sure how to depict Jennifer’s character and personality based from her actions and decisions made. But then after some more reading to the next few chapters, it sounded like Jennifer is going through her own crisis of finding herself after the divorce.... can’t wait to finish it!!!!

[tamdlyte]

Interesting... I read both Official Reviews and both reviewers had a hard time relating to Jen, especially in the beginning.

I found I had difficulty forming a bond with many of the characters. Even towards the end of the book, there was not one character I felt particularly close to or able to empathize with. This was a new experience for me and I felt somewhat disassociated from the story due to this lack of connection.

Jen was one of these characters. I can honestly say I have never been so frustrated by a protagonist.

and

I had a difficult time relating with Jennifer and found her petulant, whiny, and overall unbearable as she lamented over what seemed like an easy decision to me. She came across as incredibly vapid.

and while I can read a story about an un-empathetic character, no problem, normally that un-empathetic character is the bad guy and exploring the why of his "bad-ness"... I have a hard time with un-empathetic due to vapid whiny-ness... LOL

[Al Chakauya]

A good and comprehensive review there. Too bad you found it difficult to relate with Jennifer- its overly distracting when you can't relate with a book character, to say the least. From your review, this is generally a good book which can be better with the use of a good editor.

[tmazonga]

Pocket Dial by Sandy Magner


This book is a mystery, crime, thriller and suspense novel whose central character is the narrator herself, called Jennifer Burns. She refers to herself as a “two-time loser” because she has had two failed marriages. Nonetheless, she falls in love with a third man named Dylan Jagger whom she finds young, handsome and sensitive, leaving her with the conviction that this time around, she has struck it lucky. Dylan turns out to be what Jennifer had been dreaming of until one Dylan`s phone pocket-dials Jennifer and she overhears him brutalizing a child. The child is heard to say, “Stop, Dylan! That hurts!” to which Dylan reportedly replies “You think that hurts, Tommy? How about this?” Later, it turns out that the lad who is called Tommy and is his friend`s son, is dead. Dylan is taken in for questioning by the police and Jennifer is brought centre-stage by the police because they believe that because of the telephone call that was placed on her phone, she is the only person other than Dylan, who could tell them what really happened. She is then torn between telling the police the truth and clearing her conscience and not telling it and saving his relationship with Dylan. She says “life was finally good because of Dylan. I`m not prepared to give that all up”. While Tommy`s autopsy results are being awaited and Dylan is being questioned by the police, Dylan dies, according to Lauren, Jennifer`s daughter because she (Lauren) “whacked” him with her biology book. Jennifer asks Lauren to allow her Jennifer to assume responsibility for the death. However, later, Pete, Tommy`s father confesses to Jennifer to having been the one who killed Dylan in revenge for her son. The story ends with Jennifer taking a vow in front of Kat, her best friend: “No way. No more pretty boys for me!”


The title of the book, Pocket Dial is worthy of attention because its coining is ambiguous. Is it used here as a verb or a noun? And what in the first place does the word mean? Well, looking at it as a verb, Google says to pocket-dial someone is to “inadvertently call (someone) on a mobile phone in one's pocket, as a result of pressure being accidentally applied to a button or buttons on the phone” Now, used as a noun, Google says “pocket dial” is “an inadvertent call made on a mobile phone in one's pocket, as a result of pressure being applied accidentally to a button or buttons on the phone.” Wikipedia fleshes out its own definition by saying “Pocket dialing (also known as pocket calling or butt dialing) refers to the accidental placement of a phone call while a person's mobile phone or cordless phone is in the owner's pocket or handbag. The recipient of the call typically hears random background noise when answering the phone. If the caller remains unaware, the recipient will sometimes overhear whatever is happening in the caller's vicinity. A pocket-dialed call can continue for many minutes, or until the recipient's voice mail system ends the call.”


By opting to write on the subject of pocket dialing, Sandy Magner has obviously put her finger on a problem which many of us have encountered at one time or another. The topic is therefore of relevance. Personally, I have had recurrent problems with pocket dialing when in possession of my Android phone. Usually, I hold it in my hand so that if it rings I will not have to look far. However, when I`m in public or crowded places, I put it away in my bag so that men of the underworld do not snatch it. But then, every so often, I realize it has pocket-dialed and someone is saying “hello” from the other end. I recently took steps to have the automatic lock activated so that it does not make such calls. But then again , I realize that it`s a boomerang because sometimes when I want to unlock it and use it , it takes me a long time to press the right buttons in the right place at the right time.


The cover picture of the novel is quite revealing because it carries a close-up photograph of a phone sticking out of the back pocket of someone`s jeans trousers whom we assume is Dylan. Significantly, the phone displays the name “Jen” (Jennifer) and the time the pocket dial was made. That interpretation is at the level of denotation. Let`s now look at the connotative meaning by examining the significance of “jeans” and “ pockets”, and by extension, “jeans pockets”. The word "pocket" is defined by Wikipedia as “a bag or envelope-like receptacle either fastened to or inserted in an article of clothing to hold small items.” In an article published in the Cosmopolitan January 2016 under the title “We finally know what that little pocket on our jeans is for”, Jess Edwards says: “The tiny little pocket inside a pocket is actually for watches, designed for cowboys in the 1800s. But since we are in 2016 and we are, for the most part, not cowboys, these pockets have taken on new guises.” She further quotes Levi Strauss (the private American jeans clothing industry based in San Francisco - California) as saying "originally included as protection for pocket watches, thus the name, this extra pouch has served many functions, evident in its many titles: frontier pocket, condom pocket, coin pocket, match pocket and ticket pocket, to name a few." Although Dylan`s phone is not in the small pocket, it is nevertheless in a jeans trousers.


I like the writer`s use of the First Person (“I”) narrative. It enables the writer cum narrator to describe situations as she experienced them, and also enables the reader to feel firsthand what the narrator felt. The writer enhances the quality of the narrative through the frequent use of the flashback technique. This serves to inform the reader on the background of the principal characters and aspects of the story-line that had happened previously. I was also fascinated by the twists and turns of the book`s characters and the way in which they evolved. Furthermore, I find the pacing of the characters and the narrative to be quite engaging, which is much to the writer`s credit.


There are some aspects of the book I did not like. One of them is Jennifer`s blindness to reality. She clearly comes into the relationship with Dylan with three handicaps: her two previous marriages, the fact that she already had two children, and the fact that she was up to 15 years older than Dylan. But she fails to realize those attributes as being disadvantages. This portrays Jennifer more as a superficial character than a true-to-life one to which the reader could easily identify. Again, Jennifer goes through a lot of pain for refusing to denounce Dyla. “I can`t betray him”, she says, even when her friend Kat advises her to tell the truth. Similarly, when presented with overwhelming evidence that suggests Dylan could be guilty, Jennifer still hesitates. She herself says: “They said that this pretty boy, Dylan, was a mean kid with a history, that I shouldn`t be protecting him, and that I was going to go to jail myself”. So, why did she keep protecting him against all odds?


The scene in which Kat, Jennifer`s friend, engages a conversation with her dog, Brandy, is in my view uncalled for, especially as the question Kat puts to the dog concerning what Jennifer “should do about this man who killed a kid” Really? Imagine such a serious matter being thrust at a dog to handle! This is murder we are talking about here! Perhaps Kat realizes the futility of her question because she answers the question herself: “Did he at least eat him after?”, a question which even if intended as a joke, was clearly a sick joke, considering that Jennifer rebuffs it by telling her it`s not funny. The dog walks away, which means that in the end, Kat has irritated both her dog and her friend. Another negative point about the book is that to use “Pocket Dial” for a supposed thriller that involves murder sounds too flat, trite, commonplace and uneventful if you ask me. I would have thought of something like “Caught in between”, “Child murder’, “Bloody love”, or “The day love was murdered”. However, perhaps that weakness is evened out by the fact that the mobile telephone nevertheless plays a key role in the thriller because of its frequent use by different characters. There is a problem with the grammar of the novel like in the sentence “Seeing him do this makes something explodes inside me” in which the word “explodes” should not take an “s” because it follows another verb “makes”. But it does.


Even so, Pocket Dial is suitable for professionals in the world of crime such as the police and lawyers. It is also suitable for social workers and parents as well as human rights groups interested in protecting the rights of children.

My rating of this book is 3 stars out of 4.