2 out of 4 stars
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As a backwards whodunit, Once Bitten starts out by letting us know exactly who the murderer is. Dr Jerry Simons is a dentist. He is also a misogynist who treats women (especially those in his employ) like pieces of meat intended only to satisfy him. His wife, Michelle, is sick of Jerry’s nonsense. She meets Keith, an intelligent and attractive bartender, and the two start an affair and eventually fall in love. At Michelle’s request for a divorce, Jerry allows his narcissistic inclination to guide him, and he plans and implements her murder. With all of this, he is also able to plant enough evidence at the crime scene to frame Keith for the grisly deed.
Keith is convicted and is consequently awaiting his termination on death row. His sister, Diane, is convinced her brother was framed for the murder. Diane enlists the help of the Atkinson Detective Agency to clear her brother of the charges. Mike and Linda Atkinson are extremely apprehensive. After being offered a huge retainer by Diane, they decide to look into the case further – even if only to back up the original verdict. The deeper they look, the more they find out that this case is more than what was originally thought to be open and shut.
Because the killer and the motive are known from the start of the book, at no point did I go, “Wow, I can’t believe that happened.” It was more of a story about how the case was solved and how the characters got to where they were. The author, Bill Hansmann, is also a dentist, and I enjoyed a lot of the technical aspects he included. Forensically, it helped the story become a bit more believable. The character's backstories and personalities took up a great deal of the narrative. He went into every one of their childhoods, their hopes and dreams, and how ultimately, they became who they were when our story took place. It made every individual relatable.
Even with the sturdy cast of characters, the storyline was lacking a little. Because every part of the crime is known to the reader, I found it unnecessary to go into so much detail when the characters were trying to untangle the mystery. It just made it lag a little bit. With a touch more focus and not as much repetition, the author can make this a truly engaging read.
The book was not professionally edited. I found no spelling errors, but the grammar is awful. A good round of proofreading would make this book so much better. The errors consist of too many spaces between words and punctuation, double and triple dashes, and commas in random places. Once such example reads: “Her cell phone was shut off , she had explained--- plugged into the charger Her reluctant testimony to that effect had totally destroyed Keith’s excuse...”
I rate Once Bitten 2 out of 4 stars. I have removed a star for the editing. This can easily be rectified just by opening this book as a Microsoft Word document (which is the format I received it in). I removed the second star for the lack of focus in the story. This is not a long book, so the repetition in some cases is noticeable. When Linda’s brother mentions that he is embarrassed about his enthusiasm (that actually turned out to be nothing) five times, it gets a little stale. Again, nothing that can’t be tightened with a good proofread. Other than that, I enjoyed this book and think it has a lot of potential. I would recommend it to people looking for a solid story with rich characters. I would not recommend it to anyone looking for a fast-paced action thriller with loads of crazy twists and turns.
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Once Bitten
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