Official Review: The Female of the Species; is more deadl...
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sound_readerrev
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Official Review: The Female of the Species; is more deadl...
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Female of the Species; is more deadly than the Male" by A. Machin-Taylor.]
3 out of 4 stars
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The Female of the Species is more deadly than the male by A. Machin-Taylor is a fiction, mystery/crime novel (280 pages long) and is the first novel that Machin-Taylor has published. The setting takes place mostly in France and Britain. This novel was a very entertaining read: suspenseful at times, had some action, almost like watching a crime movie. The author hooks the reader from the prologue and sends the reader wanting to know more about the mysterious British Agents and how their lives weave together, leaving you wondering: who's the friend and who's the foe?
The main character Agent Susan Collis and her partner, Jess, are sent to find a long sought-after criminal by the MOD, which is the British Secret Service, named Marko Savic. While searching for the criminal, Susan and Jess are injured when they encounter gunmen in the Croatia Mountains. After this ordeal, Susan is forced to change her identity and take up a new name- Ann Cameron (Susan Collis is erased as if she never existed), for her safety and the safety of the people she is working for. With her new identity, she must begin an entirely new life. But as she is settling down, a friend from M16 contacts her about some fishy activity involving Ann's old mission- the one in the Croatia, where she and her ex partner, Jess, were nearly killed-- it is suspected that there is a double agent, or possibly agents, working in the M16 and the MOD, and feeding information to their enemies. Ann, Jess, and Rose Armstrong, combined with few individuals of the French Secret Service, try to solve the case before this leak of information kills Jess and Ann, amongst other British and French agents. Will Ann and Jess be able to start a new life or will they be forced to continue to fight and destroy their killers before the others destroy them?
Machin-Taylor presents her characters vaguely and mysteriously in the beginning, causing the reader to want to know more about them. As the novel progresses, the reader learns more and more about each character, but in a way, Machin-Taylor still leaves him wondering about what happens next to them at the end of the novel.
One theme of the story is: be careful whom you trust or keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. According to the novel, even the people you trust can be trying to destroy you. Another theme that I discovered in the novel is: some people are meant to stay and others are meant to leave. Though Susan Collis had to completely change her identity and live under an assumed name, she found some people that she could trust, such as Jess, Rose Armstrong, and her husband, Anthony Barron (though she cannot share with him the details of her past life or her work in the MOD and M16).
What I liked most is that the book had little to no drama, unlike many fiction books that I have read over the years. Without the onslaught of drama, the book flowed quickly and easily, and was quite entertaining. Though the book was vague about the personal lives of the characters, I kind of liked getting to know the main character and her friend Jess. I also liked that the book contained very little profanity; otherwise I would probably have stopped reading it. The bits of action that were put into the book were very entertaining: the shooting, some dying, and the interrogating. Also, Machin-Taylor kept the story realistic; I really liked that. It's unusual for me to find a book on the British Secret Service that is realistic. Usually, those kinds of books are loaded with science fiction and make you want to role your eyes, such as the James Bond series by Ian Fleming.
With all the action and agent related material that it contains has encouraged me to pursue the future career that I have been dreaming of: a criminal investigator.
What I did not like about the novel is that it often skipped from one event to another much too quickly. In the beginning, it had a very nice flow and was suspenseful, but later on, the story lost the suspense, describing a single event before jumping over a huge period of time into the next without any foreshadowing. An example is when the main character Susan Collis (aka Ann Cameron or Ann Barron(married name)) gets into a relationship- the author surprises us with only a slight hint in prior chapters about her relationship with her significant other and gives very little detail on the personal life of the characters.
There were quite a bit of problems in the text, mostly spelling and dialogue structure. These errors made it uncomfortable to read because I would find myself focusing on the errors rather than on the story and plot itself. It felt as if the author posted a first draft. For example: the commas would be placed after the quotation marks, or sometimes, the quotation marks of the dialogue would be left out all together (though it is obvious that the two people or group of people are conversing). The point of view would sometimes jump from first to third in a single paragraph. This made me confused and felt as if two or three people were telling the story.
Readers that like a bit of crime and suspense, such as the James Bond series (without the drama and the sci-fi), would enjoy reading The Female of the Species is more deadly than the male by A. Machin-Taylor. I rate this novel 3 out of 4 stars because the book started out well but needed some more action. In general, it was very good read, and I would have given it four stars if it did not have so many errors in the dialogue and punctuation. I will not give it two stars because I really did like the story; it was entertaining and was very interesting.
******
The Female of the Species; is more deadly than the Male
View: on Bookshelves | on Barnes and Noble
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3 out of 4 stars
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The Female of the Species is more deadly than the male by A. Machin-Taylor is a fiction, mystery/crime novel (280 pages long) and is the first novel that Machin-Taylor has published. The setting takes place mostly in France and Britain. This novel was a very entertaining read: suspenseful at times, had some action, almost like watching a crime movie. The author hooks the reader from the prologue and sends the reader wanting to know more about the mysterious British Agents and how their lives weave together, leaving you wondering: who's the friend and who's the foe?
The main character Agent Susan Collis and her partner, Jess, are sent to find a long sought-after criminal by the MOD, which is the British Secret Service, named Marko Savic. While searching for the criminal, Susan and Jess are injured when they encounter gunmen in the Croatia Mountains. After this ordeal, Susan is forced to change her identity and take up a new name- Ann Cameron (Susan Collis is erased as if she never existed), for her safety and the safety of the people she is working for. With her new identity, she must begin an entirely new life. But as she is settling down, a friend from M16 contacts her about some fishy activity involving Ann's old mission- the one in the Croatia, where she and her ex partner, Jess, were nearly killed-- it is suspected that there is a double agent, or possibly agents, working in the M16 and the MOD, and feeding information to their enemies. Ann, Jess, and Rose Armstrong, combined with few individuals of the French Secret Service, try to solve the case before this leak of information kills Jess and Ann, amongst other British and French agents. Will Ann and Jess be able to start a new life or will they be forced to continue to fight and destroy their killers before the others destroy them?
Machin-Taylor presents her characters vaguely and mysteriously in the beginning, causing the reader to want to know more about them. As the novel progresses, the reader learns more and more about each character, but in a way, Machin-Taylor still leaves him wondering about what happens next to them at the end of the novel.
One theme of the story is: be careful whom you trust or keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. According to the novel, even the people you trust can be trying to destroy you. Another theme that I discovered in the novel is: some people are meant to stay and others are meant to leave. Though Susan Collis had to completely change her identity and live under an assumed name, she found some people that she could trust, such as Jess, Rose Armstrong, and her husband, Anthony Barron (though she cannot share with him the details of her past life or her work in the MOD and M16).
What I liked most is that the book had little to no drama, unlike many fiction books that I have read over the years. Without the onslaught of drama, the book flowed quickly and easily, and was quite entertaining. Though the book was vague about the personal lives of the characters, I kind of liked getting to know the main character and her friend Jess. I also liked that the book contained very little profanity; otherwise I would probably have stopped reading it. The bits of action that were put into the book were very entertaining: the shooting, some dying, and the interrogating. Also, Machin-Taylor kept the story realistic; I really liked that. It's unusual for me to find a book on the British Secret Service that is realistic. Usually, those kinds of books are loaded with science fiction and make you want to role your eyes, such as the James Bond series by Ian Fleming.
With all the action and agent related material that it contains has encouraged me to pursue the future career that I have been dreaming of: a criminal investigator.
What I did not like about the novel is that it often skipped from one event to another much too quickly. In the beginning, it had a very nice flow and was suspenseful, but later on, the story lost the suspense, describing a single event before jumping over a huge period of time into the next without any foreshadowing. An example is when the main character Susan Collis (aka Ann Cameron or Ann Barron(married name)) gets into a relationship- the author surprises us with only a slight hint in prior chapters about her relationship with her significant other and gives very little detail on the personal life of the characters.
There were quite a bit of problems in the text, mostly spelling and dialogue structure. These errors made it uncomfortable to read because I would find myself focusing on the errors rather than on the story and plot itself. It felt as if the author posted a first draft. For example: the commas would be placed after the quotation marks, or sometimes, the quotation marks of the dialogue would be left out all together (though it is obvious that the two people or group of people are conversing). The point of view would sometimes jump from first to third in a single paragraph. This made me confused and felt as if two or three people were telling the story.
Readers that like a bit of crime and suspense, such as the James Bond series (without the drama and the sci-fi), would enjoy reading The Female of the Species is more deadly than the male by A. Machin-Taylor. I rate this novel 3 out of 4 stars because the book started out well but needed some more action. In general, it was very good read, and I would have given it four stars if it did not have so many errors in the dialogue and punctuation. I will not give it two stars because I really did like the story; it was entertaining and was very interesting.
******
The Female of the Species; is more deadly than the Male
View: on Bookshelves | on Barnes and Noble
Like sound_readerrev's review? Post a comment saying so!
Latest Review: "Smog City" by Rebecca McNutt
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cantarctica
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The publication of the pre proof book was an error by the publisher. The book has been republished after all the errors have been corrected.
-- 29 Jun 2015, 13:53 --
The personal and private life of Anthony and Ann is told in detail in the follow up book "The Private Life of a Spy" which is finished and awaiting publication.
-- 29 Jun 2015, 13:53 --
The personal and private life of Anthony and Ann is told in detail in the follow up book "The Private Life of a Spy" which is finished and awaiting publication.
