3 out of 4 stars
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FBI agent Ayden Holmes is assigned to the case of a lifetime when a man in a Guy Fawkes mask murders an influential elite, leaving behind a manifesto with a clear message: he will kill one corrupt and powerful person whose very existence is ruining the United States each week for three months. Each week Ayden is unable to catch the killer, and each week he receives a new manifesto describing why that person had to die and giving him clues as to who the next victim will be. As Ayden chases the murderer, he starts to uncover the not-so-secret "Deep State" behind the government, making him question what would really be best for the United States...catching the killer, or allowing him to clean house.
The Manifesto Murders is full of very real events and characters based on real people that will suck you into the novel. I love a good murder mystery, and Nick Airus definitely did not disappoint. The murders were creative and sometimes even amusing, as the murderer did his best to be outrageous and gain the public's attention. I'm not usually a violent person, but I have to admit that it was a little satisfying to see such corrupt people getting their just desserts. I really empathized with Ayden and his struggle to decipher what is "right" and what would be the best way to overhaul the U.S.'s corrupt system and replace it with something better, although the novel doesn't quite go into that much detail.
Unfortunately, although the story itself was entertaining and had a lot of promise, the book desperately needed an editor. I stopped counting typos and grammatical errors in the first 15% of the novel. There were a few times during the novel where I had to roll my eyes because the characters were either being childish or being described as complete geniuses and the best in their fields...despite being childish. Unfortunately, these inconsistencies and the clear lack of professional editing kept The Manifesto Murderers from becoming a potentially bestselling novel.
They also kept me from giving the book a full 4-star rating. If the book was cleaned up, I would have no problem raving about its greatness, but it's still an unpolished gem at the moment. Since I will probably recommend it to friends despite the lack of editing, I will give the book 3 out of 4 stars. I think anyone interested in murder mysteries or politics will enjoy this novel, and those who don't really pay attention to the news may find it eye-opening. However, you really need to have some interest in politics to have an interest in the storyline itself, so I would not recommend it to those who could care less about the government's internal corruption and attempts to cover up their own blunders.
I will warn potential readers that this novel put me in a very dark place while I was reading it. All of the corruption and scandal made me sick, and I genuinely felt that I didn't want to live in such a pathetic world. If you aren't careful, you may get sucked up into the manifesto murderer's way of thinking, as flawed as it is.
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Editor's Note: Since the time of the review, this book as has been edited to clean up the errors mentioned by the reviewer.
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The Manifesto Murders
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