Review by Njclark -- The FBI Inspector by Jay Dubya
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Njclark
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- Latest Review: The FBI Inspector by Jay Dubya
Review by Njclark -- The FBI Inspector by Jay Dubya
[Following is a volunteer review of "The FBI Inspector" by Jay Dubya.]
1 out of 4 stars
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This book has been written as a collection of short stories focused around a group of FBI agents who solve unusual crimes with a highly regarded leader, Inspector Joe Giralo. There are twenty-five stories in all, that try and encapsulate a wide variety of wrong-doings committed by various groups, gangs and evil masterminds, each crime being investigated by the Inspector and his team, often including Sherlock-style observations.
I liked that each of the novellas was named in a way that was an homage to great writers of the genre such as Agatha Christie or Edgar Allen Poe (also mentioned in the book). This definitely helped to set the mood for the book. The writing is very descriptive and uses uncommon vocabulary which may attract some readers, yet put other readers off. The writing style is very detailed, using names and dates and locations all specified very clearly which in a way reminds me perhaps of police or FBI note-taking and the precise detailed recording of criminal case notes. It is in keeping with the theme, although can take away from the flow of the writing, especially if the areas are unknown to the reader.
The style of the dialogue or language used by the characters seems circa 1950’s, however it is set in modern day which took me out of the story a bit. It jolted me when they were talking like they were in a 1950's diner and then suddenly started talking about emails.
There were a lot of pop culture references in The FBI Inspector which I quite liked, mostly rock music and TV shows from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. I did notice that Jay Dubya described AC/DC as acid rock when I definitely wouldn’t describe them as such – they are straight forward hard rock or pub rock to my mind. This might not bother other readers though.
There is an interesting writing device whereby the author includes the clues in the book as though you are a detective working alongside the others. This adds a fun element to the crime solving process. There was no particularly strong language – just a few words such as ‘damned’ (p39), ‘in God’s name’ (p57) and ‘the bloody truth’ (p43) for example, and no erotic scenes if that would make a reader uncomfortable. I did however find that in one section of the book, there was an extremely one sided stance shown, calling pro-choice advocates radicals, pro-gay marriage advocates militant villains, and describing abortion as not having anything to do with the normal process of female reproduction, in a way that clearly showed the character at least, if not the author, was deeply anti-abortion. I found this very disconcerting and it almost made me decide to stop reading the book altogether. There were other comments I didn't like, and I felt that as a woman, perhaps this book was written for a very specific male audience, and I would not recommend this book to women at all.
With regards to the format of the book itself, I downloaded the PDF and found that there were a few niggles with the layout which might have made it harder to read, however, that might not be an issue with other formats. There were also a few grammatical errors and spelling mistakes which weren’t picked up in proofreading, but sometimes it may have been a matter of preference. All in all, I didn’t really enjoy this book sadly, and I wouldn’t recommend it. I normally love crime and mystery novels, but was disappointed with this one, I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars.
******
The FBI Inspector
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
1 out of 4 stars
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This book has been written as a collection of short stories focused around a group of FBI agents who solve unusual crimes with a highly regarded leader, Inspector Joe Giralo. There are twenty-five stories in all, that try and encapsulate a wide variety of wrong-doings committed by various groups, gangs and evil masterminds, each crime being investigated by the Inspector and his team, often including Sherlock-style observations.
I liked that each of the novellas was named in a way that was an homage to great writers of the genre such as Agatha Christie or Edgar Allen Poe (also mentioned in the book). This definitely helped to set the mood for the book. The writing is very descriptive and uses uncommon vocabulary which may attract some readers, yet put other readers off. The writing style is very detailed, using names and dates and locations all specified very clearly which in a way reminds me perhaps of police or FBI note-taking and the precise detailed recording of criminal case notes. It is in keeping with the theme, although can take away from the flow of the writing, especially if the areas are unknown to the reader.
The style of the dialogue or language used by the characters seems circa 1950’s, however it is set in modern day which took me out of the story a bit. It jolted me when they were talking like they were in a 1950's diner and then suddenly started talking about emails.
There were a lot of pop culture references in The FBI Inspector which I quite liked, mostly rock music and TV shows from the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. I did notice that Jay Dubya described AC/DC as acid rock when I definitely wouldn’t describe them as such – they are straight forward hard rock or pub rock to my mind. This might not bother other readers though.
There is an interesting writing device whereby the author includes the clues in the book as though you are a detective working alongside the others. This adds a fun element to the crime solving process. There was no particularly strong language – just a few words such as ‘damned’ (p39), ‘in God’s name’ (p57) and ‘the bloody truth’ (p43) for example, and no erotic scenes if that would make a reader uncomfortable. I did however find that in one section of the book, there was an extremely one sided stance shown, calling pro-choice advocates radicals, pro-gay marriage advocates militant villains, and describing abortion as not having anything to do with the normal process of female reproduction, in a way that clearly showed the character at least, if not the author, was deeply anti-abortion. I found this very disconcerting and it almost made me decide to stop reading the book altogether. There were other comments I didn't like, and I felt that as a woman, perhaps this book was written for a very specific male audience, and I would not recommend this book to women at all.
With regards to the format of the book itself, I downloaded the PDF and found that there were a few niggles with the layout which might have made it harder to read, however, that might not be an issue with other formats. There were also a few grammatical errors and spelling mistakes which weren’t picked up in proofreading, but sometimes it may have been a matter of preference. All in all, I didn’t really enjoy this book sadly, and I wouldn’t recommend it. I normally love crime and mystery novels, but was disappointed with this one, I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars.
******
The FBI Inspector
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes | on Smashwords
Latest Review: The FBI Inspector by Jay Dubya
