2 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
The Poison Profession is the first book in a cyber-crime series by Rachel Wright.
The story concentrates on Clayman siblings Louisa and her two brothers, Jack and Tom. The three of them own a security firm in the United Kingdom. But the family’s security business is a cover for the assassination company named Crail. Louisa a medical dropout is the assassin; Jack is the hacker; While Tom is the accountant for their company. They work from different parts of the world and infrequently meet in their head office in Tikopia. Tikopia is a small island in the Solomon Islands in Oceania. Everything changes when Louisa meets Rikard, a Swiss-based gamer. After that fatal encounter, nothing will be the same.
I didn’t like constant switching of the narrative in this book. Not only did the narrator too often change but the continent and time too. Tom is in New Zealand, Louisa in London, Rikard in Geneva, and Jack in Australia. I had to keep up with a lot of details to follow the plotline. Too many perspectives and not enough depth for either of them to get involved with the story. But not all is a disappointment. I liked the premise of the story. I think the author has the potential to grow and evolve. The story is intriguing, but the overall execution of the story was lacking.
I will rate this book with two out of four stars. I think the editing of this book is exceptional. However, I had to switch reading from my reader to my computer, because for whatever reason copy on my reader had over sixty typo mistakes. I realized that way too late and that those mistakes were only showing on my reader, but not on a laptop, even though that is the same copy. So, that was minor technical issues. What warrants this rating are other issues. I didn’t like how some important events happened, and events happened out of the blue. Twists in the narration didn’t make much sense to me. I know that twists and turns keep mystery and suspense stories going. But they have to benefit the story somehow. A lot of things at the end of the book just didn’t make much sense. Maybe the author will explain some things in the next installment because this is the first book in the series. But I don’t think I will read that. I need to point out that this book didn’t end on a cliffhanger. I would even say that you could read the next book in a series as a standalone book.
This book deals with a lot of killing and drug use. There are several erotic scenes too. So, if you think you can’t handle that, avoid this book. But, if that is not a problem for you, I would recommend this book. Also, if you are a fan of cyber-thrillers and mysteries, the premise of this book will appeal to you.
******
The Poison Profession
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon