Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
Approximate word count: 120-125,000 words
Availability
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Author:
“After
years of ghostwriting thrillers, conspiracy novels and mystery books, Gunnar
Angel Lawrence has published his first thriller. He is a native Floridian with
a love for writing thrillers, mysteries and action stories with fast pacing and
a unique twist. He lives in Saint Cloud, Florida with his dogs and is currently
single.”
For more,
visit the author’s blog.
Description:
“A double
homicide leads Detective Paul Friedman to discover the threat of an imminent
terrorist attack on the city of Orlando, Florida. A young teen girl is found
beheaded in the wreckage of what appears to be a freak accident. Friedman
learns of The Perfect Day, a plot to strike terror into the hearts of Americans
by a zealot known only as Ali the Sand Viper. Friedman must solve the murders
and do what he can to prevent the unthinkable, a terrorist assault on the
tourism capital of the world.
Reporter
Jerome Eisman stumbles onto the plot of a local White Supremacist group to
purchase a large quantity of explosives. His investigation takes a frantic turn
when bombs begin claiming lives.”
Appraisal:
The Perfect Day has multiple story threads with
different point of view characters, and
each contributes to the overall story. Two threads follow Paul Friedman, who I
think would be considered the protagonist, and Ali the Sand Viper, the
antagonist. Others follow Jerome, a reporter, Monica, an investigator who
specializes in uncovering financial fraud, and Gary, a homeless former prisoner
of war. Each of these is interwoven with the other and how they relate is
obvious with the exception of Gary. I actually liked Gary’s story thread the
most even though how it was going to relate to the overall story was unclear until
near the end of the book when his story finally connects and set up a plot
twist that I didn’t see coming.
I liked the
overall plot and thought the author did a good job of character building, with
most of the major characters being well rounded with unique personalities,
motivations, and goals, all of which figure into the overall story. One
exception might be Ali, who comes across as a bit of a cliché through much of
the book with only hints of there being something more to him than the obvious
until near the end.
However, I
had three major issues with The Perfect
Day. First are numerous issues with typos and grammar that weren’t caught
in the copyediting and proofreading process. In addition to the typical things
like typos and verb tense issues that snuck through, were clunky or repetitive
sentences like this one:
“I would suggest that before you go
off in search of a new client, that you sit down and have a little chat with
Sheriff Wilson before you go.”
Or this
sequence:
“Sounds good, thanks Nancy. Be
honest with me, what am I looking at here, Nancy? Can they really get Jeffrey
from me?” Nancy sighed.
In case it
isn’t clear, he’s talking to Nancy.
Second was
a tendency for the characters who are the apparent heroes of the story, specifically
those involved in law enforcement, to have disrespect for the law as it applies
to them. One minor example is this exchange earlier in the book where Friedman
appears to be okay with vigilante justice. (If nothing else, he doesn’t
object.)
“When you find him, please kill him,
or let me do it. She was my best friend, and her mother was like my second
mom.” Paul nodded, “I understand.” Angie left the room as Paul dialed the
station.
Later in
the book the chief of police murders (executes would be an even better
description) a suspect he has in custody.
My last
problem is the book has a definite political stance that I found both
objectionable and not very credible. If you describe yourself as an extreme
right wing conspiracy theorist, you’ll love this. If you think all Muslims
should be assumed to be terrorists (that worked so well for us with those of
Japanese ancestry in World War II) and that the media conspires to hide this
“fact” from us, you’ll eat this up. For those like me who read this kind of
thing and describe it as bull-pucky, it might not be for you.
FYI:
Although
this book appears to be the second in a series featuring detective Paul
Friedman, it stands alone. There is no need to have read the previous book to
understand what is going on in this one.
Format/Typo Issues:
Numerous
proofing and copyediting misses.
Rating: * One star
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