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onejadyn 's review for:

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James
3.0

This review has spoilers

The writing style of this book is simple, one of the simplest I've read in a long time. At first it bothered me, but it quickly faded into the background and almost added to the atmosphere. It felt almost as though I was listening to a podcast, which is where true crime stories flourish these days. 

I never read in this genre and I picked this book up spontaneously. I'm glad I did. It was a great story that I finished in less than two days, and it held my attention all the way through. It isn't a story that I think will stay with me forever, but it was a good one. 

As it went on, I found myself growing tired of the constant flashbacks to Beth. I think the flashbacks were valuable, but overall more was told through them than necessary. I think I would've preferred the mystery of only having key moments shown to us, and the rest being hearsay. 

I really loved the book when it started but got less interested as it went on. Shea's story was my priority, and current-Beth's as well, so all the time we spent looking at her past lost my interest a fair bit. 

That said, I enjoyed this book, and it's certainly better than average. I'd give it a 3.5 perhaps, if halves were an option.