Monday 20 March 2017

Book Review: The Girl at the Bar

Nicholas Nash
Nash used Firefly Books Publishing. You really need a strong editor if you use a self-publishing, on-demand agency. I offered some suggestions, as well as editing help to a friend who is entertaining the idea of publishing a book.

It's not a bad read. There is tension, suspense and lots of intrigue.

The plot entertained.
The sex scenes were over-the-top for me, but that's what some people want! I just skimmed...
The violence is typical of the male mystery authors, I believe. Again, I skipped through some of this.

There is some interesting science.

My hubby has cancer, and in our journey managing his cancer, I've done some research on cells and the wild cell growth of cancerous cells. The science is believable, and seems sounds, as far as I know! State-of-the-art cellular research, to combat cancer cell growth, was the goal of the characters. It was intriguing. We know how much big pharma screws those requiring expensive drugs.

I drew examples from a book I reviewed on cancer, I've reviewed three on this topic. It helped me understand the what goes on at the cellular level. (Johnson, The Cancer Chronicles)


The characters were clearly differentiated, and well-developed. I cared what happened to them. There were strong females role models, including female scientists. This is heartening, my daughter having her M.Sc.! The characters were from various ethnic groups and cultures, which is the norm in science. I appreciated that.

A couple of edit fails: commas in particular. It drives me nuts. I loathe having to go back and reread and wonder the intent of the dialogue.
"That's odd, wouldn't you say?" Roberta asked as she check on Timothy again who was surprisingly silent today evening. 
She was asking Gustav to give her a promise. And he giving a promise to Christie.
 Promise me Gustav.
I promise Christie. 
"Julie speaking." should be "Julia, speaking." when she answers the phone. She is not Julia Speaking!

Some of the alignment was off on some pages. It was centre-aligned, except for a couple of alignment fails (p. 331). It's disconcerting, although most people wouldn't notice it. Mind you, I have a lot of eagle-eyed retired blog buddies and/or teachers who read voraciously!!!



Nicholas Nash is an avid reader and traveler. He credits interesting moments from his life, entertaining stories he’s heard, unforgettable people he’s met, and striking places he’s traveled – as well as his creative, nagging alter ego – with penning his first novel, The Girl At The Bar. Nash resides in New York City with his wife and three children.


Coincidentally, a comma was used in a court case.

Commas are important!



7 comments:

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

As I read your first part, I was thinking I'd comment about that Court Case ! Bill called my attention to the story as he knows punctuation errors drive me batty. I have 'bought' a few self-published books through a free-books-for-Kindle website. I'm sorry to say that most of them weren't worth the price (free) because of errors such as you cite here. Now I look for publisher's info before I order any book. I hope this guy gets an editor before publishing his next one as the plot sounds OK for those who like that kind of book.

Nancy J said...

I would find the grammar errors as I read, they seem to pop oout and say " HERE I am!!!". Interesting that you skip over some of the lurid details, I do too. Off for my MRI today, but have to buy some batik fabric first!!! Have a great day Jenn, your grandies posts were so wonderful, I could imagine being there, ( and that is proof of a true writer).XXX

Christine said...

Good conscientious review!

Red said...

You covered everything on this review. It sounds like a so so story.

Phil Slade said...

An interesting tale for students of English and the apostrophe. Here in the UK we have an organisation devoted to correct us of the apostrophe.

http://www.apostrophe.org.uk/index.html

Phil Slade said...

A very interesting tale Jenn. Seems like me you are a studebt of English, in my case "student"" being the operative word,

William Kendall said...

Good review! I occasionally find errors, either grammar or punctuation, in a book.