Customer Reviews

Get Some

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Other reviewers have commented on the over use of the F word, but while juvenile it doesn't bother me that much because - sadly - a lot of people actually speak like that, and it's the author's style choice.

My problems are not only the spelling, punctuation and incorrect word usage errors, but other glaring technical problems. From one sentence to the next in one section for example, the speaker was talking to Joey but said "Tommy."

There are horrendous issues with point of view - hops from third to first person paragraph to paragraph and makes the story very hard to follow. It's also never quite clear who's speaking when the chapters change.

Some of the characters are surprisingly interesting, and revenge stories are always fun. The writer could really benefit from several basic classes on spelling, grammar and basic writing skills. Since this was short book, it makes one wonder if it was self published without an editor even seeing it.

I'm just really getting sick of authors and/or publishers that don't even TRY to proofread and/or fact check their works before unleashing them on the world. Sure, it's free. Doesn't mean that you can call the world famous Barrett .50 Caliber rifle a "Barrat 50 calibre" - on PAGE ONE - and expect me to keep reading. Well, actually, I did keep reading a bit, until the author used the word "personal" instead of "personnel" a few pages later. Then I gave up on the free sample. No full download for me. Authors and publishers need to try harder. Spell check has made everyone lazy. Hire a proofreader.

Daniel Birch knows how to spin a plot. The beginning of this book starts out as a page-turning thriller in a combat zone. But I wanted to know more about the three protagonists. Why did one of the men turn against another man, allegedly a childhood friend? How did one manage to become a gangster and another a lawyer? I kept reading to find out why. This sounded like something similar to The Good, The Bad, The Ugly.

Although the expletive language didn't bother me (after all, soldiers do tend to cuss during a combat zone an they should be entitled to that), but does a lawyer cuss that badly as well? Somewhere around 1/3 the way through the book the plot began to get confusing, and I discovered it was because grave mistakes began to get noticable with point of view, timeline and more obvious grammar and spelling mistakes.

An experienced editor could save this book. The plot isn't bad at all. Birch has the makings of a good suspense writer. But the characters in this book need serious revision. Because Birch writes in first-person from three different characters, he doesn't create enough differences between them through the narrative. All three cuss the same, talk the same, think the same. This is what makes it so hard to follow: there is very little depth in the characters. The more I read this story, the more it read like an undergraduate fiction novel that earned a "C."

This isn't a very long novel, either. It can be read in a few hours. Here is where Birch should develop the characters better, revise the choppy parts, proofread his grammar and spelling and seriously take to heart what reviewers here are recommending. I liked the story overall (it is better than many of the one-star reviews claim it is) but the book needs a serious overhaul to be marketable for profit.

If you like Ian Rankin or Stieg Larrson, you will love "Get Some", the new crime thriller by Daniel Birch. Set in the mean streets of Hull, England, it is the story of two friends, one a lawyer the other a wounded veteran of the Iraq war, and the Hull underworld. It is a page-turner. One of the protagonists, Tommy, reminds me of Lisbeth Salander, the young woman in Larrson's "Millennium" trilogy: smart, focused, a troubled childhood, trauma and absolutely not one to be trifled with when wronged. And Tommy has definitely been badly wronged by two of his British Army buddies in Iraq who sold him to insurgents for heroin.

One indication of how good a writer Daniel Birch is: "Get Some" was a runaway best seller at the recent and well-attended Hull Book Exposition.

Once you pick this up, you will not want to put it down until you've finished it. I can't wait to see what new stories he's got in the pipeline.

Every book I get for Kindle is full of mistakes. I am beginning to wonder if we are getting the real book or another version. I can't figure out hoe I have read paper books and may find 1 mistake, but now it is on every other page. Some are words left out of a paragraph. I would love your feedback. Is it possible we are getting black market books or copies? I feel I am not getting my money's woth when I have to guess the words. Not talking the cheepos either.

I actually deleted this book from my kindle, totally gone. I could not even finish the book, i think i got through 6 chapters. I try to be very open minded but the language in this book really got to me. It had the potential to be an interesting read and good mystery but the language was distracting and unnecessay.

I rarely fail to finish a book, but this one I just could not finish. It is not worth your time for many reasons. Language is out of control. Over use of the "F" word, bad grammer misspellings and on and on and on. I kept seeing a glmmer of a decent story but then it would disapper. Not worth your time.

This was atrocious. Whoever, if anyone, was the editor should be taken out and beaten by ten Catholic nuns with wooden rulers. The author flips from voice to voice without any transition; new characters are introduced in first person without any referent, and the "street wise" and "wit" are notably absent. An awful experience. Weak characters, poor storyline development. The myriad spelling mistakes, punctuation errors, layout flaws and syntax errors make it challenging to even endure the poor story. The mechanical errors aren't even consistent; some plurals are apostrophe'd and most not. Even as a "freebie", as this was for me, it was several hours I'll never get back.

Yes, the writing and the editing are a crime against humanity. Maybe Santa will bring M. Birch a dictionary for christmas or there will be an app for that. There are other words that F***, Sh**, Motherf*** and As*** but not in M. Birch's vocabulary. So, reader beware.
However, I found myself caught in the story of those two young men. Tommy, back from the war, where he has been betrayed and tortured, trying to build a family with his pregnant girlfriend. Joey, his childhood friend, raised from the streets, walking the fine line between the law and his none-too-clean clients. And overall, gang wars, revenge, turf building and life on the streets.
This a teenager novel : brash, arrogant, rude, lacking wisdom and finesse, but deep-down, truthful and powerful. With some luck, M. Birch offerings in the future will be more mature.

I have to echo what other reviewers have said. I'm a big supporter of indie authors and self publishing, but writers really need to get *someone* do to some basic editing on their books.

Point of view changes from first to third from paragraph to paragraph. A character's name changes multiple times in a paragraph. Either the Iraquis or the author doesn't know which end of a nail the head is on. (I suspect th author.)

I couldn't make it through this book, and it isn't worth the free price. I am doing something with this book that I seldom do: deleting it from my Kindle archive permanently.