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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Primary Victim, November 22, 2009
Primary Victim by Christopher Cihlar Genre: Crime Fiction, Crime thriller Rating: 4.5/5 Summary (from back of book): A serial killer whose victims don't die. An innocent man who believes he is guilty. A police officer who may solve the crime but in doing so gives the killer exactly what he wants. A legal defense that challenges the very core ideals of justice. Primary Victim is a thriller that tests both the psychological breaking point of an individual and the strength of the legal system governing society. Review: I'll admit up front that I have a weakness for crime fiction--but this book was amazing. Words escape my mind as I try to explain how blown away I am by this book. I gasped and grinned and nearly cried and laughed at the surprises thrown at me through this stunning debut novel. The psychological aspect of PRIMARY VICTIM was mainly found in the "Victim," Brice. I won't say what happens to him, but it amazed me as his mind began to twist and change through the course of the story. The plot: PRIMARY VICTIM was full of twists and turns that I never expected, and it had me sitting on the edge of my seat the entire time. I couldn't put it down! The viewpoint alternates between the criminal, the police officer, and the (living) victim, and switches back and forth at the most inconvenient places, forcing you to read on. Characters: All the characters in PRIMARY VICTIM were strongly developed with real personalities. I hate books where people are just to perfect to be real (what I call "happyland syndrome")--this book had the good guys and the bad guys, the the ones you hoped it all worked out for them, and the ones that you wished would be the next to die because they were such jerks (cough Nick cough). By the end of the book I wasn't sure what Michael (the criminal) was going to pull out of his hat, and was, from the very first page to the very last, impressed with Michael's genius and creativity. At times I actually found myself almost cheering for him, but had to remind myself that he was the bad guy. It was almost hard to see him as the bad guy at times, because of his "work--" Michael considered himself a God in a world that needed one and didn't have one, victimizing the people that he thought needed to be victimized. Brice and Sarah were such a perfect yet sad couple, and for the sake of keeping the review spoiler-free, I won't say anything... but I thought I was going to cry at one point. Writing: The writing was the weakest point of this book. The prose itself seemed written in an unfamiliar style, minimizing comas in the sentences, and it made for a harder read. I caught myself occasionally re-reading sentences and paragraphs to understand what had happened. Aside from the prose, the vocabulary was broad enough and the pacing was good. As of now, PRIMARY VICTIM is unedited, but there is only an occasional grammatical error, formatting error, or typo scattered through the book. However, all in all, it didn't take away from the story. Content: There was brief mention of sex between husband and wife (example: "they made love," no other details, and the fact that they're married made it that much better), and an occasional foul word from an angry officer, but other than that this book was refreshingly clean. I applaud Christopher for writing a crime thriller with low content--especially compared to some of the other crime thrillers out there. Maybe he can start a revolution. It's true, people--you can have a good book without excessive sex and language! Recommendation: Ages 14+ to lovers of Crime fiction, thrillers, and psychological thrillers.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
3 3/4 Stars, March 8, 2010
This review is from: Primary Victim (Kindle Edition)
Plot/Storyline: 4 1/4 Stars The plot of this novel was very original, even when compared to other "Serial Killer" books. This serial killer operated completely differently and with unique motivations. The people he killed were completely incidental to his actual crime. This novel kept me thinking about the ending for a long time after I finished reading. I wondered if it really could happen that way. After awhile, I decided that it was possible, to an extent. Although this decision gave the book plausibility, it made for some frightening extended scenarios. The storyline faltered with some bad `timing.' One part of the story would be told from one viewpoint, then, after switching to another character, the story would be backed up or fast forwarded. This is not an unusual literary device; however, it did cause some confusion at times and, in other instances, just boredom with duplication and spoiling of suspense. There was also a little bit too much `thinking' going on. By that, I mean that a few times a chapter would be inserted where nothing actually happened, and the character is just pondering details, motives, and morals. If the "what-ifs" were taken out of these chapters, they would have been left with one or two necessary sentences for forwarding the storyline. Character Development: 4 1/2 Stars Brice, the final "victim", and one of the main characters, was very well developed. I could feel his pain and terror at being locked up for a crime he didn't remember committing. Michael's original motivations could have been fleshed out a little more. While the reader was treated to some scenes and information about his younger years, I just didn't read anything that would cause him to be the way he was. Sure, maybe he was just born that way, but I like my fiction to be a little more `wrapped up'; that's why I read it instead of "True Crime" books. A detective was the third main character. I felt he was drawn with excellent talent. He was not an overbearing, know-it-all cop, like his horrid partner. He was just a guy trying to raise a family and do his job. He was smart, but no genius, very believable. Writing Style: 3 3/4 Stars There was a lot of repetition, sometimes within the same sentence. For example, a character `watched a woman through an open door as she walked through the open door.' That's not a direct quote because my Kindle is too full to do clips, but it's close. There were also some awkward sentences that had to be read more than once for understanding. The descriptions were vivid. The dialogue was erratic, at times too formal and at others, very realistic. With the exception of some of the timing issues mentioned above, the author did a good job of building suspense for his ending. Editing/Formatting: 2 Stars The editing left a lot to be desired. There were missing words, missing and incorrect punctuation, wrong word choices, and instances where it appeared something had been changed, but a piece of the old version remained. One example: He seemed "to eager too leave." The formatting was equally bad with line breaks in odd places throughout the book. Rating: PG-15 for Violence
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Editor! Please, step in!, March 22, 2010
This review is from: Primary Victim (Kindle Edition)
This was an interesting story. However, as other reviewers have mentioned, there are some MAJOR slip ups in the editing. I won't mention those already mentioned, but I will tell you that another major flaw is when the prosecutor has finished presenting the state's case and she says "The DEFENSE rests." The story itself was entertaining. Implausible, perhaps, but still an original view of the justice system. However, are ANY kindle books edited? I am getting well tired of the kinds of mistakes-----prosecutor resting the defense's case, characters suddenly and mistakenly referred to as other characters-----these aren't hard things to find and correct. So why isn't any one doing that? BEFORE the book hits the market? Are all e-books like this?
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