DNF: A View to Die For by Richard Houston (Belinda’s review)

A View to Die For
written by Richard Houston
published by Richard Houston

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Book Depository, Goodreads

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange  for an honest review.

Where I stopped reading: About 15% of the way through the book.

Why I stopped reading: I couldn’t finish it.

It’s really too bad, because I think Mr. Houston has some really good ideas in this story; his writing style is clean and light-hearted.

So why’d I stop? Too many unbelievable events.

• The protagonist tells the cops he was talking on the phone while driving just before the accident happened — Not smart.
• You don’t get put in the Intensive Care Unit with a catheter to collect urine if your only injury is a “mild concussion.” I also don’t think there’s such a thing as a “lingering concussion.”

I could go on for pages with example after example. And that’s in the first 15% of the book. Sorry, I couldn’t continue reading. The scenes in the book are contrived and unbelievable.

I hope Mr. Houston doesn’t give up. I want him to find a really ruthless editor and see if he can clean up a few things, then show us this book again. It has potential.

What others have rated this book: According to Goodreads, the average rating for A View to Die For is 3.75 stars. It looks like a majority of readers gave this book 5 stars. There were 121 5-star reviews on Amazon. At Barnes & Noble, the majority of the reviews were 5 stars. Just because I didn’t finish this book doesn’t mean you won’t.

About the book – from Goodreads: The story is not your typical murder mystery. The sleuth is not a detective, private eye, or lawyer. He’s an ordinary guy with an extraordinary dog.

Jacob Martin is trying to make the best of a divorce and mid-life crisis when he gets a call at two o’clock Sunday morning from his mother. His sister has been arrested for the murder of her fourth husband, and his father is near death. Thus begins an adventure that takes Jake and his golden retriever from their Colorado retreat to a backwater town in the Missouri Ozarks where they search for cold-blooded killers, a cache of gold coins buried by Jesse James, and the love of a beautiful nurse.