This was mindless fiction I picked up on my Kindle and read while I was procrastinating. It was an interesting enough story. Categorized as a thriller, it tells the story of Justin a lawschool graduate turned teetotaler bar tender at a trendy bar in Philly. Justin's mother was murdered six years earlier and he discovered her mutilated body. Justin's testimony helped put his father in jail for her death. However when a man walks into Justin's bar six years later and confesses to killing his mother it sets Justin on a path to learn the truth...

The protagonist in this story is a meditating vegan who drinks lots of tea. He also quotes Zen tales and the Tibetan book of the dead. For Justin this is more about self preservation than spiritual seeking. It is a plot device, which I'm okay with, but it made for some contrived dialogue.

But I generally liked the characters, even if there were elements of the story that didn't sit right with me. Okay if you are looking for a fun read. ( )

If you can plow through the first half of the book, you will be slightly rewarded with growing characters and an enjoyable unraveling mystery. But the strange narration and the fact that the frustrating characters only grow so much leaves this a 3 star book for my taste.

Narrative: It's just too disheveled. On the one hand you have a 3rd person narrative that appears omniscient but it borders on condescending and subjective in style. The writing would shift from past-tense to present-tense from time to time for no real discernible reason. There were at least 2 times that I can remember the narrator addressing the reader in an indirect manner. I don't necessarily mind that except for the fact that the narrator seems to have more personality than the characters. When all of this is put together, the reading is clunky. I got the feeling that I'm supposed to be approaching the story from a more lofty perspective in order to be on the same level as the storyteller rather than worrying about relating to the characters.

Characters: All of them are so flawed you start to wonder if anyone in this world has their head on straight. Justin's zen nonsense really feels forced and I kept asking myself throughout the first half of the book if anyone is supposed to be taking this seriously. The bar regulars and a few others are mostly uninteresting. Annie's attitude and lifestyle (her attitude is a result of her lifestyle, of course) is a bit much. And I never could tell what Mia's problem was. The romantic element could have been left out entirely. The list could go on, but fortunately a few of the characters redeem themselves in how they evolve as the story continues. Of all the strange characters to choose from, Birdie Grackle is the one I enjoyed reading about the most even though he's the one you hate the most.

Story: The plot is very good. If it wasn't for the plot keeping my interest I doubt I'd of kept reading. Unfortunately you have to get through the strange narrative and frustrating characters to enjoy it but if you can endure that for awhile, both the tone and character development makes a dramatic shift in that this could have been a 4 star read for me had it been that way from the start.

Mr. Lashner is creative. There were elements of yin/yang thrown throughout the story in some ways. The bartender who doesn't drink. Birdie can't sleep without the TV but his muscle, Derek, can't sleep with it. Mia, in her pomp, can't stop running her mouth but Scott is quiet and would rather do his job without worrying about self-glorification. Many of the other supporting characters are walking contradictions. I don't know if all of this was intentional or not but I got the feeling that Mr. Lashner was having fun with it.

Overall this was a fun mystery but I was ready to know the ending well before it came. ( )

An entertaining read, for sure. I was drawn in from the startling revelation at the end of the first chapter, and held, for the most part, through the majority of the book. While some of the other reviews cite the characters as being flat and stereotypical, I found it to read more like a noir book from Hammett or Cain. I am not comparing the quality to these authors, merely the style.

The one problem I had with the book, and keeping me from a hearty recommendation, was the plot. It became so convoluted and ultimately unbelievable that, if the end was not already in sight, I may have put this one down. I agree with another reviewer that "the plot became overly complicated in an effort to give us surprise twists". As a matter of fact, I am still not sure exactly what happened or who the true murderer was. Unfortunately, I wasn't invested enough to reread to find out.

Since there are so many other great mystery/thrillers available, this one is not recommended. ( )

At the heart of this book, there's an interesting story, and it moves quickly enough, but it really needed a bit more work writing-wise. Even aside from the fact that it's incredibly over-written, both the characters and the writing are heavy on clichés, stereotypes, and bits that are simply unbelievable--the only word to use is cheesy, which isn't something I'd ever search out in a novel. At a certain point, I was plodding through the novel because of my dismay at the writing (his heart sings? really?) and my growing frustration with how flat the characters remained. The story itself had plenty of twists-and-turns, enough to keep me guessing until the end did, finally, become entirely predictable, but the book really suffered from a lack of character development and a lack of attention to editing.

All in all, this is more mystery than thriller, and probably not something I'd recommend unless you like a lot of cheesiness mixed into your entertainment. ( )

Easy read, no real in depth character development. Entertaining yes, but this book does not make me want to read another book by the same author. ( )