A fast paced thriller, I loved the setting for the story. I also loved the inner conflict the protagonist had to work through in a bid to find justice for his friend.

The book struggled to keep my attention. I only kept reading to see if all the questions I had would be answered. The use of UK based language and spelling for an American novel revolving around a Native American and Hispanic character was confusing. ( )

Interesting murder mystery invovling stolen Native American artifacts. The main character was a bit to stoic and I kept thinking, "Dude, loosen up a little bit". But the explantation for his uptightness was explained toward the end. It was quite a long story, and I think I just lost interest toward the end. It wasn't a "can't stop reading' book, and I put it down frequently after only reading a few pages. To be honest, I had just finished reading a Michael Connelly 'Bosch' story, and I kept thinking about that as I was reading this story. ( )

I received an ebook copy of White Ghost Ridge from Poolbeg Press for an honest review.
I enjoyed reading this book, a crime mystery but essentially a conspiracy involving the police, academics and diplomats, between native people with their indigenous artefacts. The principal characters, Detective Sergeant Locklear and Trooper Jo Mendoza are attempting to solve the crime with one foot outside the law. There are some inconsistencies in language, nevertheless, the story held my attention throughout and I give this book 3 stars. ( )

I received an ebook copy of White Ghost Ridge from Poolbeg Press for review.

I’m generally a fan of police procedurals and crime mysteries, with Harry Bosch and Walter Longmire among my list of favorites. However, I had a very difficult time finishing this book. There are quite a few word choices which do not go with the setting or characters (the use of Celsius instead of Fahrenheit, “cottoned on”, etc.) which break what immersion the story manages to produce.

The main character, Detective Locklear, has the potential to be interesting but falls short. Locklear, who is the strong, silent type with a mysterious past, comes across as flat; dialog where he’s expressing anger or frustration feels forced instead of genuine. A lot of the dialog feels like this; during an interview with a background character, a question about their accent leads to a paragraph of needless knowledge about their profession and wife. This would feel natural if, perhaps, the character was talking incessantly from nerves due to being interrogated by an officer, but instead it comes across as pointless filler.

Many plot points feel too far fetched to be believable for a novel of this scope, the dialog feels very disingenuous at times, and the writing itself suffers from a lack of editing for the language differences between the author and the setting she is writing. ( )