Author: Paula R. Stiles
Publisher: Dark Continents Publishing, Inc
Length: 242 Pages
Release Date: September 2012
Misc: ARC
Kindle edition given by publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
There's a milk truck on the US/Canadian border with a detonated nuclear bomb that didn't explode and a pile of mummy dust for a driver. Vermont Homeland Security Agent Nan Carreira is having quite the morning and she hasn't even met her witness yet. Quinn Bolcan just got out of Vancouver, in a hurry and under a dark cloud. The last thing he was looking for in Vermont was trouble and that's the first thing he found. Soon, he and Carreira will be neck-deep in black helicopters, low-rent necromancers, zombie suicide bombers, and vengeful were-bikers. And that's just the beginning because Quinn is a wild card in a league all his own.
***
I was thrilled by the first paragraph of "The Mighty Quinn." Hell, by the first sentence, I pegged the novel as a page turner, one I couldn't see myself putting down. I could not have been more wrong. The reader is dropped into the middle of Quinn fleeing town after getting caught in a grow-op situation armed with a warning of "wares" as he travels and with a package that needs to be delivered across country. What began so strongly is quickly weakened by too many twists and turns, completely unnecessary subplots, and the confusing and exhausting constant first-person to third-person to first-person storytelling. Over and over and over again without a stitch to thread it all together.
Stiles fails the reader by getting too excited to bring in every aspect of the occult and every potential horror trope she can imagine. We have werewolves, ghouls, humans casting spells, demons, vampires…does the list end? Every trope has it's own subplot and the worst part? They don't resolve. It seems like this book could have been split into three different novels, all which I probably would have loved. Stiles is an incredible writer--her descriptive imagery puts pictures and scenes into the reader's mind that Hollywood would have sincere problems recreating visually and I often lost myself, thinking I might be feeling that breeze, or smelling that scent she so adequately describes.
Overall, would I recommend this novel? Yes, but with caution. The writing is both incredibly strong and incredibly weak. If you love the kind of authors who can get your mind turning with imagery, Stiles is the author for you. If you are easily annoyed by back and forth storytelling, pass.
***
Witchy Rating: 2 Black Cats
Opinion has been brought to you by Galinda at Witchy Reviews
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