XO by Jeffery Deaver

 

XO is a slow burner. It centres around a famous country singer Kayleigh Towe. Kayleigh has a creepy stalker who manages to find her wherever she is, a distant father, is on yet another step-mother and has a squeaky clean image to protect. But her seemingly perfect life is thrown into a tailspin when people around her start dying. Her stalker Edwin is the obvious suspect, but could someone else behind the attacks on the people in her life? The killer is using each verse from Kayleigh’s song ‘Your Shadow’ to kill each victim, and Special Agent Kathryn Dance from the CBI must find the killer before the last victim and the last verse collide. Kathryn Dance is likable, stubborn and smart. I struggled with the two men in her life but I think that may be because this is the first novel I’ve read by Deaver. They felt a bit like an afterthought just thrown in to try and ground Dance’s character more, but it didn’t work for me.

I’ll admit, I did skim read some parts. It was very detailed about the music industry, recordings, illegal sharing and profits to the point where it bogged it down.The book starts slow and then all the twists seem to come at once and almost out of nowhere.Well one of them came out of nowhere and the rest were pretty predictable.

My review is a little short on this one, and although it was an okay read it wasn’t particularly brilliant. I feel a little indifferent towards the book, which by the way isn’t a short read, and wish that Deaver had done more to keep me as the reader gripped.

 

 

 

A Quick Breakdown of our Rating System

We love having feedback on our little blog, it lets us know what we’re doing right and where we can improve. Some of the comments we’ve received say that we are stern and harsh markers, mainly giving out three stars. However, we realised that people believe we’re being harsh because we didn’t fully explain our rating system. For us, three stars is the average score and most books will come into this category. Three stars DOES NOT mean that it was a bad or rubbish book – so please don’t think that.

So here’s the breakdown of how Ash and I review and score books:

*  This was a hard and/or boring read. We wouldn’t recommend it and most likely would avoid the author in the future.

** The idea is there and there are parts we like, but needs tightening up and some revising before it becomes a good read in our opinion.

*** It was a good read, kept me entertained and/or amused. If we saw the next book or another book by the same author we would probably buy it.

**** Really good read, massively enjoyed and would definitely read again. Sequels come this way!

***** This is a masterpiece. Absolutely amazing! We are now a different people after reading it. Pre-ordered the next one 12 months before release and eagerly counting down the weeks.

We hope this helps you understand our rating system a little better