Dead is Dead [NOOK Book]

Dead is Dead

I could not believe that a book with so many grammatical, spelling and editing errors would be offered for sale! It is horrendous! It was a cheap book, but I still paid good money for it. This book gives ebooks a very bad name!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

UNEDITED NIGHTMARE

The complete lack of editing overshadowed the plot line. I liked the author's concept of this book, but not the book, itself. Very poorly written.

I will not be reading any more Smashwords books, as the four I recently read (by four different authors) were all rather lame stories, and all appeared not to have been edited at all.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Not bad, but...

Please have someone proofread

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Terrible!!!!

I made less grammer mistakes in first grade. Doesn't anyone proofread anymore? Sometimes I did not even know what they meant to say. Really ruined the story. Typos etc.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Any

Has to many grammatical errors, very annoying.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Pretty good!

Despite a large number of spelling and grammatical errors, I thought the story was petty good. There are some very clever turns of phrase and some amusing descriptions. All in all, not a bad read.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Proof reading nightmare

Story line is good and worth reading BUT proof reader must have been on vacation or perhaps did not know English ! Terrible, mistakes everywhere . Definately not worth paying for - if it's free, great!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

i could hear the sound track as i was reading,lol

sometimes felt like it was a '40's type detective story. would be kind of neat if nook would play a sound track,like being in a theater,lol. a nice read.better than a lot of crap on tv. i felt a good use of my time.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Re: review by "Any"

Wen yu lern how too right english ill lissen to yer complant about gramer.

1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Very well written

Loved this book. Reminded me of the old detective stories on TV. Simple and to the point. Would love to read more by this author.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good Story, Good Setting, Needs Rewrite

First, the frequent grammatical and spelling mistakes are annoying. These could all be fixed with a rewrite. Word or WordPerfect spell checker would have fixed most of them.

Setting - The Hollywood setting after WWI is great. The story could have taken place anywhere, but with this setting, it becomes more interesting. The author makes use of Hollywood celebrities of the era including LB Mayer, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. There are anecdotal mentions of Lucille Ball and Jean Harlow. Most of the details of these celebrities are well known; working them into the story is believable and enhances the story.
Characters - All of the characters seem too worldly wise, working all the angles, including the 20 something girls at the studio. It would be better to make a few of them a little softer, perhaps na¿ve, something to play off the other characters. All of the characters in and surrounding the movie industry are corrupt pursuing self interest at the expense of others, accepting bribes, using women for sexual gratification, and generally behaving badly. Jake Thorne, the protagonist is basically a dead-beat dad, now with a resurrected moral compass. The author creates an interesting female reporter character in the beginning of the story at the murder scene, promises her something, and then she disappears from the story. Seems to me a wasted character.
Main character – Jake Thorne needs a rewrite on his back story. It’s hard to root for the protagonist who as a youth gets a young girl pregnant, then joins the navy to escape, sending a few dollars to support the child, but no contact. When he returns from service, he makes a weak attempt to locate his daughter. This is strange in light of his skill level. At the end, Jake doesn’t seem affected enough by what has happened to certain characters, particularly in light of his relationship to them. I think of John D. McDonald with his Travis McGee character and Robert Parker’s Spenser. I think of Humphrey Bogart. They remain strong at the end of their stories, but you can sense their vulnerability and understand how they are affected. With Jake, it’s like another day at the office and he is too static.
Setting details and dialogue – Much of the setting detail is well done. Some of the remote locations used in the story are now suburban sprawl in the LA area. The author sprinkles in interesting analogies, clever dialogue, similes, and metaphors. The depiction of the LA police department is likely accurate, but were they all on the take?
Conclusion – Much of my critique could be fixed by the author with another rewrite. After all professional writing is all about rewriting, editing and fixing the back stories of your characters. This is a really interesting story and could be a series character with a rewrite.
It’s difficult to be a fiction writer. Many writers today need to do their own editing, publishing and marketing. The author has done an above average job on this story. He needs to do a rewrite.

Need spelling and grammar help....

Story was ok...no better ....but the spelling and grammar was distracting.....

I have to agree with everyone else! Who proofed this book??!!

I have to agree with everyone else! Who proofed this book??!!

Very good!

This book had some slow moments, but was well worth it with the exciting surprises toward the end!!

Strange book, but still worth reading.

I loved this book. It was a bit hard to follow at first & there are a LOt of spelling errors (some are ridiculous) but other than that, well worth reading. It makes you feel like you are "in the know" of all the dirt underneath the fake glitz of Hollywood.

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