Contents:
All throughout the real book not Charlotte's novel we get random chapters which you presume are Ella reading portions of the book and Ella is using this to figure out who killed her sister, the police are taking this seriously and following leads as Ella reads more of the novel. I'm so disappointed with what actually happened in the end. The book begins from the perspective you would expect from the description, the main character Ella Broden. There were a few instances where Charlotte was with someone, but it was never described in detail to where I could easily picture it in my head and say that this was graphic. The amateur group is staging the gripping Dead Certain at the Henry Street venue, and the play marks a main stage debut for fledgling director Simon Milligan. Start your free trial.
But we have to be dead certain he can come into our top six and get runs, because we'll be asking for runs first and bowling second. Pakistan ponder line-up for England finale. The amateur group is staging the gripping Dead Certain at the Henry Street venue, and the play marks a main stage debut for fledgling director Simon Milligan. Certain to keep fans of thrillers on edge of seats. Death remains a difficult subject for many, even though it's percent dead certain that we're all heading for the same final event. Learning to live with death.
STUNNED staff at an Aston scrap merchants are dead certain there's something bury unusual going on after taking delivery of a steel coffin - followed 24 hours later by a hearse. Steel coffin leaves workers at scrap yard dead puzzled. No one sounds sure of anything, save for the confident Catholic nun whom the artist interviews, who is dead certain we will meet with God in the afterlife. But to the leftists--and some prosecutors--knowing your rights for dead certain almost sounds like premeditation.
The book begins from the perspective you would expect from the description, the main character Ella Broden. There are definitely moments when you can tell it's a man trying to write from a woman's perspective and it feels awkward to me but this really did not bother me too much. I was mildly enjoying it for maybe an hour or so. The story then alternates chapters between this perspective and her sister's unfinished novel. I wish I had warning that several chapters are basically a Fifty Shades-ish "romance" novel. That is not what I'm into at all, and the sex scenes really add nothing to the story.
As much as I dislike romance novels, the chapters were short at least so I pressed on. No way to describe further without major spoilers. I absolutely hated the rest of the story. There are a couple of twists that I saw coming from a mile away, really annoyingly obvious actually. Once the initial "mystery" part is solved there is still over a quarter of the book left that I really didn't even want to finish reading.
That is very unlike me, I finish things I start. Well, books at least.
I stopped a few times but ultimately decided I've already gotten this far I'm so disappointed with what actually happened in the end. Very unsatisfying and seems like the author just kind of gave up. If I could unread this one I would. My only consolation is I just looked at the Kindle First picks again and I still have zero interest in any of the others so at least I didn't miss out on anything.
I picked up Dead Certain by Adam Mizner, partially because some of the pearl-clutching negative reviews on Amazon about how pornographic it is, how the writing was terrible, and how it was contrived and confusing. This is not a typical murder mystery, more of a whydunnit than whodunnit, which comes with pros and cons. I think this novel lends itself more to a character study than a mystery or thriller. Her true passion, however, is singing.
Her little sister, Charlotte, is studying for her MFA in writing and has received news that her novel-in-progress is going to be published. Right after Charlotte shares this exciting news with her older sister, she mysteriously goes missing. As we come to find out, Charlotte draws largely from her life to fuel her fiction, and since she goes missing early on, the excerpts of her novel serve as her point of view.
Since these points of view are first-person, the shifting can prove to be a little off-putting and as the switching becomes more frequent, it can pull the reader out of the story for a moment to become oriented as to which character we are now following. Since the book favors characters over the mystery, I felt that they were well fleshed out and interesting. We get a lot of insight into Ella, who is a seemingly strong woman but carries a lot of self-doubt and regret for the choices she has made in her life.
Like the protagonist in her novel, we find out that Charlotte has been having an affair with three different men, and while that serves for some interesting conflict, we never really learn why Charlotte made the choices she did, or why she carried on with all three men. I feel like the use of her novel could have served to flesh out her own psychology a little bit more. Once the killer is revealed and we get his point of view, I found that there was a lack of any facet of him that was particularly sinister or interesting.
Like others, I also had suspected who the killer was relatively quickly, although I was pleasantly surprised to find I was correct. I have never been a fan of mystery books who throw in showdown with a random killer into the last few pages; I would much rather have the opportunity to guess who the killer is based on the characters and suspects that have been introduced.
As I mentioned, I feel like this story was much more about the lives of all the characters wrapped up in this horrible event and what led them to make the choices they did, and less about the mystery itself. Ella also jumped to several conclusions throughout the story, such as assuming her sister was dead after she had been missing for about a day it just seemed like a sudden jump for her to make, even if the reader knew it was the case.
For example, Charlotte is a writer and her boyfriend is an actor, while in the book, she is an actress and her boyfriend is a painter. However, Ella immediately assumes since the fictional lovers are a college student and a banker, their real-life counterparts would be as well. At one point, Ella confronts one of the suspects and pulls a knife on him before running away.
That said, one thing that was strong in this book was the fact that the author clearly knows the legal and law enforcement system.
Mr Mizner is a lawyer, and it was kind of refreshing to have a more accurate outlook on the investigations taking place in the story. Ella is also involved in a bit of a love triangle which I felt was a little more out of place. One of her potential beaus could have also served to have been present more to better explain their relationship, both past and present, and its progression.
All and all, I really enjoyed this book. I read it in two sittings and found myself invested in Ella, her father, and in finding out what happened to Charlotte.
I personally wish the author would have spent less time fleshing out the lackluster killer and put more into fleshing out Ella and other characters, and giving us a better array of interesting protagonists. From a mystery or thriller standpoint, this book was okay. The book is not just about the relationship between sisters but also about the secrets we keep from each other, no matter how close we are to another person, and the writer ties in that theme very well throughout the book.
I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick read who wants a story with a lot of character and a little mystery. I got this book free through my Prime membership, and like several other reviewers, really wish I could have the few hours of my life back that I spent reading it. Get your book professionally reviewed and have it published on this site!
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Dead Certain. Ella Broden is living a double life. By day, Ella works as a buttoned -up attorney on some of the city's most grueling cases. By night, she pursues. Editorial Reviews. Review. “[Dead Certain's] leading coincidence, which is quite a whopper, is offset by an equally dazzling surprise It packs enough of a.
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