Official Review: Fish Farm by Walt Sautter

[geeky_me]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Fish Farm" by Walt sautter.]

I just finished reading Walt Sautter's ebook Fish Farm. I have never read anything from this author before and most likely will not read anything else of his. I would rate this story 2 out of 4 stars mostly because of how I felt about the book and what it offered me (if people are interested they should still give it a shot).

The story is about an old man named Jack who was let go from his job at Tyron corporation due to the business collapsing. When we first begin reading we learn that more than likely Tyron failed because of the CEO, James Wheeler, embezzling the company' s funds. Unfortunately, for Jack the loss of his job also happens around the time of the loss of his wife...so, this man is really feeling like he's lost it all. To make matters worse the town he's living in is being over-run with a group of gang-members called the Firemen. Jack and a few of his buddies are trying to deal with the mess the gang is leaving them but it's starting to get way too dangerous for Jack. Jack has had enough. Jack decides it's time to take matters into his own hands.

This piece was a revenge piece which is what originally drew me in to read it in the first place. The description tempted me with the idea that old military guys were gonna get revenge and receive justice for their losses. Which for the most part that is exactly what I got. There was revenge and in some ways: justified revenge. Oh, and the ending really sprung me for a loop, which I really enjoyed (glad I stuck around for the whole story).

However, the story seemed flawed in a few ways that really distracted me from the story. For starters, words were missing in a lot of places and spelling was off or rather, words that were possibly replaced with other words. This is where proofreading and spell-check are so important. It is just really distracting for the reader to decipher and essentially fill in the blanks! Also, in the beginning it was very difficult to decipher between the past and the present and what was happening in the present moment or if it was just a character's flashback. At times, I couldn't tell who was speaking or if they were just thinking (this is where proofreading would also come in handy to catch those lost quotation marks). So, these structure issues really distracted me to the point that I didn't want to read it anymore. Also, personally I feel like the piece provided a lot of back story about a few of the side characters but not enough about the main character, Jack. Maybe after fixing the grammatical and spelling flaws it would flow better and also, maybe the author could flesh out the protagonist more. So, those were the issues that mostly bothered me.

Luckily, the story really picked up and by the end I was jaw-dropping...great ending! I really appreciate a well thought out piece and what I gathered from the ending is that the author definitely thought this story through. Also, I enjoyed a few of the characters, they all had their parts to play and each one had their own personality. In some cases, authors end up making the fatal error of creating characters that all seem the same. However, this was not the case for this story.

So, all in all I read the book and enjoyed the unexpected twist but this book might just not be my thing. I don't necessarily believe that others shouldn't read/review this piece because everyone has their own opinions and own interests. I just couldn't get past some technical errors and needed a bit more fleshing out with the protagonist. Thank you so much for the read!

***
Buy "Fish Farm" on Amazon

[walt sautter]

Thank you for reviewing my book - "Fish Farm".
Although you gave it a less that satisfactory rating I do sincerely appreciate your time and effort in helping me.
I was gratified by many of the points you made.
Firstly, the major issue seemed to be technical and that kind of problem can be corrected with editing. I haven't have the book edited for two reasons.
I don't have the money and I wasn't sure if it would be worth the investment if I did have the funds.
I was also pleased that you found the story itself to be entertaining and held a very surprising ending.
Also, your assessment indicated that many of the side characters were well developed and and the plot well thought out.
Your whole review leads me to believe that I may have some creative skill but unfortunately not too much technical writing skill.
I will work on it.
Once again, thanks a million for your efforts in my behalf.
Walt S.

[milyjohnson37]

What an interesting review. The story does sound pretty good. I wouldn't get that this would be about that based on the title. I love books with twists in them because I love guessing when the twists are going to occur. Thanks for giving great reasons for what you like and didn't like about the review.

[kat6496]

Informative review, geeky_me. Though it appears that some "housekeeping issues" made this book difficult to hold concentration, it seems interesting, and something I would give a shot. Seems a little "Gran Torino-ish", and I think I would like it. I'm all for the little guy sticking it to those who have it coming!
I appreciate your well-written review.