Review of Senseless

[Laura Suppes]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Senseless" by Barbara Gural.]

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3 out of 5 stars

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After finishing Senseless by Barbara Gural, I give it 3 stars out of 5. The plot of the story is suspenseful and thrilling, and has the potential to be a real page-turner. The effective story- and character-building in the early chapters set a strong foundation for the rest of the story arc. I especially enjoyed how the author incorporated flashbacks into the narrative, allowing the reader to gain insight into the minds of different characters and providing background to the unfolding events.
With that said, the writing and editing of the book leave a lot to be desired, especially in the later chapters. There are several inconsistencies in details, such as times and names. For example, did David receive his pendant at thirteen for his Bar Mitzvah, as stated toward the beginning, or did he receive it when he left for college, as is stated toward the end? Did Dylan arrive at the school at 9:50 AM for a 10:00 AM meeting or at 12:50 PM for a 1:00 PM meeting? These and similar discrepancies throw off the plotline enough that the reader essentially has to pick which details are the correct ones in order to move on to the following events. I also noticed several typos in spelling and grammar, like "an plane" in Chapter 31 and "he told him me" in Chapter 51, making me wonder if this book was professionally edited at all.
Overall, I did truly enjoy this book because I love a good crime mystery, but the inconsistencies made certain plot points hard to follow, and it seemed as though the author had trouble figuring out how to end the story. When Dylan has her big realization toward the end, there is no explanation to the reader as to how she figured it out, even though it is written in a way that suggests it should be obvious. There are also several unexpected big jumps in time, especially as the story begins to come to a close. I think the help of a strong editor would make this book much better because the attention-grabbing plot line is there, but it is clouded by the large number of grammatical errors and missed details.

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Senseless
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