Bait

*Spoiler Alert*

So disappointed. I wish I didn't have to be the bearer of such sad news, but honestly, this was a clusterfuck of good plot done badly.

Imagine then my surprise at finding that I'm part of only 1 percent of reviewers who hated disliked this story.

I should say, "it's me, not the book".

Except I can't in good conscience say that.

Much like post-2010 Kanye West songs *I Am a God? Really, Kanye?* this book was pretentious not to mention melodramatic. Additionally, it felt condescending.

*Spoiler Alert*

So disappointed. I wish I didn't have to be the bearer of such sad news, but honestly, this was a clusterfuck of good plot done badly.

Imagine then my surprise at finding that I'm part of only 1 percent of reviewers who hated disliked this story.

I should say, "it's me, not the book".

Except I can't in good conscience say that.

Much like post-2010 Kanye West songs *I Am a God? Really, Kanye?* this book was pretentious not to mention melodramatic. Additionally, it felt condescending. . .

I digress.

One of the notable aspects of the book was the poetic "purple" prose, written almost in stanza format, making allusions at something which one would imagine was a thrilling suspenseful plot.

In fact, chapter one is a rather long poetic introspection from Abigail, our female protagonist, during which she rambles about nightmares, darkness, and men who do bad things. A metaphor of sorts, I'm sure.

Below is a verbatim excerpt:

(view spoiler)["I can’t tell you the exact moment the night terrors started. There was no traumatic childhood experience that set them off.

No defining moment that marked the beginning of the screams at night. No significant event that led a happy five-year-old girl to wake up sweating and wailing in the darkness

It doesn’t matter where they came from. Not really.

They arrived without invitation and took up residence. Permanently. That’s what really matters.

Every night without fail the monster would chase me through the undergrowth.

Every night I’d feel his hot breath on my neck as I ran for my life.

Every night the beast got a little bit closer. A little bit bigger. A little bit more terrifying.

I may not be able to tell you when and why the monster started hunting me in the first place, but I can tell you when I stopped screaming.

I can tell you when the nightmares stopped being terrors and the monster became a man.

I can even tell you when I started wanting them. Wanting the chase. Wanting him.

And I can tell you when, finally, one day the nightmares came to life. (hide spoiler)]

"My name is Abigail Rachel Summers, and tonight I am bait.”

A blatant hook, if there ever was one. Except it was completely unnecessary. The reader is given nothing more than just words. Imaginative and poetic words, yes. But irrelevant and unrelated to the story itself.

Much like most of the narrative.

Ten sentences utilized where one would have sufficed.

The following excerpt for example (which, btw, encapsulates the entire story) could have been condensed into one line.

Can you identify which line illustrates whatever the f@ck Abigail meant to say? Well?

Hint: it's the very last paragraph!

“I’m seeking my monster in the darkness.

I’ll run but you’ll run faster.

We’ll play cat and mouse until you catch me.

I won’t know you, and I’ll pretend I don’t want to.

You’ll pretend you don’t care.

I’ll tell you I don’t want it.

You’ll tell me you’ll take it anyway, and then you will.

And it’ll be rough.

One wild night where anything goes, and then we’ll never see each other again.”

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If you're still reading this review then you might as well go read the book bc, frankly, it's Friday night and cocktails await. Besides, I'm fresh outta words that make sense. *shrugs*