My Favorite Books

The Walking Drum
Ender's Game
Dune
Jhereg
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Curse of Chalion
The Name of the Wind
Chronicles of the Black Company
The Faded Sun Trilogy
The Tar-Aiym Krang

Thursday, November 28, 2024

Review: Viva McHugh!

Viva McHugh! Viva McHugh! by Jay M. Flynn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Book: **
Performance: **

A Short, Silly, and Sometimes Fun Spy Story

Super Spook McHugh is on a mission … on an unnamed island with an hispanic despot looking to extract a missing asset. I would go as far as naming Cuba is the inspiration … giving the authoritarian bend (with inquisitors to test/enforce compliance and “loyalty” … sort of like communist political kommissars). The story itself is pretty basic and predictable, even a bit unrealistic at times as the MC and his buddy careen through the countryside with the occasional help of local rebels and a lot of bluster and gun play. If you are looking for any finesse … you won’t find it here. The narration was choppy and often unnatural, which made it hard to get into what is arguably a simple and very basic thriller that was not all that interesting for much of the story (it is hard to enjoy a thriller that doesn’t generate much suspense).

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#VivaMcHugh #McHugh #FreeAudiobkFacebkGrp

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My Ratings Explained ...

  • [ ***** ] Amazing Read - Perfect story, exciting, engrossing, well developed complex characters, solid plot with few to no holes, descriptive environments and place settings, great mystery elements, realistic dialogue, believable reactions and behaviors; a favorite that I can re-read many times.
  • [ **** ] Great Read - Highly entertaining and enjoyable, exciting storyline, well developed characters and settings, a few discrepancies but nothing that can’t be overlooked. Some aspect of the story was new/refreshing to me and/or intriguing. Recommended for everyone.
  • [ *** ] Good Read - Solid story with a 'good' ending, or has some other redeeming feature. Limited character development and/or over reliance on tropes. Noticeable discrepancies in world building and/or dialog/behavior that were distracting. I connected enough with the characters/world to read the entire series. Most of the books I read for fun are here. Recommended for fans of the genre.
  • [ ** ] Okay Read - Suitable for a brief, afternoon escape … flat or shallow characters with little to no development. Over the top character dialog and/or behavior. Poor world building with significant issues and/or mistakes indicating poor research. Excessive use of trivial detail, info dumps and/or pontification. Any issues with the story/characters are offset by some other aspect that I enjoyed. Not very memorable. May only appeal to a niche group of readers. Recommended for some (YMMV).
  • [ * ] Bad Read - Awkward and/or confusing writing style. Poor world building and/or unbelievable (or unlikeable) characters. Victimization, gaslighting, blatant abuse, unnecessary violence, child endangerment, or any other highly objectionable behaviors by Main characters. I didn't connect with the story at all; significant aspects of this story irritated me enough that I struggled to finished it. Series was abandoned. Not recommended.