The Bloodbath Ritual by Andrew Downs

Title: The Bloodbath Ritual
Author: Andrew Downs

I was asked by the author to read/review this title and was provided a free Kindle copy.

This book is too painfully awful to read and I didn’t finish it. When I say it’s over-punctuated, I mean it’s REALLY over-punctuated. The misplaced commas make it difficult to follow the story. It’s as if the author isn’t quite sure how to use commas, so he just inserts them randomly. The dialogue is stilted and comes off like a couple of bad actors – for whom English is a second language – sitting and reading a badly written script. The dialogue of Alex Hollick’s phone call to a suicide hotline was so painful, I was almost hoping he’d kill himself and end the torture. Unfortunately, since that was only 3% into the book, I knew it wasn’t likely to happen unless the bloodbath ritual was one that raised Hollick from the dead.

The book starts with long and detailed descriptions of each character involved in the first scene. It was a complete character rundown: here’s what this guy looks like and where he comes from.  There was no effort to weave the character description and background into the story. That’s when I first started checking to see if I’d read enough to say I’d given it a good effort.

I didn’t make it through even 10% of this mess. I realize this is the author’s first book; he needs a really REALLY good editor and a brutally honest beta reader group. This book should never have been published in its present state. Don’t waste your money.