Interesting how so much of everything, including book reviewing, has shifted to cyberspace. I suppose the upside of that is longevity. If a review is good, that is. It'll stick around forever, or as long as electrons still have a say in it. Of course, the bad reviews stick around forever too.
I've been struck on this book (literally) by how many nasty comments have been made by reader/reviewers on Amazon and elsewhere. Sometimes I've taken a moment or two to read some of the other reviews written by particularly mean-spirited readers of my book. (At least they say they've read it.) Often it turns out that this reviewer either: a)has never reviewed a book before (which is a bit strange and slightly suspicious) or b) has never given anything above 1 star to 90 percent of the books reviewed, except for books featuring Navy SEALS or Zombies or cat detectives.
But the professional reviewers, by and large, have been very kind and thoughtful with DEAD LAST, as these reviews show.
Crime Book Beat rates the books with a complicated numerical value system. Weird, but I must say I'm happy to land in the 80's.
Then there's BookReporter which has been around for a while and is a solid and reliable source of book reviews.
And finally I found Nights and Weekends, a site I've not come across before, but one which obviously has sterling good taste in books.
Though it's tempting to sit at my computer all day and Google my name to see what new reviews have come in, I've actually taken good long breaks away from my Mac. For instance, this week I went shooting at the gun range with my very reliable .357 Smith and Wesson. Last time I shot at a Bin Laden target and filled him with holes, but that target has mercifully been retired. This time I shot Zombies. The target was ten yards away, and as you can see, I never hit the lovely but endangered young lady once.
