Review: Acts Beyond Redemption

Posted 12/10/16 11:33 pm by Greg

Overall, I enjoyed reading Acts Beyond Redemption (Unintended Consequences Book 1) by Suzanne Burke, a gripping police procedural about an FBI task force charged with investigating a series of murders that aren't what they seem.

The novel held my attention throughout the majority of my time reading it. Even the parts that didn't seem as relevant still held great intrigue and tension. The major characters are thoroughly entertaining and mostly well-rounded, each with their own strengths and vices.

My chief constructive criticism concerns the motivation and purpose behind the serial killings. I'm still trying to figure out whether I glossed over a stroke of genius or identified a huge plot hole. Also, even though I understand why many things turned out as they did, most aspects of the resolution failed to satisfy after such a strong buildup.

Here are a few more minor notes. In my view, prologues are almost always superfluous. The way in which many movies and TV shows open has misled authors to start their books the same way. The information included in this book's prologue would've been better interspersed throughout the story. Also, I'm not a fan of omniscient point of view. Even the best authors published by traditional houses struggle to pull it off. This author manages to make it work well enough, but the head-hopping is still jarring and calls into question some of the scene breaks. And lastly, I get that the stress of police work can drive people to drink, but the emphasis on alcohol consumption in the book grows to become ridiculous.

All in all, I struggled with whether to give this book 3 or 4 stars for a few days before posting my review. For me, the novel really rates at 3.5, but Goodreads and Amazon don't give me that option. I ultimately chose 4 stars because of how the book held my attention and entertained me up until the end.