Saturday 4 October 2014

Book Review: Eeny Meeny

After taking so long to read a Clash of Kings a few months ago, I decided I wanted to have a break from big books and read a few easier, smaller books. I read Sleeping Arrangements and decided to follow it up with a bit of a more mature, weighty book so I picked up Eeny Meeny by M.J. Arlidge. The blurb talks about how pairs of victims are abducted, imprisoned and then forced to sacrifice either their life or their conscience. Since I love horror films and mysteries, I knew this book would be a great read for me and as it happens, it only took me three days to finish reading so I thought I would share my opinions on the book.

Eeny Meeny
Entertainment: 9/10
Predictability: 4/10
Density/weight of story: 7/10
Quality of writing: 7/10
Inspires reader: 3/10
Characters: 7/10
Overall rating: 7/10
  1. The plot wasn’t something I would have ever thought of - I actually really liked the plot, which is centred around people having to make the kill or be killed choice, thus ultimately choosing between their life and their conscience. It was also great to follow the surviving victims to see how their decision had impacted their lives.
  2. The chapters were quite short overall - I prefer having smaller chapters, especially after reading books such as A Clash of Kings that has tens of pages per chapter, however the chapters in Eeny Meeny seemed a little too short - sometimes they would only be one or two paragraphs long. It was good to have short chapters to break up the bulk of the story, however the very short chapters seemed too short and too often.
  3. The POV changed between the chapters - again, this is a positive and a negative. I liked that it changed as it showed what was going on with those who had been abducted as well as what was happening with the detectives who were working on the case, though it did seem quite inconsistent at times and there were some chapters that I felt were unnecessary.
  4. The book was a little too long - I was hooked on this book because of how great I found the premise and how much I wanted to find out who the abductor was. However, after two solid days of reading, the book just felt unnecessarily long and I wanted it to end. I went from wanting to read the book to find out who the abductor was to wanting to find out who the abductor was so I could finish the book.
  5. It was quite easy to read - despite the fairly heavy plot, the book was quite an easy and compelling read, as I have mentioned.
  6. The characters were nice - this is an important point for me as there is nothing worse than reading a book with unsympathetic characters. I found that, on the whole, the characters were nice and it was easy to feel for them.
  7. The ending was incredibly disappointing - this is the primary reason why the book didn’t score higher than 7/10 for me. I found that there was a certain pace throughout the book that was abandoned as soon as the climax of the book was reached and the story was wrapped up in only a couple of pages. Whereas the rest of the book had been a little too long, the ending went way too fast.
  8. I won’t rush to buy the next book - however I will read it. When I finished this book, the second one hadn’t been published yet. Pop Goes the Weasel was published on 11th September but I haven’t bought it yet. I will buy it and read it at some point as Eeny Meeny was a good book but given how disappointing the ending was, I won’t rush to fit this book in.
I hope the review has been helpful to you all and I would say that if you are looking for an easy thriller to read, this is a good book, just be prepared for a rushed ending.
What are you reading at the moment?
Don't forget to check back in a fortnight for my next book review!
- Taisie ♥

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