Book Review

Basic Details:

Book Title: Smitty's Calling Card

Subtitle: Dark Retribution Book 1

Author: B. R. Stateham

Genre: Thriller, Crime

Part of a series? Yes

Order in series: 1

Best read after earlier books in series? No

Available: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43258875-smitty-s-calling-card

Overall score:

I scored this book 4/5

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Short Summary of the book:

There is a serial killer on the loose killing high-class prostitutes. Artie Jones is a police officer on the task force to find the killer and senses his sister-in-law is on the killer’s hit list. When he realises they may not bring the killer to justice before she falls a victim, he enlists the help of ‘Smitty’, an assassin. Will they be able to save her or will she become the next victim on the killer’s list?

What I liked about the book:

The book was interesting and a compelling read. The characters were put together well and worked.

What I didn’t like about the book:

The version of the book I read may well have been an early version now improved on. However, the version read contained many spelling and grammatical errors, words missing or words duplicated and was in desperate need of a further edit.

My favourite bits in the book:

This is difficult to decide as the book was enjoyable to a detective fan like me in its entirety.

My least favourite bits in the book:

The bits which annoyed me to no end at times was the poor grammar, spelling and sentences with extra or missing words.

Any further books in the series? Any more planned by this author?

The title suggests this is the first book in the series and I wonder if we will see more of Smitty in books to come. Hopefully, the author will be able to have the benefit of an editor in books to come. Even if this is only in the form of free editing tools available to authors and others.

What books could this be compared to and why?

This book is reminiscent of some of the action films around featuring the assassin as the goodie.

Recommendation:

In summary, I would recommend this book for the following readers:

Children No

Young Adult Maybe

Adult Yes

If you like crime and thrillers this book may be the book for you.

I look forward to reading more books by this author.

Book Description by Author:

He’s desperate. He knows his sister-in-law is the next victim. And even though he’s a cop assigned to the team built to hunt the killer down and arrest him, they’ve had no luck finding him.

How does he save his sister-in-law?

Sometimes to fight evil, you must flirt with the devil. Sometimes you need a killer to find a killer.

From the talented B R Stateham, this is Volume One of Dark Retribution.

About the Author: