Step on a Crack

Two stars and that's only because I'm feeling generous. What a stinker. The plot had potential, but unfortunately, the writing did not help at all. Holy crap, it was bad.

Just some nitpicks:

1. There's one character in the book who is always referred to as either Commander Will Matthews or Will Matthews, but never just Will or Matthews. I have no idea why. None of the other characters are given similar treatment. It actually gets ridiculous because there are several points in the book where his full name is given in the same paragraph. In one instant, it was in adjoining sentences.

2. After taking over the cathedral, the hostage-takers claim that they've planted explosives that they'll detonate if the police try and storm the cathedral.They didn't, but the cops didn't know because they didn't bother asking any of the thousands of hostages the bad guys released early on if they had seen them wiring up explosives.

3. Overall, the cops all act like absolute morons and it's obvious no research was actually done into how they would handle the situation.

4. Michael Bennett just exists for most of the book and does little during the main plot until the very last part. Otherwise, he just cycles between the crime scene, going home to his kids, and visiting his dying wife in hospice. His contributions to the hostage situation is largely relegated to talking to the leader of the hostage-takers on the phone in brief calls.

5. When the go to arrested the hostage-takers at the end, they do so while they're at work (in a prison) instead of showing up at their homes and arresting them quickly and quietly.
6. The reveal of the mastermind was disappointing because it felt like it was just pulled out of someone's butt.

Having said all that, I do plan on reading the other books in the series because I want to see if there's any improvement in the writing or not.