Goodreads Summary: What happened to the girls? Overnight, hundreds of teenage girls disappear from the streets of America.
Off the coast of Florida, a virtual reality theme park opens for the super-rich.
Are the two connected?
When two assailants accost twenty-three-year-old Kaden Baker at an awards gala, she enters a maelstrom of high-tech international intrigue that pits her against a mysterious foe.
It will take all her covert ops and hacking skills as she allies with a group of family members to battle an enemy out to unleash a mass attack on the U.S. and West by stealth.
Can they bring the girls home and thwart the unthinkable?
Goodreads Ratings: 4.14 stars with just over 100 views
Genre Listing: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction
Goodreads Challenge: 12/50 (Holy hell I'm behind.)
2019 Reading Challenge: #12, Free Space (Find the full challenge here)
Review:
Holy crap it feels like FOREVER since I've posted a review. I actually read a book but to fulfill my fantasy novel spot on the reading challenge, but I was so busy I never got around to doing a review. Now I don't even remember the name of the main character. Anyways, I finally got a chance to finish Catch and Kill. As a disclaimer, I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I kind of have to do this review in a vacuum of sorts. From what I can tell on Goodreads Catch and Kill is the second novel in the series. I don't know how much of the themes in this book are carried over from the first book. I will say that I don't think this will really affect the readability. It did raise some questions for me about Kaden's past, but J.D. Lasica does a reasonably good job about recapping to where it didn't feel necessary for me to stop and go read the first book. I was drawn into Kaden's story right away. A special ops thriller with a female lead? Sign me up! Plus, the dynamic between Kaden and Bo was unique, and not one I would expect in a thriller.
I kind of have to do this review in a vacuum of sorts. From what I can tell on Goodreads Catch and Kill is the second novel in the series. I don't know how much of the themes in this book are carried over from the first book. I will say that I don't think this will really affect the readability. It did raise some questions for me about Kaden's past, but J.D. Lasica does a reasonably good job about recapping to where it didn't feel necessary for me to stop and go read the first book. I was drawn into Kaden's story right away. A special ops thriller with a female lead? Sign me up! Plus, the dynamic between Kaden and Bo was unique, and not one I would expect in a thriller.
My favorite thing in this story was the technology. I felt it was really well done and fascinating. In the world that J.D. Lasica's created, everyone wears smart glasses. The wearers can see a lot of information about other people and their surroundings. Kaden has developed an AI that lives within her smart contact lenses. The AI comes in pretty handy throughout the story and even has an amusing persona. The AI centered vacation island was particularly fascinating. Lasica's created a unique economy for the island based on points for community helpfulness.
I think the hardest part from me is that the entire book switches from so many points of view. I feel like there were at least ten different characters that we saw the story through. I accept that I appreciate a more linear timeline than some readers. I like one to two points of view, generally. However, this seemed like a lot of character switching in only 400 pages. All of this switching made it kind of hard for me to follow along or really get thoroughly invested in the story. It seemed like as soon as I'd start to get really into the story, it'd switch characters, and I'd have to get reacquainted. I will say that eventually, everything does come together, and I don't know that the story could be told more linearly. So, if you start to read Catch and Kill and start getting frustrated like I did, keep going and give it a chance.
I could get interested in most of the characters except for the villain, Incognito. He didn't really feel like he fit in with the story. I think his story was almost too complicated. Instead of making him interesting, it just made me not want to read about him. I think if the main plot were this billionaire businessman bought out an island and made it a hub of sex-trafficking and fantasy for the rich, it would have been more plausible. But there's this whole extra plot about using it as a front of terrorism, and it just didn't fit. Now, as I said before, I'm starting this with the second book. So this could very well be an ongoing theme through the series, and I'd have no idea. I think for this to work better, it would need to be its own plot based on the terrorist plot, and maybe a different villain. With what's in Catch and Kill, it just felt like it was thrown in to make things more complicated when it didn't need to be. I probably would have been hooked without it.
I could get interested in most of the characters except for the villain, Incognito. He didn't really feel like he fit in with the story. I think his story was almost too complicated. Instead of making him interesting, it just made me not want to read about him. I think if the main plot were this billionaire businessman bought out an island and made it a hub of sex-trafficking and fantasy for the rich, it would have been more plausible. But there's this whole extra plot about using it as a front of terrorism, and it just didn't fit. Now, as I said before, I'm starting this with the second book. So this could very well be an ongoing theme through the series, and I'd have no idea. I think for this to work better, it would need to be its own plot based on the terrorist plot, and maybe a different villain. With what's in Catch and Kill, it just felt like it was thrown in to make things more complicated when it didn't need to be. I probably would have been hooked without it.
Overall, I enjoyed the book, but I didn't love it. I found it hard to stay interested in, even though it is well written, I think that a lot of research went into the tech used in the story as well as the military aspects, which I appreciate. I'm guessing that people who enjoy the Jack Reacher type of novels would like this book. My issue with the book is that the constant character changing and overdeveloped villain took me out of the story.
Hi Linz. Thanks for the review of ‘Catch,’ glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteBTW, half the book was written from the protagonist’s POV, a quarter from the villain’s, and the remaining quarter split among the villain’s henchman, hero’s father and sister, and a journalist, so six in all. My rule of thumb is to keep the # of POVs lower than “Silence of the Lambs,” which had eight POV characters. Thanks!
Hi, JD! Sorry for the delayed response. I apparently haven't been getting comment notifications.
DeleteThank you for the break down of POV that you used. That seems like a good rule of thumb. I'm not sure I could handle reading eight different POVs.