Krysten’s Review

The Horoscope Writer has an intriguing premise that captured my interest right away. The plot was fast paced and heavy on the action, and I enjoyed the way the author played with the question of fate vs. free will and the divine vs. science.

I did, however, find myself in disbelief on more than a few occasions, as some of the events of the story were rather farfetched—particularly the actions of the two cops, Leslie and Therese (the latter of whom didn’t have a first name until about 40% through the book). Their decisions were reckless and would’ve certainly gotten them fired, maybe even killed.

The author obviously did a lot of research into astrology, which made the story feel authentic. It was perhaps a bit heavy on the exposition; I’m not sure how much detail into the history of astrology was necessary for the plot. I liked the little clues sprinkled throughout (e.g., the smell of urine in the tiger’s den) and the way Bobby’s backstory of being an Olympic athlete proved to be important to the plot. However, I did find it a bit of a stretch that Bobby was so easily able to solve the mystery after less than a week on the job, with no discernible training, and very early on in the story. The identification of the killer seemed a little too easy, both from the character’s perspective and in terms of the plot. He never even considered any other suspects.

As far as the writing style, there were a number of phrases I highlighted for being funny, poignant, or particularly evocative. There were also some great one-liners in the dialogue as well. That said, I thought as a whole, the book was too heavy on telling with very little showing. Rather than describing how the characters feel or what they are doing, the reader is told—so as a result, I found it difficult to connect with any of them on an emotional level. There was some questionable verb/adjective use, which made it feel like the author was *trying* to show rather than tell, but it didn’t quite hit the mark. Other reviews have mentioned that the descriptions of the San Diego area were interesting, but I found them to be too long and skipped over the majority of those sections, as it didn’t seem to have much bearing on the plot.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book with a fascinating plot that held my attention. I would read another of this author’s thrillers in the future.