Sara's Review: Twerk by Isobel Blackthorn
APC PUBLISHER: HellBound Books Publishing LLC RELEASED: December 7, 2018 GENRE: MYSTERY, THRILLER, SUSPENSE LENGTH: 265 pages FORMAT: EBOOK
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Dark psychological thriller laced with steamy romance...
Desire, a spark, a decision made too fast, and a Las Vegas stripper is plunged into the depraved world of a psychopath. But is she the only target of his twisted desires?
“Twerk is a page-turning rollercoaster of a ride.” “Addictive and thoroughly entertaining, Twerk sizzles on every page! Think 'Fifty Shades' meets 'Gone Girl'.” A regular Sunday night in a Las Vegas stripper club is rocked when a local oddball dies mysteriously while having a private dance.
Amber falls immediately in lust with the hot paramedic who arrives, and follows him outside, anticipating sizzling romance. But, her casual encounter quickly descends into a terrifying, twisted nightmare from which she is unable to escape. Five days later, and it’s Lana’s next shift at the strip club; she’s a fly-in-fly-out dancer paying her way through law school - she’s also Amber’s best friend. Where is Amber? And what about the dead client? Was it an accident? Suicide? Or murder?
Finding neither the police, nor the club are taking much interest, Lana conducts her own inquiries, even though she finds herself the victim of a social-media hate campaign and an ex-boyfriend who is sending her death threats. She's desperate to uncover the truth about the death, but the person she most needs to speak to is Amber, who has failed to show up for her shift yet again...
Lana is thrust into a web of lies and deceptions she is determined to unravel, in which everyone is a suspect. An addictively dark, psychological thriller laced with steamy romance, mystery, action and suspense, Twerk exposes the working lives of the Las Vegas dancer way beyond the glamor – the challenges, the rewards – and the risks. 2.5 (THREE) BOUNDLESS STARS
I voluntarily received a copy of Twerk for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions in this review are my own. Twerk had an interesting concept one that really piqued my interest. But I found the pacing of the story too slow. When the story was with Amber, it moved fairly quickly, and I stayed engaged. Ambers POV is also where the “action” takes place. When the story goes back to Lana the pace slows to a complete crawl, and I felt so much of her drama with the social media and other strippers added nothing to the suspense of the story. About ½ way through I started skimming the Lana parts because they were getting so tedious and rambling. Blackthorn wrote a great psychopath that was terrifying and horrific, yet I felt the story fell flat at the end. I was disappointed in his motivations and still don’t understand the Frank thing. It was gruesome, but it wasn’t explained. It felt like jealousy for Amber but then nothing made sense. I guess crazy doesn’t always make sense, but my logical mind doesn’t do well when 1+1 doesn’t equal 2. The only other thing that drove me BONKERS is when a story is set in America with American characters, yet they are using British terms like Car Park. I believe Blackthorn warned me about this and it doesn’t have a bearing on my review, it is just a pet peeve of mine. The editor should have weeded this out. Us Americans don’t even know what fortnight means. Overall I liked the concept and I think Blackthorn is a solid writer and I think some will love this story because it is well written and detailed. I just personally like fewer details, more action at a quicker pace.
Overall I am giving this 2.5 Boundless stars, It could have been better for me, but I did enjoy some aspects.