The book is reflecting what is happening in Hong Kong.

The Old Ones, the evil China government is poisoning the Hong Kong air and slowly killing off seven million Hong Kong people, turning some as slaves while killing their spirits by violating their rights. 

Of course, the book is about another type of evil. But it is close to the truth. 

Scar was kidnapped. The one who betrayed her is her loved one. 

Matt and Jamie are on their way to Hong Kong to save her. 

But Matt got captured too.

The story is pretty good, and it is pretty dark with children have to find help in the strangest of places, like the triad. 

Not a bad read. The places in Hong Kong that were mentioned were mostly tourist attractions. Don't matter. Hong Kong is a small place, and if it is a movie, it would be pretty. 

4 stars solid read. 

I liked this one. It wasn't very Whyborne and Griffin centered, it was a Christine story and I like her so much, I loved to know more about her and see her character develop. You get to see there's more to her than being Whyborne "partner in crime"

The story the book tell us is very predictable, though. I knew from the start who was the villain in this book, but despite that, I really enjoyed the read, with its new characters, change of scenes and all the possibilities that give us plot wise.

This is a wonderfully informative and interesting book,  quick moving and jammed with facts and vivid bits of business.  Arnold is quite quickly becoming a favorite.  

DNF

Matt Richter Series, Book 1

Started: 8/11/15

Finished: 8/18/15

I had thought, going into this book, that I would fall in love with it.  It has so many elements that I typically enjoy.  I feel like I was more interested in the idea of the world and plot than in the actual execution by Tim Waggoner.  

The plot felt as slow as molasses.  It just meandered on without any real build up or fire.  There was very little intensity as the whole book, up to where I stopped at least, maintained the same voice and the same pacing.

A few things from other reviews that I agree with:

1. 1. The James Bond-esque baddies that always tell the hero exactly what is going to happen.  Show, don’t tell!
2. 2. The hero always having exactly what he needs, when he needs it, even when there is no way to anticipate the necessity
3. 3. A lack of distinction in the world.  All the characters were baddies in some form, being all from horror genres.  There is no excuse, then, for the naive nature of a certain character.
4. 4. Bland, boring, all too normal lead.  For a former cop turned zombie PI in an alternate universe full of terrors I was totally underwhelmed by Matt Richter.

From reading reviews I can see that others loved this book.  I just can’t see why. To me, it was lacking on too many levels to invest any more time.  It’s not the first time I have gone against the grain (Gone Girl comes to mind) and I am sure it won’t be the last.  Each day it seemed that I was forcing myself to pick it up rather than anticipating continuing reading, so I am throwing in the towel.

The TBR list is too long and time is too short!

This is the best kind of history book......gossipy, informative,  and incredibly interesting.