The Seventh Compass Point of Death: A Quinn McShane Story by Richard Sanders

The lit-crit take on the back cover states that this book is 'A character-driven thriller, centering on the themes of terrorism, understanding and hope.'  I don't know that I would've classified this as a thriller ... it causes the reader to expect a certain something that was missing from this book.

The main character, Quinn McShane, is a former licensed investigator who spent time in prison and is now working in the journalism field.  To me, Quinn came across as a man who was a little too trusting and a little too naive ... especially to be a former investigator AND to be dealing with a possible terrorism situation.

The book was definitely an easy read.  The font was a little larger than normal and the spacing between each sentence contributed to fluid eye movement while reading.  There are only five chapters in this book, but each chapter is divided up into multiple sections ... so much so that the book is 242 pages long.  The divisions of the chapters did not create confusion while reading, rather it helped to facilitate the reader's movement thru the chapters.

There's not an info page at the beginning of the book with the publisher, ISBN #, Library of Congress number or anything so you know this book is as self-published as they come ... of which I am okay with.

It's hard to say what genre I would classify this book as.  It's not really a mystery, not really a thriller ... it's more of a visit into a guy's life that is slightly out of whack and unsettled.  I appreciated his dry humor, though.  There were parts that I laughed at that some people probably wouldn't.  I could actually picture the sound of the sarcasm in his voice during some of his thoughts and interactions with others.

Overall, I liked this book, but it's not one of my 'must haves.'  I'm not really sure what could be done differently to make me like this book more, but there's definitely 'something' missing ... like that one ingredient in a recipe you need to add to make your dish better, but you're just not sure what it is ...

Happy Reading! =)