Book review of M. J. Markovki’s Whatever It Takes…
(M. J. Markovski, Whatever It Takes, White Bird Publications, 2019, ISBN 978-1633633773)
Hunter Grainger acts strangely when he returns to Parker, Texas. So does Regan Argent. The two almost committed in high school; the attraction still remains. And they don’t realize how their pasts during the years away from Parker are connected.
How should I classify this novel? Much of it is steamy romance as Regan and Hunter draw closer. But all the romantic heat gives way slowly to a tidy mystery, suspense, and thriller story.
The romantic part is a bit soap-operatic, reminding me of the few peeks I’ve taken at Nicholas Sparks’s oeuvre. The rest is more disorganized and rushes a bit toward the end where the finale of Hamlet nearly occurs, with Regan in the role of Ophelia (in this case, it’s her mother who’s nuts) and Hunter in the role of Hamlet (his father is almost but not quite the villain). To make another analogy, Regan’s time in NYC reminded me of John Grisham’s character in The Firm who found out the legal establishment he worked for wasn’t quite so legal.
I’ll confess that this novel didn’t hook me at first. It improved. I gauge that by my reading speed. By the end, I was in a mad dash and when the race ended, I wanted more. I often say writing a novel is like running a marathon, so I now wish the author had paced herself a bit more. The book nearly divides into two parts: part one, the steamy romance; and part two, mystery, suspense, and thrills.
Now for the technical details: The plot is well done except for things mentioned above, the thriller parts toward the end compensating a bit for the overblown romantic narrative. While Regan and Hunter are fully drawn, many of the secondary characters aren’t. It was hard to keep all Regan’s brothers straight as a consequence. I also thought more could be done with Mama and Papa Argent—they struck me as people with interesting pasts I wanted to know more about. And Hunter’s father is super-interesting—a complex man to be sure, but that complexity isn’t probed enough. Other minor characters pop out of nowhere as if a Deus ex Machina were spitting them out of some concealed factory’s assembly line.
Settings pop up too. I started the book thinking that Parker was a small, sleepy Texas town like those in the sixties I drove through and wanted to never change. I was wrong. There’s Hunter’s father’s mansion on the outskirts; there are spooky warehouses, sleazy watering holes, and houses of ill repute. Mind you, I don’t mind the mix of city-like grittiness with pastoral lifestyles, but the town seemed to grow organically. Or maybe that’s all in Dallas where some of the action takes place? That wasn’t completely clear.
There are abrupt changes in tense, and sometimes the dialogue doesn’t sync up. For example: Hunter says, “I’m in the middle of a conversation with your sister.” Regan’s brother says, “She doesn’t look like she wants to be.” Huh? A few copy editing errors also remain, like when “through” is written instead of “threw.” The editor has done the writer no favors here. Some readers might be annoyed by all this. I just auto-correct and continue.
The story that unfolds is worth it as the reader proceeds. For a first novel, we have some good storytelling here. More stories will come, I’m sure. In particular, a sequel is a definite possibility, if only to find out how the romance between Regan and Hunter grows. Yes, it intrigued me because the two lovers seem so mismatched.
***
Comments are always welcome.
Last man alive? What about last woman alive? Penny Castro, LA County Sheriff’s Deputy and forensic diver, finds she isn’t alone after the apocalypse, though—there are a few others who survived the contagion and now want to kill her. And the remnants of a US government could be the greatest danger for her and the family she’s adopted. The post-apocalyptic thriller The Last Humans has just been released by Black Opal Books in both ebook and print versions and is available at the publisher’s website, online retailers like Amazon and Smashwords and the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc), and bookstores (if they don’t have it, ask for it!).
“Moore’s books keep getting better with each new effort. The Last Humans follows this trend by combining a familiar theme with a unique story and producing a great book.
The Last Humans does not dwell on the details of the cause of an apocalyptic event, but instead builds some wonderfully deep characters. A strong female lead deals with the aftermath of a biological catastrophe.
I really enjoyed this story and found it difficult to put down. Admittedly, the heroine was extremely lucky, but that did not distract from the tale.
I highly recommend this book for those who enjoy post-apocalyptic and /or action novels.”—Debra Miller, in her Amazon review.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
