The Kills
by
Richard House
The Kills was a book I bought a few years ago in my local book shop. I had seen it a few times whilst I was in there and always thought it sounded really good. I decided to pick it up but it had been sat on my TBR shelf for a long while. This past August I decided that it was to be my big summer read. It also turns out that this was to be the biggest book I have ever read with an epic 1033 pages altogether!
"Strong start, but then goes downhill and never stops"
Précis (taken from the cover):
It starts with an explosion, a man on the run and the theft of over fifty million dollars. It moves from the Middle East to the Mediterranean, around mainland Europe via the sleazy underworld of Naples, and across America. It ends in a locked room.
Review:
This has been one of the toughest reviews I have ever had to do. You will see why as I go on. The Kills as mentioned above is a massive 1033 pages long but is actually split into 4 books, Sutler, The Massive, The Kill & The Hit. I was actually really looking forward to reading this as my "Summer Blockbuster" where each year I choose a large book to read around summertime. The book itself started really well and got straight into the action. The main character was interesting and it had a James Bond/Jason Bourne feel to it. For me, this is a great mix and I felt this could have been a cracking read. There were a few pages that were a bit too long but you could cope with that as you got more into the story. Book one (Sutler) finished on a cliff hanger and you set yourself up for the next chapter to see how the story progressed. Sadly this is where it started to go downhill. Book two was literally like reading a new book with a different story altogether. I thought that it was scene setting for the main story to continue but no, the main character from book one was only mentioned a couple of times and before I knew it, it was the end of book two and nothing. Book three started and Yes! you guessed it... A completely different story, and Yes! Book four again was also different. In each book it made a slight reference to the first book but that was it. None of the books flowed and went on way too long and I'm afraid very uninteresting with very little action. I was so disappointed. My wife asked half way through, why I didn't give in and stop reading it. I did not want to be beaten and kept hope that it would be tied up at the end. This I now know was a mistake of my behalf. Ahhhhhhhhh So frustrating..
I have never felt like this after reading a book. I know lots of people that start books and then give up but I have never actually done this. This book was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013 and I have to ask myself why? After reading this book I went on the internet to see what other people thought and can see that there is a lot of other people like me that were very disappointed.
To be fair to the author, I actually thought the characters were well written and really likeable and is probably the best part of the book for me. Even if the stories were different the people in each of these books were great. Unfortunately I am unable to find many other positives.
I scored this book a 1 out of 5. My lowest ever score and I really feel bad because this is someone's work and they are really proud of this, but this is just my opinion and I am being honest on how I felt this book was. I don't think I will be rushing out to buy a Richard House book in the near future and if I did, it would have to be under 300 pages long so I don't make the mistake I did on this one.
Has anyone else read this? Do you agree with me or not? Let me know.
Speak soon
CBailey31
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