Book Review: Anyone Can Die
Media Type: Print Book
Title: Anyone Can Die
Author: James LePore
Publisher: The Story Plant
Pages: Paperback; 48
Release Date: February 22, 2011
Source: Promotional Tour
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Intended Reading Group: Adult
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
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HDB Rating: 3 Keys to My Heart
Recommended to: Those who have read the first book.
Add it on: Goodreads / Shelfari / Amazon / B&N
James LePore’s first novel, A World I Never Made earned raves from reviewers, readers, and fellow authors alike. Blogcritics called it, “An outstanding first novel, and a wonderful thriller.” Bella Online said, “I highly recommend this compelling suspense story filled with vivid characters and haunting storylines. A story that will stay with the reader long after the final pages.” And M.J. Rose, the acclaimed author of The Memorist said A World I Never Made was, “A compelling page-turner &mdash one of those wonderful books with characters as strong as the story and a story worth reading. Don’t miss it.”
After reading Anyone Can Die, I definitely see why people would have given James LePore’s first novel so many rave reviews. He definitely has a way with words and the ability to create very vivid and realistic characters. The one thing that bothered me while reading this particular set of short stories was that I didn’t know who these characters were. If I had known that this was a companion novel initially, I probably would have gone and grabbed A World I Never Made to read first.
Written in what I would consider to be vignettes, LePore delves further into the lives of each of the characters that he created in his first novel. I must say that despite not having met these characters before, he does provide enough background about them to let a new reader’s interest become piqued. From what I’ve read in the reviews of others, these stories give a nice addition to the lives of Pat, Megan and Max from the previous story. My one gripe with Megan’s story especially was that there wasn’t any distinct ending to her story. I felt a little lost at this point anyway, so I really wanted her story to wrap up nicely. Max’s story on the other hand I really did love.
Really the only reason that I rated Anyone Can Die at a lower level was simply because I felt like I didn’t get to dive deeply enough into the characters and their development. The stories themselves were well written and interesting on their own, but picking up any story without previously being introduced to the characters within is tough. I do honestly look forward to going and reading James LePore’s first novel! After reading this, I am eager for more of his fantastic writing.
FTC Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
