BOOK REVIEW

I’m not sure how The Assistant first came to my attention.
Maybe Amazon recommended it.
Maybe it was in the paper or on a blog.
Maybe a friend mentioned it - It doesn’t matter.
The point is I put it on my library list and checked it out.
Mistake

* * *

I don’t do well with scary or violent movies, and even less well with scary/violent stories.
Too much empathy plus overactive imagination equals nightmares.
Even now as a so-called “grown up” I avoid ghost stories and movies that have blood and gore.
(Yes, I’m a whimp, and I miss out on a lot movies because of my whimpiness).

* * *

The Assistant starts out all warm and fuzzy -
A magician is performing at a children’s hospital.
He’s an excellent magician with a great girlfriend and a happy cozy life as a hotshot lawyer.
Somehow we go from warm fuzzy magic show to international spies crawling around the train station with intestines falling out.
(And then there’s a few torture scenes vivid enough to make a person physically ill)

* * *

This is the worst book I’ve read in a long time
Besides the blood and gore it’s just dumb
(Really, what kind of spy would go to a safe house and not bother to notice if he was being followed?)
And while I can allow for a certain suspension of disbelief – using magical illusions and The President’s kid to trick the bad guys are just too much.

It's only May, but I'm ready to officially declare The Assistant the worst book of the year. (And woe to the person who recomended it to me).