Book Review: "The Die Back" by Grayson Steele

 

Ritual death. Young life. Can the one woman from the outside curb the bloodletting liturgy?

Dakota Jones lives and breathes the strange. Unorthodox and willing to follow clues no matter where they lead, the forthright detective is relentless in her pursuit of the truth. So when a member of a remote society off Tasmania’s coast washes ashore dead under suspicious circumstances, the determined detective goes undercover to bring the victim justice.

Delving deep into the isolated culture only to find it more of an unwelcoming cult, Dakota discovers the body belonged to an intended sacrifice who tried to get away. And when she learns the rebellious teen next in line for the murderous ceremony is planning a daring escape, she’s in a race against the clock to uncover a dark revelation.

Can the driven detective save the girl and herself before they’re sucked into a zealot’s maw? - from BookSirens.com

Thanks to Booksirens.com and the publisher/author for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

This appears to be the first book of possibly a small series, regaling the cases of Det. Dakota Jones. This particular first story takes place off of Tasmania. I know nothing about that place, so in my head, I pictured it being a remote area of Southern Canada. Anyways, it takes place on the shores of a large lake, with a town on one side, and on the other, a lighthouse (maybe it is a sea inlet?) and a secluded village that has been around for 200 years. 

The plot description for this story caught my eye. A little detective stuff, a little paranormal maybe. A little modern-day ghost tale, perhaps. As I started in on reading it, I did get drawn in, waiting to see how this detective was going to solve the causes behind a couple 'drownings', by working in this secluded community. This community is described as cult-like, with archaic speech patterns, and lifestyle. The key point being no contact with anyone or anything outside their town.

Shortly into the story, we read about 'the die back', a ritual performed in this community, that kills off selected members, who in turn believe they are going to heaven. A bit drastic, but still somewhat believable for me. Let's add in some weird water from the lake, in select areas, that has supposed healing properties, as well as helping prolong a normal life span. Hmmm, still hanging on.

Then, I lost it. My interest just went downhill at maybe mid point of the book. There was not much regarding the background of any of our characters. Just one or two snippets about a childhood memory or past love. It was almost like just reading the walk-through actions of a robot. Even with the thought that police officers are sometimes this way, dealing with the types of death and numerous types of people they have to deal with on cases. Let's add in this town. I get secluded, cult-like, anti-social. I get not wanting people to come there, and refusing to talk to outsiders (even the police) as they feel they govern themselves. But for 200 years? Speaking an old version of the 'english'? All across from an inlet, that has a ferry come to them to transport goods to be traded out to the 'real world'. Sigh. There is more I want to rant about, but am trying not to ruin the tale.

Bottom line: character development and background was not very well done. Worldbuilding was decent - I liked the description of the area, and it gave me a physical location in my mind to picture the story. Like most fantasy-near-real-life stories, there are things that happen that either make you scream in delight, or throw the book away, and this one left me in the low middle. Some of the story did not make any sense to me, and I felt a bit like the author was trying to just find something to fill the gaps, specifically all the crap about Fibonacci number and nature. But, maybe it si just me. Either way, the book was easy to read and understand (even believable for fantasy). Would say a YA reader would easily read this story, though some concepts used may be above their heads (cult, secluded community).