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A review by bybrookenelson
The Night Shift by Alex Finlay
3.0
3 stars: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
To be frank, I am disappointed.
The Night Shift reads a lot like a knockoff of Riley Sager's Final Girls, only with three points of view and a focus on the legal side of things. I had high hopes; it's undoubtedly a good premise, and when I began, I felt a glimmer of hope. But it was quickly extinguished by the mediocre manner of storytelling and somewhat boring cast of characters.
I typically like stories told from multiple points of view, which is why I was, yet again, so surprised by this book. Two of the main characters narrating the story are varying levels of unlikable, and the other is enjoyable but a bit boring. I truly did not care what happened to any of the three of them. The only character I truly felt anything for was a side character who was discarded in the most boring way possible by the end.
On top of that, (and I'm not usually one to complain about this), but the writing of women was just offputting. The female FBI agent was the only tolerable woman of importance in the story, and she referred to an abortion as "taking care of the baby." Yuck. Just use the word "aborting," please.
The plot, on the other hand, starts off a little hard to follow because of the jumping from one character to another. Or maybe it was just because I was bored. But it eventually resolved itself to a pace I could enjoy a little more, with plot points that I was able to follow and even be intrigued by. The conclusion was pleasant, though it didn't address a number of important issues displayed earlier in the book.
That said, there is more good than bad to The Night Shift. I did eventually find myself wondering what would happen. But it's not one I would recommend to people with my similar taste in thrillers and mysteries. (If you're more interested in the legal side of things and you don't mind some odd writing of female characters, this might actually be the perfect book for you.) The best explanation I can give for The Night Shift is how I started this review: a slightly disappointing retelling of Final Girls with a less-than-sympathetic cast.
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Thank you, NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
To be frank, I am disappointed.
The Night Shift reads a lot like a knockoff of Riley Sager's Final Girls, only with three points of view and a focus on the legal side of things. I had high hopes; it's undoubtedly a good premise, and when I began, I felt a glimmer of hope. But it was quickly extinguished by the mediocre manner of storytelling and somewhat boring cast of characters.
I typically like stories told from multiple points of view, which is why I was, yet again, so surprised by this book. Two of the main characters narrating the story are varying levels of unlikable, and the other is enjoyable but a bit boring. I truly did not care what happened to any of the three of them. The only character I truly felt anything for was a side character who was discarded in the most boring way possible by the end.
On top of that, (and I'm not usually one to complain about this), but the writing of women was just offputting. The female FBI agent was the only tolerable woman of importance in the story, and she referred to an abortion as "taking care of the baby." Yuck. Just use the word "aborting," please.
The plot, on the other hand, starts off a little hard to follow because of the jumping from one character to another. Or maybe it was just because I was bored. But it eventually resolved itself to a pace I could enjoy a little more, with plot points that I was able to follow and even be intrigued by. The conclusion was pleasant, though it didn't address a number of important issues displayed earlier in the book.
That said, there is more good than bad to The Night Shift. I did eventually find myself wondering what would happen. But it's not one I would recommend to people with my similar taste in thrillers and mysteries. (If you're more interested in the legal side of things and you don't mind some odd writing of female characters, this might actually be the perfect book for you.) The best explanation I can give for The Night Shift is how I started this review: a slightly disappointing retelling of Final Girls with a less-than-sympathetic cast.
My Blog | My Books | Podcast | Instagram | TikTok