Book Review: Flat Line by Dana Barney

So I finally finished a book that was not long at all, it's just been a little hectic. I also have some new, I'm moving back to my hometown! But I'll share more of that on another post. Anyways, when I visit my hometown in November, I went to a local bookstore called: The Twig Book Shop. It's a cute little bookstore, and while I was there, I got to meet Dana Barney. He was promoting his two books, one of them being, Flat Line, which is what I'm about to review right now! (SPOILER ALERT!)

A Little Bit of Background

Dana Barney is an Austin based author. He received his B.A. in writing from Bennington College in Vermont. Flat Line is his first book, which he wrote in 2015. The sequel to this book, Half Life, just came out this past year in 2017. 

Now Flat Line is about an investigative journalist, Peter Richards, whose life starts to go downhill after he gets fired from his job. 

What Was Enjoyable

I liked the whole ride of the book. The book felt like I was going through a movie. He gets fired, a murder happens, and then he wakes up in the hospital with an artificial heart. And that's not even half of it! Barney does a great job making the reader feel like you are watching an action, mystery movie.

The other thing I enjoyed was the twists. There are multiple twists and turns int his book that can really get the reader to read the book in a one night sitting.  

I also like to point out the accurate Texas references. The story takes place in Austin Texas and Peter's character visits real Austin places and real Austin streets. Peter also travels up north in Texas and the author still stays true to the accurate place in Texas. Any reader can appreciate an accurate setting of a real place and Texas readers, like me, will appreciate this to a next level.

What Was Least Enjoyable

This was a really great and well-written book, but I have to get his off my chest. There is an on-going joke throughout the book about one of the side characters knowing who killed Kennedy. They ask this guy "Do you know who killed Kennedy," and the main character tells people that he knows the guy who knows who killed Kennedy. When I first heard this, my first thought was that I know who killed Kennedy, Harry Oswald, it's public knowledge. Then I thought that maybe the author was referring to a conspiracy theory type of ordeal. It's confirmed at the very end when Peters says that he knows Kennedy killed him, but he wanted to know if there were people behind the scenes, then it made more sense. The rest of the time, I thought that this might have been something the author may have overlooked, but it wasn't. I just wished it was established in the beginning, since most of know who killed Kennedy and we also know Oswald's past and stuff it just seemed like a weird joke.

The other thing was that this book felt like a great book, but it would be a better movie. Not that this is a bad or unenjoyable thing, but it would be great as a movie of some sorts.

In Conclusion

In conclusion, this was a great mystery thriller. This does have some more gory parts, especially towards the end, but if you like that stuff, then you should be fine. I really enjoy mystery books and this is one book to pick up and put on your bookshelf. Until next time, Happy Reading!