And Then You Die

The lead characters Bess and Kaldak are in many places scarcely likeable. Bess is grieving after the death of her sister but she is frequently illogical and abrasive. She basically decided that she didnt like how the CIA were protecting her and that she knew best. Doubtlessly we were supposed to think that she was feisty and determined, but she came across as difficult and tiresome. The result of her interferance was that she constantly put Kaldak and other agents in danger for her own motives. Bess became insufferably bossy, telling everyone else how to do their jobs although she had no military / law enforcement background. Her constant protestations of Im not hungry and I dont want to eat/sleep etc had me wanting to toss the book aside to grab the biscuit tin.

Kaldak was violent towards Bess at their first couple of meetings, hitting her in the face and knocking her unconscious on several occasions, which I found disturbing. Throughout the whole novel there was barely a proper physical description of Kaldak beyond the word intimidating. Kaldak, in fact, describes himself as ugly - I would have preferred it if he was described in more detail so I could have seen him clearly in my mind.

A plus point was the dialogue which was fast and furious and very realistic, but the lack of description around the dialogue meant that we never find out much depth or background to the story and characters - it all seemed very one-dimensional, like a Hollywood blockbuster that has a time limit of an hour and a half.

Overall I dont think that And Then You Die is a great action novel, and the romance certainly falls short of what I was looking for. At one point Kaldak tells Bess that "If Id needed to do it, I would have killed you, your sister, and your guide." To me, these were not the words of the protective, alpha male type that I like to read about, they had crossed the borderline into something less noble and vaguely alarming. Kaldak had certainly been damaged by his tragic past, more damaged than I felt comfortable with. Unfortunately the best part in the whole book was probably the last couple of pages, which seemed heartfelt and were a nice conclusion to it all.

JoAnne