Book Review: The Perfect 10 by Eric O’Keefe

I find it fascinating that so many of the reviews surrounding this book are focused on the cover and not the sorry… I too found the cover to be a surprise and not at all relevant to the story contained between its covers. That being said, McGinnis is amazing and his art is very cool – I’m just not sure that it was a great fit for this particular book.

As murder mysteries go, I found this one to be slower than I like – I suspect it’s due to the extensive polo descriptions, as well as the focus on brands and lifestyle. It’s a category of book I don’t normally pick up – I know a lot of people enjoy reading about the High Life, so name-dropping is no big deal, but it’s never really been the way to my heart. That tends to be view a well-plotted, well-paced mystery with great characterization. Unfortunately I felt this one lacking in those areas…

For me the biggest issues were pacing and the lack of a chance to truly get into the heads of the characters. There was so much happening that I just didn’t get the connection with the characters that I was hoping for because things were constantly moving around from place to place and person to person… Like a lot of other readers, I found the short chapters and multiple points of view distracting rather than engaging. The writing is engaging and the style is very easy, but on the whole it just wasn’t a great fit for me. It’s a nice peek into a very different world than my own, but confirmed for me that I’m glad I live in my world and not this one!

The book did come with one of the most amazing press kits I’ve seen in a really long time though! It arrived in a printed box with the book and a custom polo ball and bookmarks and stickers with the distinctive McGinnis look, in a way that was very clever and definitely caught my eye and attention before I even started reading the book. So definitely kudos for the clever angle here!

Thank you very much to the publisher and author for my obligation free review copy – and the super cool polo ball! I can say with authority that I’m the only person I know who owns one…