A generic read with an unexpected plot twist by Kelly J. Ford.
By: Abigail Dawn
Released on September 1, 2021, Kelly J. Ford’s “Real Bad Things” is a novel for readers looking to fill in their time between books. Published by Thomas & Mercer, this story follows a generic plot throughout most of the book, and only gets interesting with plot twists towards the last half.
Book Summary
The story starts with Jane Mooney, a middle-aged woman travelling back to Maud Bottoms, Arkansas, after the discovery of her stepfather’s body, Warren Ingram. The author insinuates that Maud Bottoms is a sketchier, lowlife place to live.
Jane confessed to killing Warren in her late teens, but with no body, there was no crime, and she was released, that’s when she packed up her things and moved as far away as possible. Now someone found a body, and Jane is determined to carry her confession through but her accomplices have a different idea.
Jane learns that the people she cared most about aren’t the people she thought they were. Jane is left with a false memory of her childhood and adolescents, and tries to learn everything she can about the death of her stepfather, and the murders of other lost men in the town of Maud.
Book Review
Ford’s character development was a stronger part in this novel. She made her characters somewhat relatable to readers, allowing them to find themselves in at least one of the main and secondary characters. She gave them humour and wittiness, which added moments of comic relief to the storyline.
Unfortunately, this book was flat. The main crime was uninteresting and lacked depth. Readers may find it obvious that the crime was self-defence. Which all those involved, as adults now, would have known, especially living in Maud Bottoms, which seemed to be crime territory, and the police department didn’t do much about it anyway, as described in the book.
The plot won’t blow readers away. Although some plot twists occur at the very end of the book, they weren’t amazing enough to compensate for the rest of the slow, tediousness read. Many readers might feel like giving up before getting halfway through it, more needs to happen to keep readers interested.
The prologue was too wordy and descriptive, almost to the point where it was confusing. It didn’t leave a mark that carried throughout the book. By the time the reader gets to the end, they’ve forgotten about the prologue, because it wasn’t noteworthy. Description is good to set the scene, but throughout the book the wordiness became repetitive and made the chapters much longer than they needed to be—making the already tedious read, even more dreary.
Overall Recommendation
I recommend this novel for a reader looking for a filler book. A noncommittal book to read between waiting for the books on the TBR list. It’s generic, flat, and uninteresting, but can fill time for any reader looking for something that won’t keep them past their bedtime. The novel has relatable characters, and a twisty ending, but that doesn’t compensate for the three quarters of the book readers have to get through to get to the interesting part.
6/10