My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I have received a copy of the book through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.
The story revolves around a 39-year old mixed-race misfit named Christie Smithkin whose mother has run off with to Iceland. Christie is left to fend for herself in an English city called St. Pauly. Christie has no friends and has financial issues which make it difficult for her to complete her thesis. She is also a volunteer mentor with the "asylum-seeker-mentoring" program.
However she finds that her mentee, Mukelenge, has been assigned two mentors. And, it appears Mukalenge has no real need for a mentor because he is settling in just fine on his own. Christie wants to find out more about the Congolese asylum-seeker as he appears to be much too charming and confident. She then finds out that there is a Zombie-factory in the spa town called Mameluke Bath and that things are much more terrifying than she could ever imagine.
To be perfectly honest, the character of Christie is not only immature, but also incredibly confused. Throughout the book, I felt like hitting her over the head or wish that I could have her carted off to the nearest mental institution. Either that or just end the whole thing by flinging the book aside. I am sorry to say that I did not like this book at all.
During the first few chapters, I had to force myself to re-read previous pages just to make sense of what was going on. Pretty soon after that, I gave up and just kept reading hoping that maybe, somewhere in the book, things will get better. It did not -- at least for me.
I am not saying that no one will ever find the book good or enjoyable. My review is simply my personal opinion.
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