An OK book would be great with some editing
929148
The story was well crafted.  The author handled several strong, interwoven subplots very well.  The characters, for the most part, felt real.  The villains were almost too evil, which for me shot past fear or tension and produced a "who cares" attitude.  I almost said the villains were not believable, but given the author's credentials, they may be perfectly realistic and I just don't want to believe it.  I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on that issue.

But the grammar, spelling, consistency, and transition errors were really, really annoying.  For someone with the author's education level, you'd think he'd spot "bear" used when he means "bare."  But I realize it's hard for first time authors to find good editors.

There is a lot of solid research and good storytelling in this book.  Having a competent editor/proofreader fix the problems would turn an OK book into an exceptional one.
4460035
I liked her characters and the storyline is interesting. This book is in desperate need of editing, however. Between the run on sentences,the spelling errors, and the grammatical ones it was hard to read. What's kind of funny is the main character is supposed to be an incredibly smart girl but her narratives are the worst when it came to errors. Book 2 was a little better but not enough for me to pay $9.99 for book three.
2368823
The initial idea was good . . . but the back and forth in time got silly and was inconsistently applied...an OK read, but one more edit would have been valuable
1910870
I always enjoy a good murder mystery, and I am also on the lookout for books with gay characters. So I was quite happy when I found the first book by this author, "Untouchable." I enjoyed the characters and plot, so I ordered his second book, "Confessional." I enjoy the story, but there really are two areas where this author needs to improve. First of all is editing and grammar. There are a number of errors, but the most noticeable is the consistent misuse of the verb "sat." For example: "He was sat at his desk." No, "He sat at his desk." or "He was sitting at his desk." This occurs so frequently it becomes annoying. Another item was an apparent lack of familiarity with the Catholic church and the Anglican church, which is important, as much of the story takes place in a church in England. One of the characters is a recently "inaugurated" woman priest (by the way, priests are not inaugurated, they are ordained). She talks about having difficulty being accepted by some of her parishioners as a woman priest in the Catholic church. The Catholic church does not ordain women priests, so this is a pretty significant error. Another priest in the church is referred to as the Vicar, which sounds very much like it takes place in an Anglican church, which does ordain women priests.
2057637
I wanted to like this book. It has potential to be a great story.

But.

There are some typos and formatting errors that make this a difficult read. The book needs another round of editing, particularly substantive, because the plot is very unorganized. Details pertaining to the plot threads are given at inappropriate times. Then, those details are ignored. Chapters often pass before those details are explained, if and when they are explained at all. Various medical terminology is tossed out but the meager definitions that are given for the terms are repeated verbatim, instead of being built upon, whenever the word comes up again.

The story is also cluttered with too much unnecessary information (regarding topics like Japanese terms) that has nothing to do with the plot. These details take up space that could have been used to paint a better picture of intersex disorders or the child abuse (medical neglect) that occurs and is never addressed.

Characters are poorly developed and many are never properly introduced. Every character acts years younger than their given ages. I found it difficult to believe that any of them could be real people. Then, there's the Christianity - it's presented as an idealization of what Christianity could be, if it wasn't tripping up on its shadow all the time. This portrayal isn't a bad thing - the world needs more people like Pastor Gillespie, who was one of my favorite characters because of his open-mindedness and willingness to look for different definitions of Biblical teachings - but the theme is underdeveloped and would benefit from conflict.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review. I would reread and review this book again, if it was subjected to another round (or two) of editing.
1387727
This book and its successor (Sanctuary) has a plausible and interesting story line.  However it displays the worst editing that I've found in any publication.  Editing for grammar, tense, puntuation and repetitive passages mar an otherwise enjoyable read.  I had trouble finishing the books -- though I was interested in the fate of the characters -- because the editing so distracts from reading.
1449434
Doug Welch can spin a tale, but he desperately needs to PAY a good proofreader/editor.  Sometimes he chooses the wrong one of two words that sound alike, such as "peel" vs. "peal."  Often he will use a plural subject with a singular verb -- or (and this really grates on my mind's ear) -- something like, "He looked at Beth and I."  Seriously?   at I?  This is sixth grade grammar.

I notice that many of the reviewers liked the story but did not give more than a three-star rating.  In my case, I found that the numerous errors in word meaning, syntax and grammar caused a distracting bump in the road or a full stop, while I tried to figure out what he intended to say.  This may account for the sluggish pace that some readers commented on.

In any case, though the premise was somewhat interesting, I don't think I'll get his next book.  He needs to do some serious editing before I commit the time to it.
1137788
The book's concept is interesting, and could have resulted in a fascinating book. However, it suffers from two great drawbacks that make the reading experience not very pleasurable.
First of all, the entire text is in dire need of copyediting by a native speaker of English. Almost every sentence in the book shows evidence of a disregard for current English stylistic standards. Just as an example, consider the following beginning of a paragraph: "While we speak of mistakes on public display, consider the clock atop the tower on St. Marien Church..." (meaning, I suppose, something like: "Still on the subject of mistakes on public display, consider the clock atop the tower of St. Marien Church"). The book is literally full of such stylistically awkward formulations. If you're at all sensitive to such issues, the book will cause you considerable discomfort.
Secondly, arrangement and presentation of the examples are in need of editing. Most of the book is arranged according to domains of manthematics (Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry and Probability and Statistics) but the first chapter is a hodge-podge of "Noteworthy mistakes by famous mathematicians". However, even within the individual chapters, the examples are not arranged in a discernibly heuristic or logical order. I would expect a book about mistakes to provide a rationally constructed discussion on the types of mistakes, the source or cause of the mistakes, and how such mistakes can best be avoided, with examples to suit each part of the discussion. Instead, we are presented with a more or less unordered set of anecdotes about mistakes, sometimes with (not very clear) mathematical explanations.
In short, this is a book with a lot of potential, but in need of a firm editorial hand.
I bought this book to my Kindle, without first looking at the offered preview pages. I will try in future to be more patient.
4562577
It had a good story line although it seemed like there was a race to finish without going into more detail. The book could use some professional editing as there were words missing from sentences, the wrong characters used in several areas (Erik took Keegan's hand to help her out of the car), and several details were totally changed (Julianne had originally worn a black dress with red heels to dinner and after she was back at Erik's, suddenly her shoes were black). Some of these issues caused me to go back over and reread to clear things up and that personally bugs me.
970978
While I liked the plot and characters, the book needed a good editor. It is clear that this is the author's first novel as there are many places with needless descriptions of mundane activities. A good editor could have cut a quarter to a third of the book without losing any vital elements, making the book flow at a better pace. The book also needs a proofreader, but that is unfortunately too common with e-books these days. All that said, it is an enjoyable story with some interesting characters. And it shows promise for a new author.
4481702
This book is OK. There were three typos that were very annoying. The logic presented in the book is very vague. This book needs an editor to help the author flush out their idea more.
4819578
This author needs a good editor.  There are typos and editing mistakes throughout the book. For example, here's a sentence from page 423: "Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Bugatti, and Ferrari are prestigious names in the history of car making." These are silly mistakes that are expected in early drafts, not in the final version. Occasionally there are small syntax errors that draw attention to themselves, making the book uncomfortable for a native speaker of English to read. An editor or English teacher could have fixed these problems quite easily. Overall, the writing is rambling, redundant and poorly organized. The author could have cut out 100 pages without losing any information. It is typical for him to say the same simple thing ten different ways in order to fill a chapter. At the same time, he sometimes mentions events or concepts that should be (briefly) explained, but without explaining them. He often makes opinionated statements without providing references to support them. If one of the chapters from this book had been submitted as a term paper in a school where this book is being used, it would have received a C at best. Much better books can by found right here on Amazon by using "modern Italy" or "Italian history" as search terms.
1768520
This book could've benefited from better editing. Some parts were exceptionally gruesome, needlessly so. Reminds me of a movie that editorial liposuction could have made more enjoyable, and more memorable.
1857253
I had great hopes for this book, but it was not to be.  I think it could have been a great book because the story is intriguing .  But the editing was terrible so there were many errors plus the sequence of events seemed really scattered.
Also,  when I start to read a book I want to really care about the people in the book.  I never could do this .  I felt like I never really got to know them in a personal way.  The cover is nice.
4891972
The book needed a good editor.  Good idea.  Fun to read during visit to Yellowstone, but technical difficulties, like the alarm clock flashing 12:00, which told the characters that the power was out so get a flash light.  Hey, wait a minute, how is the clock flashing if the power is out??  With battery back-up, the time would still be showing.  Character development was choppy, as was plot development.  Several interesting sub-plots went undeveloped.  Good enough, though to keep my interest, just could have been a lot better with a little more editing effort.
2260747
This was an interesting story but the lack of proofreading and editing was very distracting. As a reader I do my best to ignore the occasional error but when it is constant it shows a lack of concern from the author and publisher on their part. While the story started out well it seemed to lose intensity and started feeling shallow and rushed about halfway through. I think this author has a lot of potential and I would purchase future books at $0.99 to see if there is improvement. I would not even consider paying more for another book until I see better editing. I sincerely hope this happens. I believe this author could develop this series into something special.
2000562
I thought this was a pretty good story, but like most of the reviews here stated....it could have been so much better if the author would have found  a good editor.