Reviews of Enigma

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Dick Love is a 42-year-old detective from New York now living and working in London. And if given the choice he’d just as soon stay alive. He has a pregnant boxer relying on it.
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Reviews of Enigma by Wolf Black

SebWest reviewed on Oct. 6, 2015

Having read Wolf Black's interview, I can see what the author is doing. I understand that the detail about clothes etc is describing a reality, as the characters would have experienced it.

For me, the problem is that every person's detailed life is totally different. Dick Love sees a coat and thinks Taylor Ripoff, $740. I see a coat and think "That looks too hot for this weather." The reader needs to hook into text they can relate to, and I found it hard to relate to the relentless focus on products and prices.

For me, it is a shame, the detail slowed me down until I lost momentum and gave up! But for other people, it probably works, and I can see from the other reviews that those sho have persevered have enjoyed it. Good luck, Wolf Black, with Enigma and any future books.
(review of free book)
Kalle Haupt reviewed on May 15, 2015

Hi, I’m a newbie here. Actually I was looking for a book called Enigma. I remembered the title but not who’d written it. Anyway, I googled Enigma and Smashwords came up.
So I thought, good going first choice, but Smashwords, needs registering for downloading books, second thoughts not a good choice.
But I registered anyway!
So I clicked on Enigma by Wolf Black (because it was the first book in the queue) and I read the reviews. I thought, more negative reviews than positive (some positive reviews looked like ‘made-up’ from friends or so due to them being short), but a few negative reviews from women, which got me intrigued.
Usually women have a less attention span than man, because by judging the feedbacks this book seems to be very detailed, way down to the nitty gritty, more detailed information about stuff/items?, and women…well it’s the attention span thing…. so I thought I’m gonna give this Enigma a try, after all it’s free.

Well, it took me 5 weeks to read this book approx. 6 times (so enjoyable), and boy, isn’t it detailed. You just have to read it over and over, you always find something new you haven’t noticed before. Most readers/reviewers write here that the attention to detail is annoying, boring and…too much of the same?
Of course it is not, that’s what makes the book special, standing out from the rest, it’s different, it’s classy, and it’s well written to the point. All this detailed information makes the characters more personal, and even lifelike, after all, in real life humans keep doing the same things over and over. So the book just hits the mark perfectly.
And basically you should read and re-read it. Yep, you get my drift.

And I loved how much thought went into what kind of clothes the characters wear, were it was bought, and what kind of cars the characters drive, and the detailed information about the cars.
If the character took off his coat over several pages, yep, I’d say ‘and why not’. Do it, be different, be adventurous, and be fresh.
But you can’t say nothing happened, because something did (He took off his coat).
Boring for some maybe, but excellently different. Skipping the pages (as one reviewer did), just proves my point, lacking attention span.

As for errors, typos and wotnot, you guys (and gals) ever read a book by Stephen King or JK Rowling, well, those novels are full of them, and they get away with it.
I’d say, so can he (she).

One thing though, this was not the ‘Enigma’ book I was looking for, but man, I didn’t care.
(review of free book)
Areal reviewed on Sep. 12, 2014

I couldn't agree more with diane2014. Page after page description of their designer clothes and its cost and how Stuart looked like a model etc etc left me very frustrated and I found myself jumping several paragraphs, sometimes pages even to get to the real story at hand! Nobody cares about this lengthy description and it only leaves the reader confused and frustrated!
Editing would do a lot of good to your story!
Thanks.
(review of free book)
diane2014 reviewed on May 4, 2014

I completely agree with David Howells' and Clair Roxanna's reviews below. This book could have done with serious editing. First of all, I did like the characters; good pairing between Love and Struart. I liked the story. I liked the dog to give Love some humanity. I liked the investigation. What I did not like was page after page of designer labels and cost (who cares) too much detail. It's enough to describe a few items of clothing to get the idea that someone is well-dressed or not. You don't have to describe what someone is wearing in every scene. And that goes for room descriptions as well. I'd read several pages where I'd realize nothing happened except someone took off their coat. So I ended up skipping a lot of description to get through it. I did not like the number of times you describe getting on and off an elevator in exactly the same way, or Love taking out a cigarette and his lighter the same way. I couple of times is enough. It was like you had written these paragraphs and dropped them in every so often as filler. Therefore you could have pared it down to a 250 page book and tightened it up and it would have really improved it. Also very bad editing, for instance the scars were on the victims stomach, but were on her chest in another page. Where Carol's name should have been in a paragraph, Monica's name was inserted. These things left me very frustrated, because you had the makings of very good story, and I would like to see the team of Love and Stuart show up again, but PLEASE leave out all the extraneous and repetitive filler, it only bogged down the story.
For the characters and story I would give it five stars, but with all the negatives I mentioned, I would have to lower it to three stars. I hope you take the time to edit and redo it, and I would look forward to reading the second in a series.
(review of free book)
Bob reviewed on Dec. 5, 2013

Apart from the choice of the main characters name I thought it a very good story. It gradually builds as the two detectives try and capture a killer who has killed two women and it seems very likely there will be more victims if the killer is not caught soon.
The two main characters detectives Love and Le Fanu work well together one being an American who has lived in England for a while and the other a traditional English man. The way the detectives are described is unusual in the sense that a lot of time is spent describing their dress sense and the value of their clothing. Although I initially thought that this would distract from the story it in fact made it a lot better and gave a whole new slant on the story making the characters seem more human. I also liked the introduction of the dog which helped even more and allowed me to relate to the two detectives. In fact I thought all the characters worked well as did the descriptions of the locations.
Although not an all action story but one of dogged investigation with the detectives not only using their instincts but having to find the evidence. In the end all comes to a satisfying conclusion and if there are more in the series I will read them.
So why didn’t I like detective Love’s name, well all though it is correctly written with a capital letter phrases such as “What is it, Love?” just did not sound right. Just me I think.
(review of free book)
Daphne Lewis reviewed on Aug. 30, 2013

Crime isn't my usual choice of book but I found this one once started hard to leave., although some of it was a bit scary for me. It kept me guessing right up to the end who did it. I enjoyed the character of Love who had mannerisms which reminded me of someone I knew, which made it all the more interesting for me. The description of wearing apparel helped to visualise the persons involved throughout the story. I admired the vigilance of the detective and assistant in their work .
I would definitely recommend this as an enjoyable read.
(review of free book)
Kimberly von Ruffin reviewed on July 31, 2013

This book was very difficult to put down once I started reading. The characters kept developing throughout the whole book which made everything unpredictable.
My favorite character was Detective Love. Once he’s on the case he just cannot let go. I also enjoyed Le Fanu right at his side the whole way, I was able to see the lengths they would go to in protecting each other and how close they were.
The ending was perfect, no stone unturned!
I highly recommend this book, just be careful, once you start you may not be able to put it down. I hope there will be a sequel.
(review of free book)
David Howells reviewed on July 20, 2013

Well, you've definitely garnered interest. I'm the 5th to review your book. Since the rest are brief, I'll wax pedantic, in case you're looking for constructive criticism. First, you are commended in doing your homework regarding the topography of London, the personality of the city, and minutiae regarding the regional constabulary. Though it earned you your main criticism, one still has to agree that you have a knowledge of clothing and costs that most don't share (from the critiques, it's obvious that most don't want to share). I feel you had a good story line, good character development, had a handle on foreshadowing as well as dropping the tantalizing red herring, and you managed an exciting climax. Sexuality was handled without pornography, and that appeals to me. If you aren't burnt out on this effort, I feel a rewrite would make the story a real hit. My suggestions include deleting probably eighty percent of the clothing commentary and evaluation, and have someone review your wording (for example, there was one paragraph where six sentences started with 'he'). Might want to check your formatting, as I kept getting different fonts (on two computers, using two different download techniques). Congratulations, though, on a huge effort. Don't let the grumps get you down. Most of your readers think you've got talent, including me. I'm giving 4 stars. Redo it, and I've no doubt but that 5 will be the general rule.
(review of free book)
Annemarie Watson reviewed on July 16, 2013

Here is an example of one of the best crime novels that I've read in years! There are many examples of great text throughout the book, once you started it is hard to put down. 5*
(review of free book)
Clair Roxanna reviewed on July 13, 2013

My interest in Enigma steadily declined from the start and I quit at 31%. There is too much filler and the author seems to be obsessed with designer labels. She told the designer name, price and location where the article was purchased until it was boring. On my last page Love took off his Austin Reed Donegal jacket after he'd dropped his Samuel Windsor linen jacket at the cleaners but still got away without his Peter Christian navy woollen Reefer. Well lottie da. I couldn't care less. What I do want to know is that he took off his jacket. I don't care that he went to the cleaners or didn't wear his heavy coat. All this does is slow the story down and cause snoring. Kindness gets it a 3.0 rating.
(review of free book)