Review: Perfect Bait

Title: Perfect Bait
Author: Michael Fowlkes
Publication Date: May 18, 2012
Source: NetGalley
Summary (from Goodreads)
A spellbinding thriller, as suspenseful as it is sensual.

The richly-textured settings of Seattle's commercial waterfront, San Diego's topless beaches and the breathtaking waters off Cabo San Lucas create the backdrop for a riveting story of love, romance and betrayal, as a young couple find themselves in a fight for their lives having been set up by the FBI as perfect bait. 

Perfect Bait was not really what I was expecting. The summary on NetGalley sounded great and caught my attention instantly, but the book was a slow read until about 60% of the way in. For me, that’s where the story really started to get going and finally got interesting.

It’s told in first person POV by Corey Phillips. What irritated me, though, was it still had several other POV’s in it. And unless Corey is also psychic, it just didn’t make any sense for one character to tell the story in first person, yet also tell what was going on with another character when he wasn’t even around. The book really should have been written in third person if the author wanted to have the extra POV’s.

Another reason this book caught my eye was because it’s labeled Erotica. It’s not erotica. Yes, there are one or two descriptive sex scenes, but most are just glossed over, and there’s nothing erotic about any of it. It’s more of a murder mystery/thriller. There are violent scenes, but again, not as graphic as some reviews say. The author didn’t go into great detail about the murders, he just told what happened. Same thing with the rapes—yes, the book mentions rape. But there is no detail to it, so don’t let that turn you off. It’s just talked about. A lot.

Like I said, the book didn’t really get interesting until about 60% through. I felt most of the first half really could have been cut. We’re told about Corey’s childhood, his failed marriage, meeting Jennifer, finding and fixing the boat—which  had more detail than any other part of the book. I was kinda bored reading all that. Sure there were things a reader should have known, but other parts just made the book drag on for almost 400 pages.

I liked how Jennifer and Jaz were strong female characters. I didn’t like how they just went along with whatever the guys wanted from them and nothing seemed to ever bother them. I know that sounds like a contradiction to them being strong, but it really isn’t. They had their own thoughts and did what they wanted and didn’t take any shit, but still when it came to the men everything was just perfect and they could do no wrong. Like when Jennifer finds out Corey is married. She has a thirty second, “OMG you’re married” freak out and then all is well again.

It’s well written, don’t get me wrong. This being the first novel I’ve read by Michael Fowlkes I think he’s a good writer. But this book just didn’t do it for me, really. The reason I wanted it turned out not to be true (Erotica) and the summary of the book didn’t get started until the book was almost over, and then it was wrapped up pretty quickly.

**Copy provided by NetGalley