Now only four remain: each sharing a common loss that threatens to destroy them all.
A Common Loss is the follow up to Kirsten Tranter's glorious debut, The Legacy. It is a tense melodrama underpinned by mystery and paranoia, set against the mesmerizing backdrop of modern day Las Vegas.
This book was a struggle to get through, to say the least. I persevered because I could feel it slowly building to something big. Only it never did. It was such a let down.
The beginning was painfully slow with many largely irrelevant chunks. When the friends finally arrived in Vegas I thought Alright, now things are gonna get going! Sadly, I was mistaken.
The author cleverly avoided having to write about complicated aspects of the problems faced by the four main characters by having the main character (it was written in first person) conveniently otherwise occupied at the times when much of the planning and problem solving was going on; he just came in and was basically told "Okay, here's what we're gonna do".
Speaking of problem-solving, the conflict was tied up far too tidily. I was shocked. Had I been in their situation, I would have spent a good portion of time freaking out, hopefully eventually coming to a successful resolution, and then I'd be paranoid about it for the rest of my life, unable to return to my happy little existence.
In short, only read this book if you enjoy coming home and smelling the warm, delicious scent of apple pie baking in the oven, only to discover it is simply a scented candle your spouse just lit. Disappointment.
