The Store
Author: James Patterson & Richard Dilallo
Published by: Arrow Books
Pages: 355
Format Paperback
My Rating ★★1/2
The Store doesn’t just want your money – it wants your soul. Imagine a future of unparalleled convenience. A powerful retailer, The Store, can deliver anything to your door, anticipating the needs and desires you didn’t even know you had.
Most people are fine with that, but not Jacob and Megan Brandeis. New York writers whose livelihood is on the brink of extinction, Jacob and Megan are going undercover to dig up The Store’s secrets. But after a series of unsettling discoveries, their worst fears about The Store seem like just the beginning.
Harbouring a secret that could get him killed, Jacob has to find a way to escape The Store’s watchful eye and publish his exposé– before the truth dies with him.
My thoughts:
When I first picked up a copy of The Store, I was really excited to start reading. The plot sounded great, and I had heard so many positive things about James Patterson’s books. I must admit that I hadn’t read much of his work prior to reading The Store.
The book was based around a really interesting idea, where an Amazon-like company is trying to take over the world by watching and controlling people in their day-to-day lives. In all honesty, this book really could have been titled ‘Amazon’ instead of trying to hide the various comparisons as if we couldn’t spot them a mile away. I just didn’t feel that it was developed as well as it could have been. In my opinion The Store was unfortunately an obvious example of great potential very much gone to waste. The characters felt mostly two-dimensional and difficult to warm to, and the plot was not nearly as interesting or complex as it should have been. I was really surprised at how the story progression actually felt fairly amateurish throughout, and the writing itself was pretty clunky.
I had expected this one to be a quick read, but it really took me quite a while to get through it, and I found the whole thing quite difficult to finish. However, by the final page I realised that the book actually felt strangely short. I think this was due to the ending, which features a major plot twist that felt odd, extremely rushed, and just too farfetched to me. I was hoping for something thought provoking and unsettling from this read, but was left feeling disappointed.
On the other hand, I was intrigued by the ideas behind it, and so I feel I must give The Store at least a two star rating. The exploration about the direction society and technology is heading in was interesting, but there was ultimately no real message that the book communicated. Maybe there was supposed to be a message in there, before it got completely lost with such a poor ending?
The Store (sort of) works as a creepy futuristic look at life in the modern world, but overall I found myself fairly bored throughout pretty much this whole book. In fairness, it was definitely a good idea and concept but the delivery felt messy and unpolished. The ending plot twist was the final straw for me, and I was relieved when I could finally stop reading. I’m not trying to be harsh, but it turned out this book just really wasn’t for me.
Considering what an established and successful author James Patterson clearly is, I think that perhaps this one was simply an example of him having kind of an off day. I’m sure I’ll give his other works a try in future.
Overall reaction:
Published by: Arrow Books
Pages: 355
Format Paperback
My Rating ★★1/2
The Store doesn’t just want your money – it wants your soul. Imagine a future of unparalleled convenience. A powerful retailer, The Store, can deliver anything to your door, anticipating the needs and desires you didn’t even know you had.
Most people are fine with that, but not Jacob and Megan Brandeis. New York writers whose livelihood is on the brink of extinction, Jacob and Megan are going undercover to dig up The Store’s secrets. But after a series of unsettling discoveries, their worst fears about The Store seem like just the beginning.
Harbouring a secret that could get him killed, Jacob has to find a way to escape The Store’s watchful eye and publish his exposé– before the truth dies with him.
My thoughts:
When I first picked up a copy of The Store, I was really excited to start reading. The plot sounded great, and I had heard so many positive things about James Patterson’s books. I must admit that I hadn’t read much of his work prior to reading The Store.
The book was based around a really interesting idea, where an Amazon-like company is trying to take over the world by watching and controlling people in their day-to-day lives. In all honesty, this book really could have been titled ‘Amazon’ instead of trying to hide the various comparisons as if we couldn’t spot them a mile away. I just didn’t feel that it was developed as well as it could have been. In my opinion The Store was unfortunately an obvious example of great potential very much gone to waste. The characters felt mostly two-dimensional and difficult to warm to, and the plot was not nearly as interesting or complex as it should have been. I was really surprised at how the story progression actually felt fairly amateurish throughout, and the writing itself was pretty clunky.
I had expected this one to be a quick read, but it really took me quite a while to get through it, and I found the whole thing quite difficult to finish. However, by the final page I realised that the book actually felt strangely short. I think this was due to the ending, which features a major plot twist that felt odd, extremely rushed, and just too farfetched to me. I was hoping for something thought provoking and unsettling from this read, but was left feeling disappointed.
On the other hand, I was intrigued by the ideas behind it, and so I feel I must give The Store at least a two star rating. The exploration about the direction society and technology is heading in was interesting, but there was ultimately no real message that the book communicated. Maybe there was supposed to be a message in there, before it got completely lost with such a poor ending?
The Store (sort of) works as a creepy futuristic look at life in the modern world, but overall I found myself fairly bored throughout pretty much this whole book. In fairness, it was definitely a good idea and concept but the delivery felt messy and unpolished. The ending plot twist was the final straw for me, and I was relieved when I could finally stop reading. I’m not trying to be harsh, but it turned out this book just really wasn’t for me.
Considering what an established and successful author James Patterson clearly is, I think that perhaps this one was simply an example of him having kind of an off day. I’m sure I’ll give his other works a try in future.
Overall reaction: