WITCH DOCTOR'S VENGEANCE - Andy L Semple

This will be a lukewarm review, although I can't entirely put my finger on why.  It wasn't a bad book but I think it has some genre identity issues.  It is touted as an action thriller, but there's too much of the "thriller" getting in the way of the action, and there's too much explained or telegraphed too early to build the suspense of a really good thriller.

Premature exposition aside, the characters are mostly one dimensional, bordering on caricature.  I'll admit the number of Australian authors I read is small, but sometimes I find the dialogue seems over-laden with profanity and okkerisms which stand out like dogs' balls (irony intended).  Very little of it felt real.

And the last few chapters were a pretty blatant setting of the ground work for a sequel rather than a good stopping point in the story.

I guess I put my finger on "why" after all.

I wouldn't call it an especially good book - the best rating I can give it is a very Australian, "Not bad."