Wow! That fish is smelly!

I wanted to blog about this because it's something that really gets my goat.

So, there's this author who has published her fourth book, an author I've been very loyal to. I have three of her books (one paperback, two hardcovers), with the fourth on its way. Apart from these, I also have three digital editions of the same books, which I bought because it takes about a week for my orders to arrive from Amazon and I simply could not wait.

Now, her first two books were great reads, especially the first. But then comes the third book and something about it seemed off. After reading the book several times, I had to be honest with myself and admit that the quality of writing wasn't the same as the previous ones.

Then came the fourth book and this one was even worse than the third: I can never enjoy a book with an unlikeable main character. And I rarely, if ever, review books, even ones that I like! Mostly because I'm shy that way and I'm not very good with words. But since I enjoyed the first and second book so much, I had to write something about this decline of quality. My review of the third book could be taken either way (good/bad) because it takes a LOT for me to turn my back on an author that I like. (If you are JKR, it took me five books before I realised that there was no light at the end of the tunnel.)

But I couldn't bring myself to give the fourth book the same treatment, this time I was critical of the main character, which can be summed up in a few words: Honey, get off your high horse.

That done, I take a look at the other reviews, and there was something about it that I couldn't put my finger on. There's always something suspicious about too many 5-star reviews that contain little variety in its praise. But I just shrug it off because these things do happen.

Then I come across one of the critical reviews, a review which sums up most of my feelings about the book (though my review focused on a different aspect). I saw that there were a lot of comments on this particular review, so I click on the link ... and , wow, this reviewer takes an awful beating! And from no one rational, mind you.

If there is one thing I hate about these kinds of attacks, it's the irrational behaviour of a group of people who are not at all open for discussion--they simply want you to agree with them. They may claim otherwise, but who are they fooling?

There was someone else who thought that there was something suspect about this rabid mob, and after digging around, found some interesting links. It turns out that one of the pack is a published author, who happens to be on friendly terms with the author of the books I just reviewed (though I've had no nasty comments on my review so far).

It's safe to assume who the rest of the rabid bunch are: the author's BFF.

Now, the author whose book I reviewed may not have joined the pack in this case, but the links that one poster provided shows that she is about as blindly loyal (which differs from just being loyal!) as the rest of the pack of bullies she runs with.

So it doesn't take me long to add my comment, too, saying in no uncertain terms that I will not spend my hard-earned cash on this author's future books. One can only hope the author is wise enough to call off her dogs before she loses more of her readers.

Edit: This is a good read about an author going apeshit on an Amazon reviewer.