Roses & Thorns

Roses & Thorns

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Imposters of Patriotism by Ted Richardson

Blurb:

Savannah, Georgia antiques store owner Matt Hawkins discovers a two-hundred-year-old journal containing a stunning accusation. The journal claims that America’s most revered hero, George Washington, wrote a secret surrender letter to the British during the Revolutionary War—a seditious act that would have ended America’s fight for independence.

Meanwhile, the present-day race for president of the United States is a dead heat. The Republican nominee, a direct descendant of Washington’s family, has shamelessly exploited his ties to the Founding Father—a strategy that has worked brilliantly to eliminate a once-wide gap in the polls. As the past collides with the present, Hawkins and lovely historian Sarah Gordon are determined to unearth the truth about the journal’s remarkable claim. But they must avoid a shadowy adversary who has a billion dollars riding on the election’s outcome—and who will stop at nothing to ensure that Washington’s surrender letter remains a secret.

Review by Rochelle Weber:

Imposters of Patriotism had a good plot and well-drawn characters. It was engaging and kept me turning the pages, but I had issues with the editing. The book came with the caveat that it was an Advanced Reading Copy and had not gone through the final galley edits, but the issues I found were things that should be addressed in the content editing rounds. I noticed it was self-published when I went to the book’s Amazon page to get the buy-link, so maybe Mr. Richardson is not familiar with content edits.

When a book is released through a publisher, it goes through three types of editing—content editing, line or copy editing, and galley edits. In content editing, we address issues such as info drops (show; don’t tell); head-hopping (changing point-of-view in the middle of a scene); use of passive verbs instead of active (had been done instead of doing); general wordiness; overuse of dialog tags and certain words and phrases such as “that,” “began to,” etc. The second type of editing, line or copy editing, is straight spelling and grammar. By the time a book gets to galley edits, it should be pristine and all that should be left is the occasional typo.

Imposters of Patriotism was rife with head-hops, it was wordy, and had some superfluous dialog tags as well as uses of the word “that.” It could have been tightened by a good content editor. Still, it was a good, entertaining read. I definitely recommend it.

Length:  349 Pages
Prices:
Print:  $11.19
Digital:  $4.99

Thanks for visiting. Julie, Donna, & Rochelle

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