Without Sanction By Don Bentley

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I've seen a few reviews talking about how this is the best debut novel of 2020 thus far. I have to disagree. Although I really enjoyed this book, it didn't blow me away. There was a ton of research obviously, but there were a few things about this book that I didn't care for. For starters, there was one sentence that was repeated over and over throughout the book, which I can imagine was supposed to be a through-line for the book, but after the third time, I got tired of it.

This book also transitions between first-person POV and third-person. I really do like and enjoy first-person, third-person, and a combination like this one. I did find, however, that there didn't seem to be near as much first-person chapters as the other. This somewhat detracted from the story, as you were able to see what was happening outside of the protagonists POV. I've found that first-person novels need to be more of a protagonist finding things out along with the reader.

I did think this novel was great, but I can't say it is in my top for the year, but I applaud this great debut novel.


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