The Tracker - Leslie Georgeson

The Tracker by Leslie Georgeson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've changed my mind about five times about how many stars to give this book. The storyline kept me gripped and I really liked the characters. That would usually result in a good four stars, but, unfortunately, this time, there were a few things that stopped me from giving it.
As I started by saying, the storyline was certainly gripping and I was keen to know how it was going to play out. Set in what I assume is a future dystopia, this book has elements of sci-fi and the paranormal. The 'Dregs' are ex-soldiers who were engineered and experimented on in order to make them the ultimate soldiers, before being discarded once injured. They had been supposed to be killed, but escaped instead and are now on the run. This worked really well and all of the Dregs have something about them, which makes you want them to win through and get their freedom and happiness. The female lead, Jessica, is also interesting and likeable. She is a little too willing to fall into the cooking and cleaning for her man role, but she has something about her that makes her really quite likeable.
Unfortunately, where this book falls down a bit for me, is in the actual writing. On the whole, it isn't bad, but far too often there is too much telling and not nearly enough showing. Just a little more action, rather than telling us what people were feeling or thinking would have made the world of difference to the storyline. The other problem, which links to this in a way, was the repetition. Quite often we would be told what someone was worrying about, only to be told three, four and sometimes even more times, the same thing, just using different words. Some repetition helps to reinforce what the writer is trying to show us, but over and over again is unnecessary.
I did enjoy this book and feel a bit mean that I'm being quite critical, but sometimes a good book that has something small that detracts is much worse than a book that is awful from start to finish. I would be keen to read the other books in the series. Partly in the hope that the writing improves, but also because I do want to know what will happen to the other characters.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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