Setting: 4 stars
I can see the uncared-for bachelor-esque office. There's an empty sense to the office, although there's an unkempt feel to the desk. It smells of fresh citrus, old dust, and an undertone something dank and musty. Although not specified, for some reason, the office feels hot and stuffy to me; I think an environmental tactile sensation would help the reader. All this is to say that I can drop right into your story and accompany the character around—although I'm not really sure whether to sweat or shiver.
Overall Theme: 4 stars
It's only 4 stars because it's not done yet; that's a given. I can tell it's going to include a to of elements of Robert Parker's
Spenser and the unexpectedly gifted cop in Dean Koontz's
Hardshell. The incorporation of horror/paranormal into a detective story can be tricky, but it's a nice cross-pollination of concepts when executed well. Judgment is is suspended in this case.
Characters: 4 stars
The characters are not yet defined enough for the reader to invest in them one way or the other.
Protagonist: The pessimistic but doggedly determined detective-without-a-name in your story is a pleasure to read, reinforcing the audience's desire to be a tough guy that is willing to do unpleasant and unlikely jobs. So far, he suffers from a lack of dimension, however. This may be addressed in future chapters, but right now he's kind of a cutout.
Antagonist: The menacing and supernatural enemy-without-a-face is not defined yet, either. That's because you're not done with the story yet; I get it.
Catalyst: Charlie, the customer-who-isn't-there is also without dimension. We are left wondering if it is Charlie
himself who is the bad guy. He drives the protagonist's action, leading to conflict with the antagonist, but there is too little of him yet for us to get a good grip on him, so to speak.
Character Interaction: 3 stars
Detective: The detective is much too accepting of a ghost in his office. Unless he has dealt with the paranormal before, he probably would have soiled himself. Gamely going along with a disembodied voice's desires rings incomplete and too much for the audience to willingly suspend disbelief. Also, the detective is broke; he'd not only demand but also
need the money up front to facilitate his investigation.
Charlie: This former person doesn't even try to explain himself in any detail or put the live human at ease. He seems to expect the detective to simply accept a ghostly customer at face value.
The Bad Dude: While the repetition of "punk" a few times lends a certain dry humor to the situation, the menacing non-entity seems to overuse it a bit, assigning a cowardly or underhanded attribute to the detective that has not yet even been intimated. Otherwise, since the story is just getting started, he (or she) is still too undefined to love or hate.
Action: 4.5 stars
The details of the peeling the oranges and struggling to cut the excessive crime scene tape give a unique feel to this. Just the office, a trip across town, and entering a door would have been far too little to be interesting. As another detail (
this is editorial opinion only), perhaps the detective is so broke from his business drought that he
has no car and has to take a taxi for transportation, setting up some obstacles for later in the story. Purely an unsolicited thought.
Writing Style: 3.5
Your sentences, most of them anyway, are very short and choppy. I am thinking this might be to emulate the
noir style.
"The door was closed. It was hot. And the blond across from me only made the room hotter." That staccato rhythm fits
noir well. Used so constantly, however, it gives the story a simple feel, rather hinting to the reader that it's going to be boring or tedious.
Your paragraph breaks are very good, though, and the vocabulary you use fits the private detective style perfectly.
The depth of each scene is lacking for me. It feels very high-level. It moves fast, has little detail, and offers almost no explanation about the paranormal aspects of it. I recognize that it is likely because the work is still under construction.
Presentation: 5 stars
Your font size and line-spacing made this very comfortable to read. That's very important to me, and has turned me off some works that have probably been very good otherwise. Excellent choices.
Overall Thoughts:
Would you believe, after all that, I quite like the story? I'm a casual fan of detective stories, enjoying many of the
Spenser novels and his own ironic sense of humor. So I am interested to see where this goes and to stop in from time to time to see the progress. As the story develops and you make choices (or not) to edit or adjust, I will likely leave other reviews, which will erase this one and make it obsolete. This review is only evaluating
the story as it stands right now!