Review: Macklin

Macklin by Dale Mayer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’ve read a few Dale Mayer novels, across a number of her series, and find it to be a bit of hit or miss. Some of the author’s books I have really enjoyed, others I find myself disinterested in. It is possible I would have a better time if I were to read each series in order, but most of the books work perfectly fine as standalone novels. Due to this, I think it’s just a reflection of Dale Mayer as a writer – sometimes the books will hit the mark, other times I will be left feeling cheated. With Macklin, I was given the latter.

Macklin is the fourteenth book in the SEALs of Honor series, although it works perfectly fine as a standalone novel. There are characters in this book who have had their story told, or are going to have their story told, in other books throughout the series, but they are side characters and you do not need to know their stories to understand what happens throughout Macklin. It has a start and an end, with all the necessary details being provided throughout.

In truth, I was rather intrigued by this one. It had such a promising story, but it failed to hit the mark. There was a mystery throughout, but there seemed to be a lot of information that left us bored by what was happening. Considering the events within this story, we should have been given lots of action. Rather than being sucked into all the events, I found myself forcing my way through lots of solid walls of text and unnecessary conversational exchanges. It wasn’t the fast-paced book I would have liked, nor was it as action packed as I had hoped for such a story.

I could have dealt with such an issue had I been pulled into the romantic element of the story – but I didn’t care. I never felt anything towards either of the characters. I was watching events play out, I knew something was developing, but I never felt any chemistry. They simply came together and that was that.

With my romantic suspense books, I want to feel the suspense and the romance, but both were lacking in this one.

View all my reviews