The ultimate “woman written by a man” book. Lordie. 

This could have been a great story, but I just could not get over the  “badass” characterization of Miriam. She’s a woman who can see how a person dies after a single touch, and drifts around seedy motels and dive bars, waiting for those deaths to happen to rob the corpses. 

The premise? It’s a very cool premise! The delivery? Not a very cool delivery at all! I mean, Miriam is the epitome of “girl a 12 year old boy would write to sound dangerous and sexy and cool”. She fucks, she cusses, she drinks, she doesn’t give a fuck about you! The ultimate “not like other girls” girl. 

I mean, Jesus, the dialogue was so cringey and lame, and her internal thoughts were just as bad. The author tried way too hard to make her a tough woman that he forgot there’s more to tough women than cussing and fucking—you have to actually write a person under all that! She felt so superficial and the story just felt juvenile as a result—which is a real shame, because I really really enjoyed the Wanderers books by Wendig and was excited to give this a try. 

Tip to readers—stick to his later stuff, after he learned that women are people.