Beneath the Rising

This book started off well and I was really enjoying the voice of the narrator and the banter between him and Joanna, (Johnny). However, as the story progressed, my interest began to wane. For nearly the entire book, the main characters never really developed past a "YA" sensibility. Their banter, which was fun at first, began to grate, (prediction: many of the pop-culture references will not stand the test of time). There were also just too many convenient coincidences and narrow escapes - and too many continuity errors. Seriously, how can an author state that both characters have their hands cuffed behind their backs and a few paragraphs later one of them knocks two cops unconscious and then 'grabs' the other 'by the front of their shirt' and hauls them toward the door? After making good their escape by running through the streets and hiding in an alley, they use the sunglasses Johnny stole from one of the cops she knocked out to pick the locks on their handcuffs, thereby confirming that they were still restrained the entire time. Sorry but that is simply lazy writing and poor proof-reading as it should have been caught by a competent editor - or at least during beta reads. It may seem as though I'm being too harsh, but this type of thing will pull me out of a story in an instant, and I find it difficult to get back in because now I'm looking for more issues, (and finding them), rather than simply enjoying the story. Ah, well...

At about 30% in, I was leaning toward a 7 or 8 out of 10, but ended up at a very average 5 out of 10 - and now I'm thinking that was probably too generous. Feeling disappointed as I was really liking this one at first.