Wild Instinct: A Novel

I’m sad to say that this book didn’t work for me. Pacing is quite slow. I felt like the story dragged unnecessarily, and I was often bored while waiting for something relevant to happen. Contributing to this slow pace was the onslaught of backstories about the main characters, regarding their relationships and family drama. This was especially true of Mendez, Gale’s partner, who was obsessed with tracking her teenage son and trying to get the boy’s father to acknowledge him (and her). The situation and her personality made it difficult to like or even empathize with her. I love stories that incorporate Native American history. But here I felt like the content was written with an agenda, like the history and politics were being forced on me separate from the story itself. It just didn’t flow naturally. The investigation got swallowed up within all the extra stuff. In general, this book felt like a lot of setup for future books in the series. I listened to the audiobook. The narrator was fine. I kept upping the speed because he speaks slowly (or the mix is slow) and I was oh so bored. *Thanks to Macmillan Audio for the free audiobook download*