Hollow Man

I received an ARC of this book for free through a First Reads giveaway.

It took about 150 pages for this book to grab me. When it did, it ended up being pretty interesting, but there's a problem when that takes over half the book to happen. The writing itself is very good, good enough to interest me in reading Mark Pryor's other books. The protagonist is a sociopath, and he's not easy to like, but that's the point. By the end I began to understand him, if not actually like him. I can't say it wasn't a bit of a barrier to my enjoyment, but it definitely added something fresh to the story (though I don't think it was necessary to have him constantly mention how he doesn't get people/has no feelings).

The ending was fairly good, but some of the late-game details felt completely out-of-the-blue. The topic of pedophilia became such a big part of the ending, despite absolutely no foreshadowing beforehand. It felt like a last-ditch effort to "redeem" the main character. "Oh, he had his reasons" sort of thing.

It's not the most original crime book, but it's pretty well-written. I just came away unimpressed.