Death Never Sleeps by E.J. Simon

This was included in the box of books I got from Get Red PR.  I had high hopes for this book as I liked the premise of the novel but it fell a bit flat for me.

Alex Nicholas is a bookie and loan shark living in New York City.  He leads a life that crosses over the moral and legal limits continuously and that life eventually gets him killed.  His brother Michael is the exact opposite; pillar of society, happily married man and successful businessman.  After Alex’s untimely death, Michael is pulled into his brother’s life in an effort to clean up his messes and provide for Alex’s family.  The problem is that Alex is not as dead as Michael thinks he is!

This is a story about family, values and artificial intelligence.  It should be a fascinating read and in some parts it is.   There is good information about the development of AI (artificial intelligence) and how it could impact society over time.  But the story didn’t really flow for me.  Each scene seemed to be set in a different restaurant in New York or Paris; there is lots of eating and drinking in this book!  There is an over -abundance of swearing in my opinion.  I just don’t think it’s necessary to portray every bad character with a curse word.   At times it felt a bit one dimensional; like reading a script.   There needed to be some life put into the conversations and action.

This is Simon’s first novel so some of the flatness could just be inexperience.   I’m sure that this will be a series so I’ll read the next book and hope that the writing improves somewhat.