Leaving feedback on Amazon...

[psychotick]

Hi,

Well before it ends one more bit of fun. I saw this over on kindle boards, and its probably the worst, most innappropriate review I've ever heard of where the criticism has absolutely nothing to do with the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Peek-a-boo-Its-the-Police-ebook/dp/B004VMOFNQ/ref=sr_1_227?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1332455259&sr=1-227#_

It almost makes me want to read the book, it's simply so bad!

Cheers, Greg.

[Triceratops]

Depends on your source/reviewer. Those flybys that post negative jabs are just that, comments intended to make your blood boil or bring attention to the comment poster. Personally, I think you should blank out all 5 and 1-star reviews and catch the middle ground. I've had a few friends adorn me with fives and it kind of bothers me. OTOH, I got a 2-star that just threw me for a loop in its vindictiveness and out-right misquotes, wild theories, sexist charges and cut-throat accusations.

Take 'em with a huge bag of salt, and not personally.

chris

[Montero]

Originally Posted by psychotick

Hi,

Well before it ends one more bit of fun. I saw this over on kindle boards, and its probably the worst, most innappropriate review I've ever heard of where the criticism has absolutely nothing to do with the book.

http://www.amazon.com/Peek-a-boo-Its-the-Police-ebook/dp/B004VMOFNQ/ref=sr_1_227?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1332455259&sr=1-227#_

It almost makes me want to read the book, it's simply so bad!

Cheers, Greg.

Review seems to be gone.

[Ursa major]

To date, I've only placed one review of a book on Amazon; I gave the book 5 stars because I believed that it deserved them (and said why this was). My view of the book's merits was the reason I bothered to post on Amazon in the first place.

I doubt I'll ever be placing 1- or 2-star reviews on Amazon. Life's too short to waste my time on writing about books I don't like. (To be fair, there's a thread here on the Chrons about which books people found to be really bad; I posted something there, but that's something different: something for this community.)

[psychotick]

Hi,

I'm not surprised it was taken down. It was pure bile by an angry ex. But there's still a lesson there - don't let your ex find out that you wrote a book!

So here's the actual review in all its inane glory.

"Rick,

I finally had time to read your book.I have never heard of so many lies come out of one persons mouth and put into words. I was very shocked with this book. You did not change names. You stretched and changed stories to make you look good and the police department. You have proven that you have always had the cop mentality. All lies to make you look good and to fit thesituation sotheciviliansarealwayswrong. You are no better than the criminals. How about all the other stories that was so crooked that all of you should have been in jail. I have those memories, I have those stories, I have my words of the situations. You have inspiredme to bea published author.Thebookhasbeen started. Name of the book is "Wife behind the Badge". Inspired by the book Peek-A-B00, It's the police By Rick Holder. No matter your little clause. All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental. You are a piece of work and that is not good. I will be purchasing more books and these will besent to the families and police departments. I think they all would enjoy reading your story. When finished I will send them my book as well.

You have twisted so much around. Your wife being dead. LIE!You being shot on duty. Lie! Other stories all lies!!! I saved your *ss when we were car jacked. I went through your whole recovery from the beginning to the end. Your whole lifeisa lie.No mention of your son, first wife, mother, brother and all the other women you were with while you were married and on duty as a police officer. Am I descrentalNO! Just p*ssed off that you lied so much. You have gone mentally crazy. What ever fantasy land your in. You should stay there. I will also be sending this book to my family. They are already surprised at what I have read to them on the phone. Not happy.

You are the main reason why people call the police "pigs". You are a "pig". You give the police departments a bad name.

Good luck with your life. It will allbea lie anyway.

You wondered why we got divorced!! Think about it. Our marriage was a lie. You drove me out and away with all your fantasies,cheating, lies,etc. Detailsto follow. No thatI havethisoffmy chest. I can moveon in therealworld.

May God be with you,

Heidi (your still living x-wife.) Bcc: sent as well of this email"


Don't laugh too loud.

Cheers, Greg.

[Stephen Palmer]

Check this out:

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/on...rn-guns-o.html

[psychotick]

Hi,

Fascinating, but I don't think it'll help us so much. Most of our reviews as far as I know, are from individuals acting alone or maybe with a couple of friends. They haven't really organised themselves (crossing fingers mentally) into groups to go out and really destroy books or writers. That may be coming though.

Cheers,Greg.

[Warren_Paul]

That's a pretty spiteful letter. You have to wonder if it really is genuine though, because honestly, this is the internet and anyone can make up anything they want and we have no way to prove the truth.

It sounds more like trolling to me, just the way it is written screams troll.

[psychotick]

Hi,

Sometimes people describe their ex's as trolls! My thought, not knowing either of these people, is that it's genuine. A stranger wouldn't come out with that personal stuff. But I could be wrong.

My real question though, is to wonder why they got divorced. I mean it seems to me that they were the perfect couple!!!

Cheers, Greg.

[Stephen Palmer]

Don't trolls turn to stone if the sun shines on them?

[Warren_Paul]

Originally Posted by psychotick

Hi,

Sometimes people describe their ex's as trolls! My thought, not knowing either of these people, is that it's genuine. A stranger wouldn't come out with that personal stuff. But I could be wrong.

My real question though, is to wonder why they got divorced. I mean it seems to me that they were the perfect couple!!!

Cheers, Greg.

He specifically says in the introduction that he changed bits of the story and characters to avoid causing any dramas or getting himself in trouble. A lot of good it did him...

I suspect she is one of those people where no matter what you say, you can't win.

[psychotick]

Hi,

Obviously he should have started by changing his name!

Cheers, Greg.

[Montero]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

Never trust a 5 star review - nothing is that perfect.

I want to know the flaws, the problems, the criticisms - then I know what I have to deal with - whatever the product being sold.

This pulled me up a little the first time I read it, decided to come back and comment - in polite semi-disagreement.
I too want to know the downside of something in a review, but I don't think that 5 stars is an impossible target.

Reason is - used to know someone who amongst other things had the job of overseeing the marking scheme and the marks given for an GCE exam board. He got terribly frustrated that the examiners for art, english and history wouldn't use the full mark range. The lowest they tended to give was 25%, the highest 75%.
He'd say to them "could you expect a better painting from an O level student". "No" "Well give it 100% then!" "Oh we couldn't do that"

So I've got a bit of at "thing" about using the full mark range.

Continuing the thought in particular regarding context of the marks - at the moment I'm reading a military sf. These do tend to follow a formula to a certain extent, and don't often have a "hey that's truly original" moment, but in its classification it is pretty good, well written, interesting aliens, good storytelling, I like the characters and depending on how it ends I'd be varying between 4.5 and 5 on the review at the moment, as I'm enjoying it. Very likely to read the sequel.

But if you were to put it on a scale where to get a 5 it had to be a truly original piece of literature with astounding prose, then it would probably be a 3.

So now I want to add a button that says "great light entertainment" to my desire for a button that says "good but not to my taste".

[Vertigo]

I have exactly that problem when I'm scoring books in my own database. I read a cracking space opera that I thoroughly enjoy and give it a five. Then I stop and think is it really as good as some of the great classics I've read, for example something like John Wynham) and of course the answer is no, although they might both be SF they are, in fact, such different types of books that it's not reasonable to make that comparison. Now that is fine for my own database I can mentally make the necessary qualification, but it's much harder with a book I've not read being rated by someone I don't know.

I take those star rating with a very large pinch of salt and look instead for the review that can express the qualities of the book with considered words (rather rare I find!).

[thaddeus6th]

Argh. I keep forgetting to do this.

Amazon sent me a reminder about one book or other, and I could barely remember what I thought of it...