Sunday Synopsis-Suitcase Girl

Suitcase Girl by Ty Hutchinson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This book is not as good as you may anticipate based on the hype about it.

The worst thing about this book is it doesn't end. Literally. It stops without a resolution, so to find out what happened to the characters in the end, not only do you have to read one more book, but two, and I'm just not going to do that. If it were a better story, I would.

I wasn't "feeling" this book to begin with, and I could tell they were headed down the "cloning" road, but when the story became too science fictionish, I was mentally finished. It was extremely unbelievable in addition to having no resolution.

There were many times I noticed awkward grammar. Every time they described a murder, the words "shot dead" were used. Couldn't they say shot and killed, or even just killed or murdered, or a euphemism for it like "blown away." The words " shot dead" should not appear in any book in excess of 20 times. There is other awkward language such as, "I and my fellow police officers..." Shouldn't it be, "My fellow police officers and I..." Just awkward.

Then there is the extremely far-fetched plot. It starts with a container ship that had air conditioning, snacks and meals, entertainment-of-sorts, along with 12 other Chinese women who were brought here as part of a sex-trafficking ring that would eventually be returned to China. There is also a girl, approximately age 11, in this shipment. The gate guard at the ship yard turns the other cheek by letting the vans in to collect the girls, and a dock worker moves the container to a safe and out-of-the-way area for them.

The little girl is stuffed in a suitcase and left in front of the FBI offices. Agent Abby Kane and her partner get involved and when the investigation grows, the task force also consists of local law-enforcement detectives. Abby takes the little girl home with her to see if she can get her to talk, and everyone notices how much the little girl looks like Abby. They also notice she speaks two distinct Chinese dialects.

In the meantime, another pair of criminals, twins of Asian descent, have orders to kill all of the women who were on the ship, the group in charge of the sex ring, and any other person who gets in their way, even if it means shooting an FBI agent. Orders from whom? Book one certainly doesn't tell the reader.

I find it hard to believe that a group of college dropouts could come up with an International sex trafficking plan all on their own, and not even realize they were putting themselves in danger. There is no way a group of misfits is able to coordinate this elaborate plan with Chinese criminals who are selling girls.

I also find it hard to believe that two men could kill the college dropout group, the girls, a doctor, and an FBI agent, and attempt to kill another agent and Suitcase Girl, all in a span of a few hours at four different places in broad daylight. Next, I find it hard to believe that a young boy would be the one to shoot the second bad guy when there were several agents and police officers already present at the scene. And last, I find it heard to believe that a lab had been able to clone Abby's DNA without her knowledge, much less consent, which is how they explain that Suitcase girl looks just like Abby. Because she is Abby!

What a convoluted tale.



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