The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I think that if you are a Veronica Mars fan than this book will appeal to you. I don’t think it has much to offer outside that niche market though. The story picks up a few months after the ending of the Veronica Mars movie but you really don’t need to know much of what happened in that to really understand this mystery. Basically, all you need to know is that Veronica is back in Neptune, and she’s helping run the private investigation business her Dad created. Logan is barely in this book at all and really if it wasn’t for all the background that we know about Veronica from the television show/movies, this would be a very shallow book.
Spring break is in full effect in Neptune and a girl disappears from a party. Veronica, through many channels and connections, ends up being the person hired to find out what happened to the young girl that is missing due to the incompetence of the Neptune police department. The majority of the book has Veronica visiting connected persons of interest to find out what happened. Things start to get even more serious when another girl ends up going missing. Yes, it is a rather simple plot that gets complicated at the end, but it delivers engagement.
This audiobook was probably a lot better than the actual book as the audiobook was narrated by Kristen Bell. Having the actual voice of Veronica telling me the story added a whole dimension to the story that really worked for me. The only thing is, taken as a whole, the story was forgettable; the story made no impact. When I finished, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “is that it?” I think this is a good library grab, deep discount grab, or a good overdrive download, but maybe keep your audible credit for something else.
3/5
12/25 Possible Score
3 – Plot
3 – Characters
2 – Setting
2 – Writing Style
2 – Heart & Mind Aspect