2nd Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published eBook Awards

Entry Title: Deliberate Deceit
Author: Mitchell R. Stevens
Judge Number: 43
Entry Category: Genre Fiction

Books are evaluated on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 meaning “needs improvement” and 5 meaning “outstanding”.

Structure, Organization, and Pacing: 5
Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar: 4
Production Quality and Cover Design: 4
Plot and Story Appeal: 5
Character Appeal and Development: 5
Voice and Writing Style: 4

Judge’s Commentary:

What a great title and great cover!  I was really drawn right into the plot and although it was not totally original it was extremely well written.  This author is a solid storyteller with a real future in political thriller writing.

The thing that did surprise me was the hint of romance in the novel.  It was both unexpected and quite nice, in my opinion.  I think this novel could easily be converted into a successful screen play.  Very impressive from beginning to end and worthy of a mention is the author’s skill at keeping the reader hooked.

Nice pacing. nice mix of narrative and dialogue and well-developed characters.  Their motivations remained clear and realistic throughout.  Smooth transitions make for mostly flawless reading.  I would caution the author to watch for white space on the page.  What I mean by this is the author’s tendency to write long, chunky style paragraphs with no breaks or pause in the narrative.  I would have liked to have taken a literary breath now and then.

Really, other than that, it was hard to find fault with this entry.  Just really impressive and enjoyable throughout.  I hope to read more from this author in the future.