I was just flicking through reviews of my books on Amazon.com (as needy authors are wont to do occasionally) and came across the quote below from a disgruntled reader (who actually did enjoy the book). I'm not grumbling, each to their own opinion. But I am surprised at how much killing off a character impacted on him. He jokingly mentioned almost throwing his Kindle across the room because I wasn't there to beat up.
"This is a great book, but I purely hate author's screwing up good books and stories by killing off characters just for the he'll of it. I was a fan of Matt Hilton's books, but I am through with anything with his name on it from this day forward. Unfortunately, if you are reading this review, you'll have to read the book to see what I'm so upset about."
I think he was referring to Kate Piers in Slash and Burn. If only he knew that it was an editorial decision and not originally mine to kill off Kate he might not be as upset with me. Any way, if he does go back and read the following books, he will see how Kate's death became an important motivator for Joe in the subsequent books, so it was not a worthless "just for the hell of it" death after all. sadly, he's decided he's through with anything with my name on it, so he'll likely never know.
Wow. The power of books, eh?
