A few years ago, a reader reviewer of The Rockland Horror complained, “I’m not sure I would have read this if I knew [sic] it started in the late 1800s…”
That’s fair enough. Some readers like period novels, some don’t.
But the reader put himself (and me, I suppose—as I aim to please) through an unnecessary ordeal. The opening line of The Rockland Horror’s book description begins, “One night in March 1882..”
The Rockland Horror is very much billed as a historical horror series. All the reader had to do was to read the book description.
But who am I to judge? I, too, have been guilty of failing to read a book description. I recently ordered a copy of The Scary States of America: 50 Weird and Terrifying Stories Based on True Events by Michael Teitelbaum.
I assumed that I would be getting a nonfiction book about paranormal phenomena throughout the USA. That is, after all, what the title suggests.
What I got, however, was a work of (fictional) juvenile ghost stories.
The stories are written from the perspective not of Teitelbaum, but of Jason Specter—a fictional 12-year-old boy whose tone oscillates between that of an adolescent and a middle-aged man.
It did not seem to be a bad book, just a bad book for me. This is the kind of fare I would have enjoyed when I was nine.
But at the ripe old age of 57, alas, I simply couldn’t endure a full-length book written for a reading age of 8 to 12 years. I passed out of that territory around the time Ronald Reagan was first elected POTUS. I therefore gave The Scary States of America a (very) brief try, and then set it aside.
I did not write an Amazon review to complain about my misfortune though. Caveat emptor.
I could quibble with some aspects of the book’s packaging. The title doesn’t sound particularly juvenile. There were some ambiguities in the book’s description. The cover, moreover, looks like that of an adult/general audience book.
But I could have saved myself the trouble and expense had I only bothered to read the full details about The Scary States of America on the book’s description page. The age range for the book is indicated near the bottom of the book description. According to the last clear chance doctrine, I had an opportunity to avoid what happened…if only I’d paid a little more attention.
There are lessons here, for both publishers and readers:
1.) Publishers should always make sure that readers know exactly what they will be getting, because readers can and will complain—even when they should have known better.
2.) Readers, on the other hand, should always read the book descriptions—even though the most important aspect of a book (such as it being geared toward an 8-12 demographic) may be buried in the fine print.
-ET