I finally finished Thirty Nights, and I'd give it a D. It's just that this book pushed all the wrong buttons. A rapist hero, a wimpy heroine, an improbable terrorism and science side-plot, too much sex... This was bad.

The set up could have been good (I myself have had similar fantasies), but it felt too much like forced sex. In their first confrontation, he did say he wouldn't allow her to leave, and even if he then claimed she knew she could have left if she had really wanted to, that sounded false to me. There was a whole undercurrent of dominance there that bugged me. And some things Hunter said were like: "you know you really want it" = the typical rapist's "she was asking for it" defence.

It also didn't help that I couldn't stand Gillian. I don't know, I guess I just wouldn't stand for a situation like that one. I also felt really insulted by the "I've never heard anything sadder in my life" crack she said when Hunter said he'd never fantasized about having children. I know it's a common attitude, but it bothered me. She was a bit pathetic.

I skimmed at full speed through the final 50 pages, and that is not good.