Plot: With the arrival of a mysterious jury summons, a man's life is thrust into a dizzying downward spiral: his fiancee leaves him, he has problems at work, and his best friend is suddenly nowhere to be found. As the jury trial approaches, who can he trust? Why does he suddenly feel that he has to defend his every move? And who exactly is Juror 13? Can he trust what he sees?

Review: Structurally speaking, Juror 13 is a straightforward story, that unfolds in a linearly manner, and culminates in a big twist. I normally dislike reviews that tell you there is a twist. But the flavor of review that does this that I especially dislike is when it presented as a hugely amazing thing. “The twist will blow your mind” type hyperbole. One, it probably won’t be and two, the reading journey is different when you know what to expect. So if I’m expecting to have my mind blown I’m looking for all the ways the narrative is trying to be surprising. When twists are executed well, they won’t affect revisits, and can even be enhanced in a revisit. The most frustrating twists are the ones that seem to come out of nowhere because the story needed an ending. Or maybe the ending was conceived first and the story was built for it. That can be a problem too.

That’s a lot of harumphing to say that the big reveal at the end of Juror 13 doesn’t fully work in a satisfying way. The main character is kind of a dud so he doesn’t fully work as the anchor of the story. His life woes are kind of ordinary. The characters are on the two dimensional side so they are compelling in their own right. They are there to serve the plot, and more specifically the big reveal.

The shorter length actually works to the benefit of the story because it doesn’t over stay its welcome. Juror 13 is a perfunctory, simple story, simply told. It’s mildly entertaining in the moment as a quick read but is unlikely to stick with you in any significant way.

It’s worth noting that the writer, DJ Milky, is a pen name for Stu Levy, who was the founder of Tokyopop, the publisher of the book

Rating: mixed

Availability: I read this through the library service Hoopla (free is best for this one). It’s available digitally on the Kindle and print copies are oop.