How effective are they?

I was asked today to do an interview for a new novel about reviews. The idea of the novel is to either prove or disprove their effectiveness when it comes to the sales of that novel. More than a how-to, the author is seeking to answer a time worn question: Do they work? In my opinion, yes. I think reviews are as important as the blurbs from published authors on the back cover. Reviewers read hundreds of books a year and have a feel for quality. To me, the biggest problem authors face with reviewers is not in the beginning where the majority of time is spent developing a hook to lure readers. It's at the downside: Between the midpoint of a novel and the end.

To explain: Novels are composed of three stages. A beginning, a midpoint and an ending. Between the beginning and midpoint, authors are developing the story, constantly adding more questions to the main mystery as the plot unfolds to keep the reader turning those pages. Between the midpoint and the ending, the mysteries began to get solved, character change takes place and it ends with the proverbial bang. However, after the midpoint a lot of authors lose control and are so anxious to reach the end they grow sloppy. They want everyone to be impressed with their dynamite ending. So they mispell names. Forget to answer the red herrings they threw in to keep the mystery going. For me, the biggest problem is skipping words in a sentence or making the sentences so short they don't make sense.

This is where editing comes in. However, the fear always remains that you've messed up somewhere and didn't catch a gross error. I'm going over the galleys of The Fifth Deadly Sin and it scares hell out of me. What if I miss something important? Will that effect reviewers' opinion of my novel? This is why reviews are primarily important to me. Not just because they sometimes determine sales, but the idea of a reviewer picking over my work keeps me working harder; trying harder to get it done right. 

Yes, reviews are important and effective. They keep most authors on their toes, to coin an old phrase.