Amazon has just suspended the ability to post a review of the new James Comey book A Higher Loyalty. The only way you can write a review is if you have a verified purchase for the hardcover edition or the Kindle ebook. Those who try to post a review and didn’t buy the book through Amazon receive an error message: “Sorry, we are not able to accept your review of this product.”
There is only a few hundred reviews of the book right now on the main Amazon website and the vast majority of the are overwhelmingly positive. This has promoted legions of people who love and hate the book to turn to Amazons Facebook Page or Audible, which does not monitor unverified purchases.
It is rare that Amazon puts these restrictions into play and normally does it with polarizing books that have to do with politics. They did the same thing with the Michael Wolff title Fire and Fury and ditto with Hillary Clinton’s What Happened.
I think Amazon just wants to cut down the trolling for this new title who will leave false or misleading reviews. Once the fervor has died down over the next few weeks, the restriction will likely be lifted.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
