Paperback 2009, 572 pages
November 5, 2010. UA862 Enroute HKG-SFO.
Five letters sum up this novel: A-W-F-U-L.
I vaguely recall the character Kay Scarpetta, but I can’t possibly forget if I had ever read a novel that is so awful. The story’s many main characters are Scarpetta, a volunteer medical examiner; Benton her husband; Lucy her niece and a computer wizard among other things; Jaime the DA and Lucy’s lover; and Marino the cop who was Scarpetta’s ex-lover. The last characterization is uncertain, and brings to mind one of the writer’s many annoying and flawed techniques. There are lots of flash backs that the reader may think will eventually resolve but end up being dead weight (i.e., make the novel longer without adding much to it other than confusion).
Other literary skills (trespasses really) fully utilized in the novel are interleaving several things all at once by devoting short paragraphs to each in turn; using many sentences to describe one simple thing that’s is not germane to the story (e.g., a staircase); and using a simple narrative to try to outline the real plot since the author seems incapable of putting the real excitement into action.
At the end you simply have a deranged killer (Chardonne) who ended up being shot dead at the end of the story. If the story is condensed into a novelette of 100 pages it may be worth a read. But at close to 600 pages, that’s simply the work of a writer with illusions of being a literary novelist, and one who couldn’t let any thought go to waste at that.
Since I am writing this inside a plane, I can’t go back and see how bad this book is compared to other atrocious ones I have read. I’m sure it will take the cake, hands down.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Smash Cut by Sandra Brown
Paperback 2009, 489 pages
South Amboy, NJ
I started reading this book on my trip to Boston, and finished it at home.
The story is about how Creighton Wheeler, a horror movie buff, hires someone (Billy) to kill his uncle Paul and frames Paul’s supposed lover Julie Rutledge for the murder. Creighton gets Billy to do the killing because Creighton first kills a witness in Billy’s murder trial. This and other actions by Creighton are inspired by murder mystery films such as “Strangers in a Train”. Julie enlists the help of the defense lawyer Derek Mitchell who gradually changes his opinion from doubting Julie to fully supporting her view of events. Eventually they (Derek, Julie, and a investigator by name of Dodge) catch up with Creighton as he is about to kill Billy’s former girlfriend.
The story is generally okay, perhaps with too much gratuitous sex thrown in. At the end we find out Julie is actually Paul’s daughter instead of his lover. This “surprise” ending unfortunately detracts from the overall plot. Julie remains a suspect because people think she is with Paul for the money, there is much less reason to suspect her if it is known that she is actually Paul’s daughter. The reasons for her not telling people are too arbitrary.
In any case, this is a good book to read. The author tries to explain the term “smash cut” a couple of times, unsuccessfully in my case.
South Amboy, NJ
I started reading this book on my trip to Boston, and finished it at home.
The story is about how Creighton Wheeler, a horror movie buff, hires someone (Billy) to kill his uncle Paul and frames Paul’s supposed lover Julie Rutledge for the murder. Creighton gets Billy to do the killing because Creighton first kills a witness in Billy’s murder trial. This and other actions by Creighton are inspired by murder mystery films such as “Strangers in a Train”. Julie enlists the help of the defense lawyer Derek Mitchell who gradually changes his opinion from doubting Julie to fully supporting her view of events. Eventually they (Derek, Julie, and a investigator by name of Dodge) catch up with Creighton as he is about to kill Billy’s former girlfriend.
The story is generally okay, perhaps with too much gratuitous sex thrown in. At the end we find out Julie is actually Paul’s daughter instead of his lover. This “surprise” ending unfortunately detracts from the overall plot. Julie remains a suspect because people think she is with Paul for the money, there is much less reason to suspect her if it is known that she is actually Paul’s daughter. The reasons for her not telling people are too arbitrary.
In any case, this is a good book to read. The author tries to explain the term “smash cut” a couple of times, unsuccessfully in my case.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Ford County Stories by John Grisham
Paperback 2009, 340 pages.
Clearwater, Florida
I bought the book on Monday at SFO because I ran out of things to do on the return trip from Sydney. I hesitated a bit because the previous non-lawyer books by Grisham that I read were quite disappointing. I finally bought it because (i) it was relatively cheap at $7.99, (ii) it was either listed as the #1 or #2 bestseller, and (iii) maybe it will be different this time.
Anyway, the book consists of 7 short stories (about 50 pages each) talking about life in and around Clanton, the county seat of Ford County. After reading a couple of the stories I began to regret why I bought the book. First, most – if not all – of the stories seem to reinforce an outsider’s view of that part of the country as being backward, and that people there are particularly mean. I thought Grisham is from that area, and that he would be more sympathetic to people in that area. Second, the stories while somewhat interesting, aren’t developed well at all. Perhaps there is not much to develop? Third, you get the feeling that these were all Grisham’s writing experiments during his fledgling days as an author, and now that he is famous, he wants to see his work in print. That these were his older works is further confirmed by the gas chamber execution and the AIDS death.
In the end, I am left with a similar feeling of disappointment as I did when I finished “Playing for Pizza.”
Clearwater, Florida
I bought the book on Monday at SFO because I ran out of things to do on the return trip from Sydney. I hesitated a bit because the previous non-lawyer books by Grisham that I read were quite disappointing. I finally bought it because (i) it was relatively cheap at $7.99, (ii) it was either listed as the #1 or #2 bestseller, and (iii) maybe it will be different this time.
Anyway, the book consists of 7 short stories (about 50 pages each) talking about life in and around Clanton, the county seat of Ford County. After reading a couple of the stories I began to regret why I bought the book. First, most – if not all – of the stories seem to reinforce an outsider’s view of that part of the country as being backward, and that people there are particularly mean. I thought Grisham is from that area, and that he would be more sympathetic to people in that area. Second, the stories while somewhat interesting, aren’t developed well at all. Perhaps there is not much to develop? Third, you get the feeling that these were all Grisham’s writing experiments during his fledgling days as an author, and now that he is famous, he wants to see his work in print. That these were his older works is further confirmed by the gas chamber execution and the AIDS death.
In the end, I am left with a similar feeling of disappointment as I did when I finished “Playing for Pizza.”
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The 8th Confession by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro
Paperback 2009, 342 pages.
Sydney, Australia
I have a lot of spare time this week in Sydney, so I got to finish this book whiling away hours in and around Sydney.
This is another Women's Murder Club novel, the main story being a 30+ year old women (nicknamed "pet girl") committing murders with the help of kraits, a type of poisonous snake. Turns out this woman was the illegitimate child of a rich man who was also a serial killer. She actually killed her father by putting a snake in his bed. Lindsay Boxer broke the case kind of by happenstance: a visit with a teacher of pet girl and her victims.
The story was interesting but probably didn't provide enough material for our writers. So they saw fit to throw in a few bonuses: the prosecution of a woman who killed her father and maimed her mother, she was in turned murdered by fellow inmates in prison; the murder of a homeless man whom everyone thought was a great person but turned out to be a Stanford graduate who was a drug dealer and a pimp, many people admitted to the murder making it unlikely the real murderer would be found guilty; at least three romances involving Lindsay, Cindy, and Yuki (who fell in love with a doctor with ambiguous sexual identity). These additional stories provide the novel with a respectable length but end up being a waste of the reader's time. To be fair, this is how I regard most of Patterson's novels.
Simple read, interesting enough main story. An typical Patterson book, a below average book overall.
Sydney, Australia
I have a lot of spare time this week in Sydney, so I got to finish this book whiling away hours in and around Sydney.
This is another Women's Murder Club novel, the main story being a 30+ year old women (nicknamed "pet girl") committing murders with the help of kraits, a type of poisonous snake. Turns out this woman was the illegitimate child of a rich man who was also a serial killer. She actually killed her father by putting a snake in his bed. Lindsay Boxer broke the case kind of by happenstance: a visit with a teacher of pet girl and her victims.
The story was interesting but probably didn't provide enough material for our writers. So they saw fit to throw in a few bonuses: the prosecution of a woman who killed her father and maimed her mother, she was in turned murdered by fellow inmates in prison; the murder of a homeless man whom everyone thought was a great person but turned out to be a Stanford graduate who was a drug dealer and a pimp, many people admitted to the murder making it unlikely the real murderer would be found guilty; at least three romances involving Lindsay, Cindy, and Yuki (who fell in love with a doctor with ambiguous sexual identity). These additional stories provide the novel with a respectable length but end up being a waste of the reader's time. To be fair, this is how I regard most of Patterson's novels.
Simple read, interesting enough main story. An typical Patterson book, a below average book overall.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben
Paperback 1995, 343 pages
Sydney, Australia
This is a simple plot made unnecessarily complicated. The disappearance of Kathy Culver and the murder of her father Adam were the main mysteries to be solved. It turns out Adam was trying to lure out the killer by mailing compromising photographs of Kathy to possible suspects. Myron Bolitar, a sports agent trained as a lawyer and was a former FBI agent, was asked by Kathy's boyfriend Christian Steele – who was his client – to help. If the world is not small enough, Myron used to date Jessica Culver, Kathy's sister. The investigation ended up going in many different directions, opening up many old wounds, caused the death of Kathy's college roommate, and eventually led to a trap that led to the capture of the killer, who turns out to be Christian Steele himself. Christian killed Kathy when he found out about her past which came into being because she discovered an affair between her mother and a good family friend. In the end it is a wonder that the story can be finished in “only” 343 pages.
Despite all my misgivings, this was an easy book to read, and it was reasonably suspenseful that I thought of staying up late to finish it, but not enough that I actually did so. I did finish it while sitting at the Manly Beach, though.
I rate it above average.
Sydney, Australia
This is a simple plot made unnecessarily complicated. The disappearance of Kathy Culver and the murder of her father Adam were the main mysteries to be solved. It turns out Adam was trying to lure out the killer by mailing compromising photographs of Kathy to possible suspects. Myron Bolitar, a sports agent trained as a lawyer and was a former FBI agent, was asked by Kathy's boyfriend Christian Steele – who was his client – to help. If the world is not small enough, Myron used to date Jessica Culver, Kathy's sister. The investigation ended up going in many different directions, opening up many old wounds, caused the death of Kathy's college roommate, and eventually led to a trap that led to the capture of the killer, who turns out to be Christian Steele himself. Christian killed Kathy when he found out about her past which came into being because she discovered an affair between her mother and a good family friend. In the end it is a wonder that the story can be finished in “only” 343 pages.
Despite all my misgivings, this was an easy book to read, and it was reasonably suspenseful that I thought of staying up late to finish it, but not enough that I actually did so. I did finish it while sitting at the Manly Beach, though.
I rate it above average.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Violets are Blue by James Patterson
Paperback 2001, 391 pages
South Amboy, NJ
I bought this book quite a while ago (2002?). I finally brought it with me on my recent Asian trip and started reading it. Because the overhead light in my HKG-EWR airplane seat wasn't working, I ended up finishing the book after I got back to NJ.
This was a particularly violent book dealing with two cases: a vampire cult and how some members wanted to take over the leadership by committing murders where the old leaders were performing in order to frame them; the "Mastermind" who was after Alex Cross by killing people he cared about. The murders by the vampires wannabes were very gruesome, but at the end their leader was (isn't it always) a regular fellow no one initially suspected. The Mastermind turned out to be someone FBI agent Cross worked with and respected (Kyle Craig); he was eventually caught by Cross.
The novel certainly has its tense moments, but you get the feeling that Patterson didn't quite know how to bring it all together. He admitted as much by having Cross say real life can not be nailed down as neatly as fiction. The irony is of course he was writing fiction, so not being able to nail down a logical plot is more his shortcoming than a problem with real life.
In any case, he was a better writer then than he is today. This is a reasonably good book to read. I don't understand why he used the title "Violets are Blue," though.
South Amboy, NJ
I bought this book quite a while ago (2002?). I finally brought it with me on my recent Asian trip and started reading it. Because the overhead light in my HKG-EWR airplane seat wasn't working, I ended up finishing the book after I got back to NJ.
This was a particularly violent book dealing with two cases: a vampire cult and how some members wanted to take over the leadership by committing murders where the old leaders were performing in order to frame them; the "Mastermind" who was after Alex Cross by killing people he cared about. The murders by the vampires wannabes were very gruesome, but at the end their leader was (isn't it always) a regular fellow no one initially suspected. The Mastermind turned out to be someone FBI agent Cross worked with and respected (Kyle Craig); he was eventually caught by Cross.
The novel certainly has its tense moments, but you get the feeling that Patterson didn't quite know how to bring it all together. He admitted as much by having Cross say real life can not be nailed down as neatly as fiction. The irony is of course he was writing fiction, so not being able to nail down a logical plot is more his shortcoming than a problem with real life.
In any case, he was a better writer then than he is today. This is a reasonably good book to read. I don't understand why he used the title "Violets are Blue," though.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
The Associate by John Grisham
Paperback 2009, 434 pages.
Hong Kong.
Kyle McAvoy was about to graduate from Yale Law School when he was blackmailed with a videotape taken while he was in college. He was asked to join a large NYC law firm and to spy on behalf of opposing counsel in a case involving huge defense contractors. He eventually asked for help from his father (also a lawyer), a defense attorney who called in the federal authorities, and planned to turn the tables on the blackmailers. However, the blackmailers mysteriously disappeared when Kyle was about to hand over the illegally downloaded files as part of the sting.
This is a book unsatisfying on many levels. First, you keep reading, thinking something exciting will happen, and then you find yourself close to the end of the book and it dawns on you that there is not much more to the plot. Second, it is never made clear why Kyle is so afraid of the tape (which actually proves his innocence) but so brave as to try to turn the tables on people who are willing to kill. Third, the book leaves the reader hanging as to who the "bad guys" are. Fourth, the ending, as with many other Grisham novels, is quite anticlimactic, bordering on limp.
The reader does get to see how new lawyers get their starts in these large law firms. Of course I do not know if what the author writes reflects at all what happens at the start of these people's careers.
"Uninspired" is how I would categorize this book. Better than many Patterson books, but at some level more dissatisfying as the expectations were high.
Hong Kong.
Kyle McAvoy was about to graduate from Yale Law School when he was blackmailed with a videotape taken while he was in college. He was asked to join a large NYC law firm and to spy on behalf of opposing counsel in a case involving huge defense contractors. He eventually asked for help from his father (also a lawyer), a defense attorney who called in the federal authorities, and planned to turn the tables on the blackmailers. However, the blackmailers mysteriously disappeared when Kyle was about to hand over the illegally downloaded files as part of the sting.
This is a book unsatisfying on many levels. First, you keep reading, thinking something exciting will happen, and then you find yourself close to the end of the book and it dawns on you that there is not much more to the plot. Second, it is never made clear why Kyle is so afraid of the tape (which actually proves his innocence) but so brave as to try to turn the tables on people who are willing to kill. Third, the book leaves the reader hanging as to who the "bad guys" are. Fourth, the ending, as with many other Grisham novels, is quite anticlimactic, bordering on limp.
The reader does get to see how new lawyers get their starts in these large law firms. Of course I do not know if what the author writes reflects at all what happens at the start of these people's careers.
"Uninspired" is how I would categorize this book. Better than many Patterson books, but at some level more dissatisfying as the expectations were high.
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