Richard

Scott Turow disappoints

Revisado: 06-27-24

I’ve been a fan of Scott Turow books from Preumed Innocent through the subsequent books set in fictional Chicago. I have admired his combining strong characterizations with good writing and plausible plots. Suspect is more of a conventional mystery thriller, with an implausible plot and characters that just don’t come across as believable, His attempt at a pulse pounding , thriller conclusion is clumsy at best. It reads like pastiche of some lesser writer’s crime potboiler. Furthermore, his selection of a narrator, Pinky, the granddaughter of legal eminence of the earlier books, just doesn’t work for me. I don’t buy her as a bisexual tough girl with a lot of insecurities and a heart of gold. This book was a big disappointment, at just about every level.

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Gratuitous violence and contrived plot disappoint

Revisado: 05-01-15

I've read most of the Harry Hole books despite a growing sense that the series -- like Harry Hole himself -- is growing tiresome and less interesting over time. Nonetheless I've kept coming back, hoping that I would find myself once again engaged in the characters and story. In this book Nesbo indulges in detailed and excessively repulsive descriptions of violence and torture, almost as if he wants to see just how far he can push the reader's sense of fear, loathing, and disgust for no other purpose than to test his considerable ability as a writer. For me at least, this exercise served no purpose. I resorted to skipping over whole passages that were bogged down in such description. To make matters worse the plot is convoluted and contrived. In an effort to deliver the customary twist in the conclusion Nesbo seems to throw everything at the proverbial wall to see what sticks. I finished this book with no interest in reading another Harry Hole book.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Disappointed by plot

Revisado: 02-05-15

Reconsideration: Forget what I wrote three years ago. I have since listened to every single Travis McGee novel. It is an acquired taste, but once I got into the swing of it, I found them irresistible. The secret to enjoying Travis McGee is to suspend judgment and preconceptions. Once this is done, the series takes on a life of its own and grows on you like a guilty pleasure, like movie popcorn. that is hard to stop once started.
First review: I chose this book because I am a fan of noir detective fiction and this one was rated so highly. I was disappointed by a tired, plodding, and thin plot and a writing style that alternated between ersatz profundity introspection and comic book wham-bam action. In reading through Amazon reviews I noticed that some readers say that this is one of McDonald's weaker Travis McGee books. I certainly hope so, but I'm not sure I want to risk and more money and time on this series. As in all matters of taste, others may disagree.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Fails to deliver on many levels

Revisado: 01-25-15

I wish I would have checked the reviews before I bought this book. I chose this book after reading Jar City by the same author, which is a decidedly better book than this one. Arctic Chill crawls along at a snail's pace, with little in the way of a plot to engage the reader. None of the characters is fleshed out in much depth, and the final solution to the mystery more or less comes out of nowhere. At best this book could be read as a mood piece of an Iceland that is dark, cold, and bleak. Even the introduction of an immigrant family from Thailand, which could have offered some very interesting opportunities for social commentary and dramatic tension, never ascends much above cliche. All in all, a big disappointment.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

More a religious tract than thriller

Revisado: 12-28-14

This is not a thriller as much as a Christian religious tract. It's like calling the Left Behind series mainstream science fiction. I gave up when the standard miracles were trotted out to drive the plot.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Not a Banks fan based on this book

Revisado: 11-26-14

This was my first (and probably last) Ian Banks novel. I am always on the lookout for new mysteries, and I was particularly interested in the tie-in to 1960s-70s radical politics. Although the writing style is good, I found the plot weak and the pace tedious. The resolution depends on characters spilling their guts to police instead of just clamming up or saying "before we go any further I want to talk to my solicitor." Occasionally this sort of confessional splurge can be forgiven, but it is such a constant feature of this book that it becomes intrusive and annoying. Finally, as detectives go I found Banks a bit on the bland side. Chacun a son gout, I suppose.

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esto le resultó útil a 3 personas

Very interesting counterfactual history

Revisado: 11-17-14

The story gets off to a strong start, with a very believable scenario in which Lord Halifax succeeds Chamberlain as PM and sues Nazi Germany for peace. The "what if" premise here is that a continuation of appeasement would have led to Hitler emerging as the clear victor in an attenuated war that never really grew into a World War. The depiction of fascism extending itself gradually into the institutions of British politics and society is truly frightening. The English characters swept up in this tragedy are finely drawn and mostly sympathetic (except for a suitably loathsome Blackshirt brother-in-law). However, the taut narrative begins to fray a bit about a third of the way into the book. As some others have noted, the idea that some secrets about America's development of an atomic bomb conveyed orally during a violent family argument does not really bear up to close scrutiny. Too, the prolonged chase of the person who, very much against his will, is burdened by the secret drags on far too long and is accorded too much importance to the governments concerned. Thereafter the story ends somewhat abruptly, with what seems like a somewhat forced rosy scenario for Britain's future following Hitler's death. What could have been a great book thus ends up being only good.

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Read Lew Archer series first

Revisado: 11-05-14

Written during WWII, Ross MacDonald's spy thriller is only partly satisfying. The plot is only so-so and the protagonist is less than believable, but the distinctive writing style clearly establishes MacDonald as a force to be reckoned with. As a writer, MacDonald only comes into his own in the Lew Archer series. Readers new to MacDonald should read all of the Lew Archer books first. After that, savor this little book for what it is: a early effort by someone who would go on to be a great writer.

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esto le resultó útil a 8 personas

Stale fast food for the brain

Revisado: 11-05-14

I was attracted by the idea of a cyber-terror attack on financial systems. But what I actually got was a disappointing combination of deadeningly conventional thriller cliches with a good deal of tech talk thrown in with the goal of persuading the reader that the author actually knows what he is talking about. Who knows, he just might have expertise in the technical details. But then again who really cares if the technical content is buried in a heap of stock characters pulled off the thriller genre shelf (all the women are attractive blond, all the men are above average, etc. -- a veritable Lake Woebegone cast) and sloppy, appallingly bad writing even for a genre not known for its literary merits. One unintended benefit: every so often I come across a book so ineptly crafted that I am inspired to go back to my long unfinished second novel. Heaven knows that I am no great shakes as a fiction writer but I have no doubt can better than this even after three or four beers. So get ready world, I'm coming back!

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Lew Archer at his best

Revisado: 09-19-14

For my money The Zebra-Striped Hearse shows Ross Macdonald at the top of his writing. The story is less violent and more psychologically-nuanced than earlier books on the series. The plot is brilliantly developed with the twists and turns needed to maintain suspense and element of surprise. The writing is both graceful and spare, perfectly capturing the essentials of the detective noir genre. My only complaint is the title which turns out to be something of a red herring -- or maybe that's entirely intentional. I won't say anything further lest I give away a spoiler alert.

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esto le resultó útil a 6 personas