OYENTE

Far Away

  • 19
  • opiniones
  • 58
  • votos útiles
  • 34
  • calificaciones

Inauthentic

Total
2 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-15-24

The description said that the author was a former detective and this book was "authentic crime fiction." I was expecting a well grounded story. This is not. It is a slightly higher-end dime-store novel. The protagonist complains about the sloppy detective work that his colleagues are doing, and then he violates proper procedures at every move. For example: allowing a woman to tell her husband (a main suspect) that she was having an affair with the victim before questioning the husband.
Gun work is likewise unrealistic. Shotgun beats handgun nine times out of ten, but not in this novel. And a hit in the shoulder with buck shot is not a minor injury.

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What was the point?

Total
2 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-16-24

The writing style was fine. Netzer can string words and sentences together just fine. But all the way through, I wondered what the point of this novel was. There were characters who had their issues and histories. There was progression to the story. But thematically, nothing was there. So when we reach the end of the novel, we wonder (SPOILER ALERT) if there was any point to the news reporter living in a house with a wrecked interior, or any point to the main character giving birth at home.
Let's talk about the science fiction aspect. There was no point to it. It loaned nothing to the plot. The husband didn't need to be a robotics engineer on a flight to the moon. He could have been a long haul trucker caught in a storm, a soldier on a dangerous mission, or a mountain climber needing to apply his utmost mind to get back down from the summit.

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Just a collection of stories with no character arc

Total
2 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
3 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 09-08-22

The author could have done far more to show how he developed as a person. He started out as a young, drinking, fighting soldier and ended with "Working undercover changes you a lot, and it very stressful."
Instead of using this as an organizing theme, he just tells autobiographic stories, somewhat chronologically, but after a while, for filler, he adds dozens of anecdotes from other agents that didn't involve him. Those anecdotes spill from the story like beans from a can: No organization, no prioritization, no theme.
I've started listening to The Pretender by Marc Ruskin, and that is clearly a better-told account of working undercover.

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Great social fiction

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 04-27-22

I'm not Croatian, but I have Croatian relatives, and I was even in Croatia during the spring offensive of 1993. So I'm not totally out of my depth when I say that I imagine this as a very plausible account of how life would be in Croatia now given the Yugoslav civil war. The insertion of an English family helps make it accessible to non-Slavic audiences. And the understated sexual tension was incredibly skillful.

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Prescriptive Review of Mass Murder

Total
3 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
2 out of 5 stars
Historia
3 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-23-22

The "How We Can Stop It" part of the subtitle is definitely at play in this book. You may or may not agree with the recommendations. There is a lot in here about brain chemistry, medicine, medical protocols, etc.
The audio is problematic. The recording should be the last thing you are thinking about, but with this book, it is often the first thing. I wonder if it was being recorded as it was being written, because the amount of insertions into the narration of recordings that were performed at a different time/place was horribly distracting. Sometimes, a phrase was inserted into the middle of a sentence. Why not just re-record the whole sentence, paragraph, or chapter? The recording was grossly unprofessional.

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Most excellent

Total
5 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 02-11-22

The story is very good. The narration was highly skilled, but he audio quality was a little problematic. There was a persistent (though mild) hum or static.

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Only if you must read every last true crime book

Total
2 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
2 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 01-18-22

The author admits he is not the best writer, and he is correct. He plays artlessly with chronology and often seems to omit details that tie the stories together. The book discusses several killers, including one episode of mass murder, making the title of the book incorrect. In the first crime story of Mary Flora Bell, he picks a side, switches sides, and then switches sides again. Clichés abound, such as giving an overview of the coming story, and then saying "Follow along. If you dare." The final chapter is an apologia, which is self-indulgent and warranted me dropping my rating by one star.
The narration is unprofessional. Delivery is halting, and words get mispronounced.

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Cold war propaganda

Total
2 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
2 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 09-15-21

And I confirmed the title by looking up Clancy on Wikipedia. He is an accomplished writer, but the characters are all flat, and the opposing sides very stereotyped. Clancy can go into excessive detail about technical issues involving submarines. He is great at suspense and tension, and the sub battle that closes the novel is indeed brilliant. But hearing Americans wax poetic to Russians about the paradise of America and capitalism is quite eye-rolling. And he has some bizarre plot/action flaws, like leaving a gravely wounded man on a sub that has come to port and sails again.

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Conversations are painful

Total
1 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
4 out of 5 stars
Historia
1 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-04-21

The conversations in this piece are pure exposition. And the story is mostly conversation. I had to quit part way through. Narrator is good. A bit overdramatic, but that is a common complaint of mine; some might like the performance.

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Narration is brilliant

Total
4 out of 5 stars
Ejecución
5 out of 5 stars
Historia
5 out of 5 stars

Revisado: 03-04-21

It is a rare narrator who can so accurately render so many different foreign accents.
This book was not as good as the first two in the trilogy. I think the author was struggling for a way to end it.

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