I don't think you can have fiction that's free of
coincidence. Especially crime fiction. When a particular
detective or cop hero gets involved in a particular murder
case, that's a coincidence. When evidence or information
turns up that solves a crime, there's usually an element of
coincidence. It's all in the way the coincidence is handled.
In Michael Connelly's new book, "Void Moon," a convicted
thief serves her time, gets out and winds up having to rob
precisely the same Las Vegas casino-hotel where she was
previously arrested. Connelly prepares you for the
coincidence. It's treated almost as inevitability, the kind
of bad luck that is a staple of nearly all dark fiction. Good
storytelling coincidence. On the other hand, you have the
coincidence that comes out of left field to make the plot
work. In one of Grisham's novels a lawyer steals an important
document from a maximum security office building and makes a
clean getaway . . . only to be sent to the hospital by a
drunk driver whom we've never met before nor will hear of
again. In "Absolute Power," a thief hides out in a walk-in
safe that happens to have a one-way mirror that gives him a
clear view of the president of the United States getting
involved in a sordid murder. Maybe we can buy the thief
robbing the place on precisely the same night that the prez
picks to pay a visit. But what's with that one-way mirror in
a safe? What possible purpose would there be for such a
construction, except to kick start a novel? Not that millions
of readers seem to mind. Dick Lochte
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