Yes, I agree with you about this book. I wondered as I read
it whether the author hadn't actully plotted the ending, or
if an editor had cut back the author's idea to fit a specific
format and the last third of the book and it's logic got
lost. In any event, the ending is very dissatisfying and the
overall feel of the story is cumbersome.
Patrick King
--- Steve Lewis <
stevelewis62@cox.net> wrote:
>
> I finished this novel by John Wessel a few days
ago.
> I've had it sitting on the shelf for a couple
years
> now. It's set in Chicago and centered around
a
> private investigator without a license,
doing
> surveillance work for a firm based in Schaumburg,
a
> suburb about 20 miles from downtown Chicago. It
all
> went well for the first hundred pages,
the
> characters,
> the dialogue, and the plotting, but after that
it
> went
> downhill. The plot not only got overly complex,
but
> it also tied in to a past event in the
detective's
> life in a thin and unconvincing connection. When
it
> ended, half the mysteries in the book were
left
> unexplained. Probably the high point was
the
> protagonist's self-deprecating humor.
> miker
> >>
>
> I posted my review of this book on my blog
at
> http://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=154
.
>
> A key phrase in my comments toward the end,
which
> echoes miker's opinion,
> is this one:
>
> "The plot itself eventually becomes verbal
sludge
> and next to impossible to
> follow. "
>
> Actually I think miker and I agree on just
about
> everything, and he takes a
> lot less wordage to say it in.
>
> Best
>
> Steve
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have
been
> removed]
>
>
__________________________________________________ Do You
Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam
protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 10 May 2007 EDT