Dead Eyes by Stuart Woods.
The ending was not unexpected, it came out of nowhere. There were a few people that were hinted at as possible suspects if the main guy was it. Because of the type of novel, you know the main suspect won't be the actual stalker, but the real stalker just leaps out of nowhere. We've never even heard of him before. That is cheating the reader. The author thinks they are being clever and surprising the reader. He in fact just annoys the reader. A mystery reader wants to get the feeling of solving the case one step ahead of the characters. If you solve it too early, you feel cheated because the characters will seem stupid. You have to put in some hint, even if they are subtle ones. The romance aspect is also overused to the point of nausea. If I have to read another story about a detective who camps out on the lusty maiden's couch to catch the stalker, I'm going to start offing people. It is not realistic. It is unprofessional for a full detective to do this. This of course leads into a romance that is even more unprofessional. The gay character had some good points. I don't like the token Will & Grace gay best friend. I like how he was an ex-navy sailor, used to taking care of himself. That allowed him to be a little more complex than the standard stereotype. Overall, it wasn't a horrible book if you like that type of book. It wasn't poorly written. The pacing moved along pretty well. The plotting was pretty good, until the ending. I normally don't like giving away endings, but since this one is pulled out of the writer's ass, you won't miss much. Anyone who's seen Law & Order knows it's not the obvious choice. I'll leave it to you to find out which one it is.
Tonight I'm going to try and finish d.g.k. goldberg's Skating on the Edge. It is a mindblowing novel in the tradition of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. If you can find it, check it out. I had to hunt it down on eBay. It is well worth the hunt though.
You have no idea how helpful your comments are --- particularly as i am doing the last revision on another book set in that world --- i was aware somethings bothered me but not quite certain why or basically what the mechanics were behind the set up of the places that i wasn't really with ---
whoa that was convoluted.
that said, i think that one thing that i am working on in the curretn book set in the same world is the elimnation of nonessential window dressing --- oh, some of it is essential --- the reader needs to know that all of this takes place in a place that is Not Normal
and some of the vignettes do serve to advance the plot or explain characters (obviously the Viking needs to kill a few bystanders from time to time) but some of them were just me narcissistically wallowing in my own fantascies
and, the aside to the readers is something i have to really think about differently ---
i actually really like than as a reader and enjoy it when it happens --- but then, maybe it should not happen if i am trying to keep the reader in a weird world that
must think
must eat cookies and think
Posted by: dgkgoldberg at June 19, 2004 12:03 PM