I hate books in which the author kills pets of any sort to explain human nature or its results. Always, to the last book, this artificially milks the I hate books in which the author kills pets of any sort to explain human nature or its results. Always, to the last book, this artificially milks the reader for emotion and tears. It's a cheap trick and a shortcut, and the conflict between Pachler and Walch could have been differently externalised. Probably too difficult or time-consuming to write it that way.
I absolutely don't read to cry. I hate crying, it depresses me for days, so why would I willingly read anything which makes me miserable?...more
This has to be Twilight fanfiction. Or maybe Fifty Shades fanfiction. Whatever.
It started with one practically flawless scene, and then...
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...anThis has to be Twilight fanfiction. Or maybe Fifty Shades fanfiction. Whatever.
It started with one practically flawless scene, and then...
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...and after that...
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...it got utterly ridiculous.
If it had stayed with the Meet Joe Black-vibe this would have been an interesting book, largely differing from the huge wash of oh so silly, juvenile PNR out there with its teenage super-heroines beating the high school prom and toxic high school life the USA seem to sport.
This was a fast read and could have been a 3* or even 4* book, except for several niggles:
1. I'm not a fan of fangirling authors. I do not need to knoThis was a fast read and could have been a 3* or even 4* book, except for several niggles:
1. I'm not a fan of fangirling authors. I do not need to know which books you've read, or which books you adore. Don't do it. It's bad enough adjusting to an author who breaks the 4th wall.
2. Keep in mind that not everyone lives in the USA who is going to read your book. At times I had to look up what the main character was talking about, and that makes me a pissed off reader. Generic names, descriptions or expressions work just fine.
3. I do not at all mind if you kill people, but (view spoiler)[killing the dog to milk me for tears cost you an entire grade! Don't advertise a dog in the blurb, so animal-loving readers go for your book, and then kill it for the drama. It also cost you a reader and buyer of your next effort, as I won't fall for that again (hide spoiler)].
I read this because I loved 100 Days in Deadland quite a lot and had hopes this would be similar. Unfortunately it fell slightly short. But it definitely is a quick read for a short rainy afternoon....more
This was a deeply unpleasant experience. There may be spoilers in this review....
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(view spoiler)[The funny thing is that I adore Val McDermid, wThis was a deeply unpleasant experience. There may be spoilers in this review....
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(view spoiler)[The funny thing is that I adore Val McDermid, who was, is and in my opinion will be for hopefully quite some time to come the mother of all twisted crime thriller writers of horrific and torturous content. McDermid is not only endowed with an evocative, peerless prose, she comes up with fascinating plots, and is capable of creating believable, realistic male and female characters. She also manages to write characters very easy to root for. Her thrillers are elegant, stirring, compassionate, intelligent and an intellectual delight. Her education and insight into the human condition ooze from every line she writes.
Or in other words, Val McDermid's thrillers and her abilities are the absolute opposite of Mo Hayder's effort here, even though it is quite clear that this is kind of what Hayder aims for - and doesn't achieve.
Unfortunately prose is not erudite and brilliant just because it contains a set amount of words people need to look up to grasp. Truly excellent genre prose strives to be unobtrusive and encompassing instead. Erudition also isn't proven by simply choosing the complicated over the simple term for something. If there's not a strong, elegant core of effortlessness to a choice of difficult verbiage, all it becomes is overly fussy, pretentious and throwing up barriers. And Briticisms don't necessarily create a feeling of place on their own, if the soul and sense of said place is missing or mangled. In Hayder's thriller I do not get soul and sense of London, I feel paraded around the decomposing underbelly of a toad. [image] Mrs Hayder's writing, from construction to choice of words, has an agenda I am rather unwilling to accept. This book wallows in the sordid. For no good reason at all. Reviews which show what I mean:
If one doesn't juxtapose the good with the bad, the squalid with the decent, if everything is not even in black and white - never mind shades of grey - but simply putrid upon putrid, there is no emotional anchor for the reader, and no care for the characters or the outcome of the story. The willfully shocking, with no parts left to imagination, may tickle those not having much experience or who're easily shocked . For people with a bit more experience this thriller quickly becomes tedious and boring.
Oh, and Mo Hayder lost my last shred of good will with how she wallowed in maiming, killing, torturing, abusing animals. In the beginning I said, I feel there is an agenda. I absolutely refuse to have my emotions instrumentalised by a writer who practically rolls with glee in killed animal carcasses or who comes across as enjoying animal abuse and misogyny as appropriate mental stimulation and manipulation for readers. I'm not clutching my pearls there, I read Stephen King and Clive Barker with pleasure, and they regularly include maimed or killed animals. But Hayder takes this to an entire different level. One where I inevitably start to wonder what the real background for it is. [image]
Steelwhisper
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