When I grab a first novel from a writer there's a little extra excitement for me. There's always that hope that you're about to be excited and grabbed by a new talent. Of course I also know that the book could leave me flat or even let me down big time.
Mark Gilleo's first novel leaves me in that middle ground. Starting with a great idea (and a really cool place to find it) he manages to dribble away the impact of the idea through some poor writing decisions. The story concept is simple - a woman thinks she's seen a terrorist group in her neighborhood. She calls the C.I.A. and isn't believed. Shortly thereafter her son moves home to help with her increasing dementia and begins to see signs that this may not be a result of her mental decline. The story will put the son's life in danger and the lives of tens of thousands of citizens in our nation's capitol. This is a solid concept for a thriller.
The problem is that Gilleo's writing makes me think of a moderately talented college student. There's plenty of "who cares?" information that doesn't move the story forward. While there are times when Gilleo shows he has the skills too often there is feeling of trying too hard to be clever. It's a form of author intrusion that is annoying.
Speaking of author intrusion it becomes pretty clear that the author doesn't have much respect for Islam or the Roman Catholic church and he doesn't think much of our government either. Gilleo is entitled to those opinions but they don't advance the story either. And the book gives a very clear idea that all Muslims are terrorists. There's a weak stab at the end to try and back away from that by making a character who sacrifices thier life for the USA a Muslim. It came off as shallow and simplistic to me.
The greatest shortcomings of the book are the characters. There's no depth to any of them. We know very little about either the hero or the villain at any point in the book. These cardboard cutouts spend their time doing illogical things. The son ends up using his girlfriend to commit a federal crime without her knowledge or consent thereby jeopardizing her career. While she finds this irritating it's not enough to break off the relationship. Really? The terrorists don't make a whole lot more sense either. While their leader keeps talking about not drawing attention to themselves she dresses in ways guaranteed to draw male attention and kills several people for no particularly compelling reason.
In the end a good concept expires under the weight of characters you can't care about and their illogical actions. Add in the uneven writing and this one just doesn't make the cut. Is it the worst book of the year? No. But unless you have a weekend where you have nothing better to do there are a lot of books more deserving of your time.
Rating - ** Not Impressed
No comments:
Post a Comment