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The Damage Done, by Hilary Davidson
Sep. 24th, 2010 12:28 pmReview copy provided by Forge.
I was thinking I was going to be tactful, but then I realized that James Patterson is a behemoth and does not need my tact.
So! Let us say that you have a relative who likes James Patterson novels. Let us say that you need to buy this relative a gift for a birthday or a holiday. Let us say further that you happen to be, as some among us are, a giant snob, and would prefer to actually please this relative with their gift, but would also prefer not to die a little inside when spending money on something so completely shoddily made.
Do I have the deal for you! The Damage Done has what I can discern as the main virtues of James Patterson novels for their readers. It has brief, fast-paced chapters and leans heavily on the same types of sensory evocation. But the writing is about a million times better, and the characters are actually people who care about each other and other things in their lives and do not make you want to kill either them or yourself!
In case this is not clear, it's totally not my kind of mystery. I like the chewy kind with literary references and sort of nerdy jokes and like that. This is--and I don't mean this in a nasty way--far more mass market than my usual tastes. But it's a fine one of what it is.
I was thinking I was going to be tactful, but then I realized that James Patterson is a behemoth and does not need my tact.
So! Let us say that you have a relative who likes James Patterson novels. Let us say that you need to buy this relative a gift for a birthday or a holiday. Let us say further that you happen to be, as some among us are, a giant snob, and would prefer to actually please this relative with their gift, but would also prefer not to die a little inside when spending money on something so completely shoddily made.
Do I have the deal for you! The Damage Done has what I can discern as the main virtues of James Patterson novels for their readers. It has brief, fast-paced chapters and leans heavily on the same types of sensory evocation. But the writing is about a million times better, and the characters are actually people who care about each other and other things in their lives and do not make you want to kill either them or yourself!
In case this is not clear, it's totally not my kind of mystery. I like the chewy kind with literary references and sort of nerdy jokes and like that. This is--and I don't mean this in a nasty way--far more mass market than my usual tastes. But it's a fine one of what it is.
