My sister sent me a popular author’s book recently and
I started reading it at the same time as I began reading another NYT
Bestselling Author.! The titles matched
so neatly, as well as the attempted plot lines, that I thought I would review
them in comparison (both 2013 pubs; sizes: 339 pgs vs. 400 pgs).
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Lee Child has done many of these Jack
Reacher novels, so the opening can be slow,
with an assumption that 60% of the readership is simply familiarizing themselves
with his character traits. It’s much like an opening to another Bourne
novel adaptation starring Matt Damon would be, should there be such a thing. Reacher is the archetypal white knight, modernized: 6’4” 240, a
solid six-pack, and the epitome of a modern fighter. He is impervious to pain, fearless in battle,
and knows exactly the right moves to do whatever is the necessary damage called
for.
He, and his heroine, are mis-accused of
various crimes, which the unfolding of the plot will clear them of. In this book, the plot builds
inexorably, up to the end.
There are fight scenes with our hero, and they get better and
better. There are sex
scenes with our heroine, and they get steamier and she gets sexier.
I’ve highlighted above, several of the
differences between the approaches each of these authors have taken.
The Gross book moves at a relentless
speed for 30-40 pages. The reader can’t
believe this pace can be sustained: and it can’t. The pace drops off to, .. plodding – but,
fear not, the pace rockets to a welcomed and well-deserved high again at the
end.
In the meantime, there’s the poor-writer
filler of research material that, alas, couldn’t be fitted into dialogue.
There’s the plot-line development that
was inadvertently disclosed too early; which,
in turn, caused the reader to go into “skim-mode” periodically, for 4-8 page skims,
to keep the reader’s attention sustained enough to keep going.
We did, however, continue, because this
was a good book; not a great book, but these are not loveable characters.
I’d enjoy the company of Reacher &
Turner (left) at Thanksgiving Dinner; but not Bachman and Gould, each from
suspect roots.
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