Disappointment

 Have you ever tried an author your friends have told you about for too long and really liked what you read? Sure you have. Then you go back a while later, read something else by the same author, maybe in a genre he’s better known for?

 

And were bitterly disappointed?

 

I have. I’ve been on a roll the past few years. Finally got around to writers like Joe Lansdale, Lawrence Block, and Don Winslow. Loved them all so much I immediately bumped them to my “Be sure to read at least once a year” list.

 

I had every reason to believe this year’s personal breakout author would be __________. Last month I read the first book in the series for which he is best known and cannot remember being more disappointed. Frankly, the only benefit I saw was to be reminded how much we can learn from such books about what not to do.

 

(I’m not going to identify the author. He is far more accomplished than I, and I do not wish this post to sound like sour grapes. This is just, like, my opinion, man; maybe I just don’t get his writing. That doesn’t make me wrong, either. We all like what we like.)

 

What didn’t I like?

 

·       Too much description. The similes are good and elegant, but we don’t need multiples of them and at least a page to describe a character or location we’re never going to see again. I get that this is a PI novel and we’re being told what the first-person narrator notices, but by the time he finished describing a character the guy could have left the building.

·       While the dialog in general is good, sometimes excellent, characters are prone to giving speeches, sometimes at length.

·       No research is wasted. I do not mean that as a compliment. Obscure facts that don’t convey anything useful to readers are recited in detail. Example: A series of streets are named for key figures in the city’s history, alphabetically. It would be one thing to tell us about the figure the street the hero is looking for is named after. Maybe one more. What we get goes on for a couple of pages, noting not only names of streets we don’t care about, but the narrator’s opinion as to whether that person was more deserving of the honor than someone else whose name started with the same letter. I know the rap on Don Winslow is that he goes on for pages giving the readers background in books such as The Dawn Patrol and California Fire and Life, but Winslow makes those entertaining, even engrossing. In this example they’re tedious.

·       Talking about how things don’t work a certain way in real life, then doing them. Example: the hero takes a serious ass kicking that results in multiple injuries. The author notes this isn’t like a TV show, where a full recovery can occur during a commercial break. In this case, the hero gets laid less than an hour after he regains consciousness; the next day he’s kicking ass himself.

·       Way too many coincidences. The girl he’s looking for just happens to be involved with an unsolved murder from months ago; meanwhile, the detective, working an unrelated insurance fraud case, sees someone he recognizes being kidnapped off the street by people who are behind the unsolved murder.

It occurs to me now that maybe the book was written as a satire and I just didn’t get it; it wouldn’t be the first time. Maybe the humor was too subtle for me. I’ll give the author another chance, but not right away. If I don’t like the next book a lot better, I’ll check out his other genre from time to time, as his work there was exceptional. Until then, I appreciate the reminder of why I don’t do some of the things I don’t do.