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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
Okay. Not nearly as good as her others I’ve read
Murder as performance art...
TV reporter Eve Singer is on the crime beat, so she's called to the scene of a brutal murder committed in the foyer of an office building, just feet from where people are passing by on the pavement outside. This is a murderer who likes to perform his gory crimes in public, and then stage them as if it were some kind of performance art. When he makes contact with Eve, at first it seems like a great thing – she'll have the exclusive story and it will give her career a much needed boost. But soon she realises that she's becoming caught up in the murderer's schemes, almost to the point of becoming an accessory...
First off, let me say that I love Belinda Bauer. And this book has in it many of the things I love her for – the great writing, touches of humour, some nice building of suspense and an original and dramatic climax. However, for me, this isn't one of her best. It feels derivative – there are touches of Hannibal and Clarice in the relationship between Eve and the killer, and heavy shades of Psycho over the storyline. Perhaps there's not much new left to say in the serial killer novel – certainly it's been a while since I read one that felt fresh. But the derivations in this one seemed so blatant that I wondered at points if she was deliberately referencing some of the greats as a kind of inside joke, but if so, it didn't quite come off, and simply ended up feeling rather unoriginal.
The structure also doesn't feel up to Bauer's usual standard. We are given biographies of the characters rather than being allowed to get to know them through the plot – whatever happened to 'show, don't tell'? Eve's father suffers from dementia and this is used partly to give some humour to the book – always tricky with such a sensitive subject and I felt it occasionally passed over into tastelessness. And while I thought the portrayal of his dementia was well done for most of the book, when it became part of the plotting in the later stages it crossed the credibility line and began to feel contrived and inauthentic, and I found myself feeling that this awful disease was being used for entertainment purposes rather than being given the empathy it deserves. The humour didn't work as well for me as usual, I didn't take to Eve much, and the amount of lazy swearing throughout became utterly tedious, not to mention Eve's need to vomit every time a corpse turned up.
On the upside, there are passages where Bauer achieves that delicious feeling of creepiness, for example, when Eve thinks she's being followed home in the dark, and it does have a great thriller ending which redeemed it a little in my eyes. I was also pleased that this murderer was pretty eclectic in his choice of victims, not exclusively butchering vulnerable young women. But overall, this is one I'm going to put down to an off day, and go back to waiting avidly for her next offering. I've given it three stars but, in truth, I think one of those stars is from a mixture of loyalty and the feeling that I may be judging it too harshly because of my perhaps overly high expectations. Because, despite this one, I do love Belinda Bauer. I can't help wondering in general if the pressure to get a new book out every year is really a good thing in the long run...
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Grove Atlantic.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
TV reporter Eve Singer is on the crime beat, so she's called to the scene of a brutal murder committed in the foyer of an office building, just feet from where people are passing by on the pavement outside. This is a murderer who likes to perform his gory crimes in public, and then stage them as if it were some kind of performance art. When he makes contact with Eve, at first it seems like a great thing – she'll have the exclusive story and it will give her career a much needed boost. But soon she realises that she's becoming caught up in the murderer's schemes, almost to the point of becoming an accessory...
First off, let me say that I love Belinda Bauer. And this book has in it many of the things I love her for – the great writing, touches of humour, some nice building of suspense and an original and dramatic climax. However, for me, this isn't one of her best. It feels derivative – there are touches of Hannibal and Clarice in the relationship between Eve and the killer, and heavy shades of Psycho over the storyline. Perhaps there's not much new left to say in the serial killer novel – certainly it's been a while since I read one that felt fresh. But the derivations in this one seemed so blatant that I wondered at points if she was deliberately referencing some of the greats as a kind of inside joke, but if so, it didn't quite come off, and simply ended up feeling rather unoriginal.
The structure also doesn't feel up to Bauer's usual standard. We are given biographies of the characters rather than being allowed to get to know them through the plot – whatever happened to 'show, don't tell'? Eve's father suffers from dementia and this is used partly to give some humour to the book – always tricky with such a sensitive subject and I felt it occasionally passed over into tastelessness. And while I thought the portrayal of his dementia was well done for most of the book, when it became part of the plotting in the later stages it crossed the credibility line and began to feel contrived and inauthentic, and I found myself feeling that this awful disease was being used for entertainment purposes rather than being given the empathy it deserves. The humour didn't work as well for me as usual, I didn't take to Eve much, and the amount of lazy swearing throughout became utterly tedious, not to mention Eve's need to vomit every time a corpse turned up.
On the upside, there are passages where Bauer achieves that delicious feeling of creepiness, for example, when Eve thinks she's being followed home in the dark, and it does have a great thriller ending which redeemed it a little in my eyes. I was also pleased that this murderer was pretty eclectic in his choice of victims, not exclusively butchering vulnerable young women. But overall, this is one I'm going to put down to an off day, and go back to waiting avidly for her next offering. I've given it three stars but, in truth, I think one of those stars is from a mixture of loyalty and the feeling that I may be judging it too harshly because of my perhaps overly high expectations. Because, despite this one, I do love Belinda Bauer. I can't help wondering in general if the pressure to get a new book out every year is really a good thing in the long run...
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Grove Atlantic.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Ooh, this is an irritating novel! At times, it is brilliant - taut writing that keeps you wanting to read on, nice moments of humour - but at others the writing just drags. There’s too many chapters where we are moved away from the plot for the backstory of every character, however minor. I found myself rolling my eyes at yet another superfluous tangent far too often. Bauer can write well but is too self-indulgent, and her editors too lenient, resulting in far too much unnecessary padding. Plus, I never felt engaged with main character Eve. Her potential love interest and the police superintendent were both more engaging than her.
I acquired this book at a Proof Party 4 years ago, and must have seen Bauer talking about this then just-about-to-be-released novel, though I don’t remember the occasion, to be honest. I made a note in the book that I found the author a little arrogant. Sadly, I found this book to be evidence that she is not as good as she thinks she is.
I acquired this book at a Proof Party 4 years ago, and must have seen Bauer talking about this then just-about-to-be-released novel, though I don’t remember the occasion, to be honest. I made a note in the book that I found the author a little arrogant. Sadly, I found this book to be evidence that she is not as good as she thinks she is.
Garbage. Painful gender stereotypes that make the author sound so dated. I don't know Belinda Bauer but I think she might writing from a prison cell after being incarcerated in the mid 90s. I hope Belinda gets out some time soon and gets to meet some real people.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
kinda grizzly, kinda gruesome, also kinda humorous in the author's signature dark way. her latest book, Exit, is by far my favorite of the four i've read so far.
De opzet van het verhaal is niet nieuw te noemen. Het verhaal is ook niet zenuwslopend spannend... en toch wekt het een interesse die ervoor zorgt dat je graag verder leest! Interessante thriller voor als je gewoon even lekker iets tussendoor wilt lezen.
A perfect spoopy season read. Not horror, but a good, suspenseful thriller that had me guessing what the killer's next move would be! The characters were great and I found myself wishing this was a series.