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hollyway 's review for:
Grave Secret
by Charlaine Harris
I've given the books in this series a generous 3 stars, because they're not TERRIBLE. What they are is very, very average. I could SEE what it wanted to be, but I just didn't FEEL it.
I like the odd easy read, and in fact I liked the Sookie books by the same author, however I found myself really not enjoying the Harper Connelly series, and ended up skimming heavily. I was more willing to overlook the weak writing in the Sookie series because I found the plot and the minor characters compelling (though to be fair I read those as a teenager so who knows what I would think of them now). When Harris turns her pen to crime/mystery however, it falls flat.
I found the cases incredibly weak. The mystery unfolds painfully slowly, and not in a good way, just in a boring way. Meanwhile, you're getting the details of every shower, meal and aimless train of thought Harper has, none of which are interesting. (I'd also like to point out that Harris has a habit of writing young women with the disposition of self-assured, middle-aged housewives. They never actually feel YOUNG.) This goes on for about 280-290 pages, until Harris crams in the convenient info-dump of a conclusion into the last few pages. And the murderer is almost always the exact person Harper had a "bad feeling" about. This last book is the only one whose resolution actually surprised me (Mark, not Chip and Drex who were predictable AF), but again, Harris' writing does not do the moment justice. When Mark was revealed as Cameron's killer, my reaction was "huh. kay." Because Harper's narration is so generic it just doesn't evoke any emotion in me - except for maybe irritation.
And as for Harper herself I found her to be terribly dull, but at the same time rather erratic, self-pitying and huffy. Not to mention grossly co-dependant. Having a ~complicated past~ is fine and all, but as I've noticed with all Harris' work, the exposition is always inserted in the way of clunky flashbacks. And since the descriptions are so unemotional, it doesn't serve to add depth to Harper's character. It just feels like waffling.
These books give me the distinct impression of a first draft - like she's just written down what's come to mind without any refinement. Or maybe, it's just not my style. I'm not a fan of stream of consciousness or rambling - which is easy to fall into when writing in the first person. When it comes to words, less is more in terms of impact. I don't need to know everything the character is thinking, and particularly in a crime novel, you have to think about pace. Cut the fat! The plot should be sturdy enough to fill it out. However it seems neither the plot or the protagonist are strong enough to carry this series.
Also, when she fucked her brother and started calling him "baby" while still forgetting not to call him "brother," I had to resist the impulse to douse the book in gasoline and sacrifice it to Satan. That's... not hot.
I like the odd easy read, and in fact I liked the Sookie books by the same author, however I found myself really not enjoying the Harper Connelly series, and ended up skimming heavily. I was more willing to overlook the weak writing in the Sookie series because I found the plot and the minor characters compelling (though to be fair I read those as a teenager so who knows what I would think of them now). When Harris turns her pen to crime/mystery however, it falls flat.
I found the cases incredibly weak. The mystery unfolds painfully slowly, and not in a good way, just in a boring way. Meanwhile, you're getting the details of every shower, meal and aimless train of thought Harper has, none of which are interesting. (I'd also like to point out that Harris has a habit of writing young women with the disposition of self-assured, middle-aged housewives. They never actually feel YOUNG.) This goes on for about 280-290 pages, until Harris crams in the convenient info-dump of a conclusion into the last few pages. And the murderer is almost always the exact person Harper had a "bad feeling" about. This last book is the only one whose resolution actually surprised me (Mark, not Chip and Drex who were predictable AF), but again, Harris' writing does not do the moment justice. When Mark was revealed as Cameron's killer, my reaction was "huh. kay." Because Harper's narration is so generic it just doesn't evoke any emotion in me - except for maybe irritation.
And as for Harper herself I found her to be terribly dull, but at the same time rather erratic, self-pitying and huffy. Not to mention grossly co-dependant. Having a ~complicated past~ is fine and all, but as I've noticed with all Harris' work, the exposition is always inserted in the way of clunky flashbacks. And since the descriptions are so unemotional, it doesn't serve to add depth to Harper's character. It just feels like waffling.
These books give me the distinct impression of a first draft - like she's just written down what's come to mind without any refinement. Or maybe, it's just not my style. I'm not a fan of stream of consciousness or rambling - which is easy to fall into when writing in the first person. When it comes to words, less is more in terms of impact. I don't need to know everything the character is thinking, and particularly in a crime novel, you have to think about pace. Cut the fat! The plot should be sturdy enough to fill it out. However it seems neither the plot or the protagonist are strong enough to carry this series.
Also, when she fucked her brother and started calling him "baby" while still forgetting not to call him "brother," I had to resist the impulse to douse the book in gasoline and sacrifice it to Satan. That's... not hot.