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A review by christajls
The Accident by Chris Pavone
3.0
This review originally posted at More Than Just Magic
The Accident is a thriller about the publishing industry.Yup, you read that right. Given my obvious love of reading and my employment in the industry I was curious how Pavone would twist this slow moving, paper heavy industry into a mystery. And it was definitely an interesting attempt.
Isabel is a literary agent who has a received an anonymous manuscript. This manuscript is a scathing exposé of Charlie Wolf – a Rupert Murdoch like character. It’s a dangerous manuscript that has the potential to ruin his career. But before 24 hours have passed Isabel’s assistant is murdered. And then one of the employees in the publishing house she gave it to is run off the road. It’s an intense story and a extremely complex and well plotted mystery.
Part of the complexity is how many points of view there are. It switched so often and so quickly it was impossible to get invested in any of the characters. The Accident is written in short, choppy chapters, which keeps the reader off balance – it’s great for the suspense and the twists but it didn’t help with the flow and the character development. What was even more frustrating was when the timeline would switch within the chapters themselves. It gave the entire book a chaotic feeling that prevented me from really becoming hooked on the story.
Chris Pavone has a very descriptive but at times overly verbose writing style. In addition to the short chapters I found that this also threw the pacing off. So much time would be spent on details about the setting, or the characters’ clothing and mannerisms. I’m not opposed to detailed writing, at times it can really help enrich the story. But the detail didn’t feel balanced because it also felt like Pavone was racing through the important plot information. At times I had to go back and reread a chapter because I was unclear on what had just happened.
I did think all of the publishing sections were well researched and can provide an interesting view into the world of publishing for those who aren’t as familiar with it. If you’ve ever been curious about how books were made, this would be a really great book to read. From the agent to the acquisition editor to the actual release – this book walks you through all the steps. I particularly liked one part where Pavone mentions the pile of paper/galleys/books that you can never get rid of. I am very familiar with with that pile.
Overall, The Accident is a very interesting, well plotted mystery that didn’t quite make the jump to “page-turner” status. However, if you like mysteries and are interested in publishing you may want to try it out.
The Accident is a thriller about the publishing industry.Yup, you read that right. Given my obvious love of reading and my employment in the industry I was curious how Pavone would twist this slow moving, paper heavy industry into a mystery. And it was definitely an interesting attempt.
Isabel is a literary agent who has a received an anonymous manuscript. This manuscript is a scathing exposé of Charlie Wolf – a Rupert Murdoch like character. It’s a dangerous manuscript that has the potential to ruin his career. But before 24 hours have passed Isabel’s assistant is murdered. And then one of the employees in the publishing house she gave it to is run off the road. It’s an intense story and a extremely complex and well plotted mystery.
Part of the complexity is how many points of view there are. It switched so often and so quickly it was impossible to get invested in any of the characters. The Accident is written in short, choppy chapters, which keeps the reader off balance – it’s great for the suspense and the twists but it didn’t help with the flow and the character development. What was even more frustrating was when the timeline would switch within the chapters themselves. It gave the entire book a chaotic feeling that prevented me from really becoming hooked on the story.
Chris Pavone has a very descriptive but at times overly verbose writing style. In addition to the short chapters I found that this also threw the pacing off. So much time would be spent on details about the setting, or the characters’ clothing and mannerisms. I’m not opposed to detailed writing, at times it can really help enrich the story. But the detail didn’t feel balanced because it also felt like Pavone was racing through the important plot information. At times I had to go back and reread a chapter because I was unclear on what had just happened.
I did think all of the publishing sections were well researched and can provide an interesting view into the world of publishing for those who aren’t as familiar with it. If you’ve ever been curious about how books were made, this would be a really great book to read. From the agent to the acquisition editor to the actual release – this book walks you through all the steps. I particularly liked one part where Pavone mentions the pile of paper/galleys/books that you can never get rid of. I am very familiar with with that pile.
Overall, The Accident is a very interesting, well plotted mystery that didn’t quite make the jump to “page-turner” status. However, if you like mysteries and are interested in publishing you may want to try it out.