A review by sophie_cale
Don't Look Down by Bob Mayer, Jennifer Crusie

3.0

I had fun with this one, but I have to admit that it can be described pithily by a word that is very over-used in its pages: clusterfuck.

There is ALOT going on in this book all the time. It's kinda hard to pay attention to what's happening and suspension of disbelief is very necessary to enjoy this book, much like the Die Hard movies. I just went along for the ride, which was fun once I stopped trying to make sense of it.

Aside from the abundant humour, Crusie's draw for me is her characters. Funnily enough, the character I liked best, next to René the horn-dog Cajun, was the psychotic Tyler. I like villains, especially Crusie's, but this book shortchanged its bad guys. If the craziness of the plot could have been whittled down to dealing with...well, just whittled down, I think this book might have been a little less schizophrenic.

The romance is sweet, if a bit awkward (and rushed - whole thing happens in three days). It is somewhat spoiler-ish, but it must be said that

I really had a hard time with Lucie's crazy "this is forever, even if it's only been 3 days and I don't even know your first name" attitude

. Maybe because the plot is so bombastically huge, the lovers don't get the time they need.

This is absolute brain candy, maybe not a Ferrero Rocher, but a Twizzler or something along those lines. A Ding Dong, maybe.

Context Free Quote:
“It’s my backup gun. You can have my primary if you want. Anything for you.”
“That’s really sweet, J.T.” Lucy looked at the gun as if it were going to bite her. “Next time, try jewelry.”

-and one more, because I loved René that much-

“She an actress?” LaFavre said.
“No, she’s the Angel of Death,” Wilder said.
“I’ve done one or two of those,” LaFavre said, unfazed. “Got to use the dark swamp voodoo on them.”