Scan barcode
A review by squidbag
Inherit the Dead by S.J. Rozan, John Connolly, Sarah Weinman, Stephen L. Carter, Dana Stabenow, Charlaine Harris, Marcia Clark, James Grady, Alafair Burke, Bryan Gruley, Lisa Unger, C.J. Box, Lawrence Block, Lee Child, Val McDermid, Ken Bruen, Max Allan Collins, Heather Graham, Mark Billingham, Jonathan Santlofer
2.0
(This entire review has been edited to remove the word "uneven," which I promised myself I would not use to talk about a book written by 20 goddamn people because, 'duh.')
So, yeah.
A fun little mystery story that never really has a chance to build into anything suspenseful, mostly because of the nature of the beast. 20 mystery authors got together and wrote a story for charity, and so that's a reason to read it, buy it, whatever. I didn't dislike it, but I was never able to take it any more seriously than I would an episode of Law & Order viewed in a hospital waiting area. That said, if you like Law & Order, this could be your thing.
Because each chapter is written by a different author, a couple of things happen: First and foremost is that the internal narrative of the protagonist makes him sound like a psychotic with a memory disorder - he repeats himself a lot, and goes from forgiving and world-weary to a blue-mouthed dynamo in the space of 10 pages at one point. Some threads are never really pulled, and the climax feels like an anticlimax with a twist tacked on; one of the characters is an obvious red herring from the beginning. Positively, though, each chapter is a fresh start and a chance to read something new, and I found a couple of authors I might read again amongst the old favorites.
Fun, but not brilliant.
So, yeah.
A fun little mystery story that never really has a chance to build into anything suspenseful, mostly because of the nature of the beast. 20 mystery authors got together and wrote a story for charity, and so that's a reason to read it, buy it, whatever. I didn't dislike it, but I was never able to take it any more seriously than I would an episode of Law & Order viewed in a hospital waiting area. That said, if you like Law & Order, this could be your thing.
Because each chapter is written by a different author, a couple of things happen: First and foremost is that the internal narrative of the protagonist makes him sound like a psychotic with a memory disorder - he repeats himself a lot, and goes from forgiving and world-weary to a blue-mouthed dynamo in the space of 10 pages at one point. Some threads are never really pulled, and the climax feels like an anticlimax with a twist tacked on; one of the characters is an obvious red herring from the beginning. Positively, though, each chapter is a fresh start and a chance to read something new, and I found a couple of authors I might read again amongst the old favorites.
Fun, but not brilliant.