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A review by shanaqui
Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Alex Pavesi's Eight Detectives is certainly a fascinating idea: the odd-numbered chapters are short stories, written in-world by one of the characters, which each have strange contradictions and illustrate a mathematical theory -- the mathematics of mystery fiction, no less. One of the characters thinks that each story also holds a clue to a particular murder, and spends her time trying to pry into it and figure out the puzzle within the mysteries.
It all fell apart a bit for me with the alternative endings to each of the stories -- too much recapping, and sometimes the story as you first read it makes more sense. Of course something like it is needed to bring the stories together and complete the puzzle around in the frame story, but it felt clunkily done. Maybe if there had been just one or two changed endings, or if the changed endings were shorter.
Also, it's a silly thing to nitpick, but for some reason one of the characters says that nobody was interested in mystery fiction after the war, meaning World War II. I can't tell if that's supposed to be a genuine explanation (which would be ridiculous) or if it's meant to be highlighting a certain character's inconsistencies and lack of knowledge. I suppose I'd think better of it if it were the latter, and it would make sense given the givens, but hmm...!
It's an interesting puzzlebox of a story, all the same.
It all fell apart a bit for me with the alternative endings to each of the stories -- too much recapping, and sometimes the story as you first read it makes more sense. Of course something like it is needed to bring the stories together and complete the puzzle around in the frame story, but it felt clunkily done. Maybe if there had been just one or two changed endings, or if the changed endings were shorter.
Also, it's a silly thing to nitpick, but for some reason one of the characters says that nobody was interested in mystery fiction after the war, meaning World War II. I can't tell if that's supposed to be a genuine explanation (which would be ridiculous) or if it's meant to be highlighting a certain character's inconsistencies and lack of knowledge. I suppose I'd think better of it if it were the latter, and it would make sense given the givens, but hmm...!
It's an interesting puzzlebox of a story, all the same.