Re: Just finished

In article <5fktocF3dmgvqU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Lauradog <lauradog@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Crowfoot wrote:
In article <1184077617.349869.83610@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Nancy2 <nancy-dooley@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Jul 8, 11:33 pm, "K Barrett" <mormo...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I just finished Giles Blunt's 'By the Time You Read This'. I'd probably
give it a C+ or B-. Not up to his usual high quality. I see he's working
on a standalone and that's probably a good idea. I think he needs a break
from John Cardinal. I had to remind myself who the bad guy was half way
through.

Up next, the latest installment of Arkady Renko!

K Barrett

Just finished an older one by T. Jefferson Parker - "Red Light."
Outstanding.

N.

Finished "Priest" by Ken Bruen, and liked it better than his
earlier books; having the constant refrain of "Time out to
get drunk" replaced by "Boy I wish I could have a drink but
meantime I'm following this plot thread" was a great relief.
I found the book a bit sketchy, though; maybe he was bored
with it, without the background of his hero constantly being
smashed.

In the middle of "The Bookman's Promise," Dunning, and
liking it fine -- only we've just had a confrontation with a
big thug that ended with a warning from Janeway, which I
*know* means the thug is coming back even worse and
will have to be killed but only after doing frightful damage
that he wouldn't get to do if he were truly incapacitated
in the first place, where it would matter (a bullet in the
kneecap?). It bugs me when an accomplished author
gets that sloppy -- I feel as if his readers are being dis-
respected, somehow, by the resort to such an obvious
plot-gimmick. Phooey. I hope the rest of the story is good
enough to offset this cheesy plant (as in "foreshadowing",
not clorophyl).

Suzy

Yes, I hate the "if only I'd known, I would never have . . ." Don't
like foreshadowing, no matter how well it's done.
Sue D.

Well, if it's *really* done right, you don't notice it at the
time at all; but later, when it comes to fruition, as it were, you
strike your forehead and cry, "Ahah! THAT'S what the Borzoi
in the blue mittens was doing in Chapter two!" And you feel
a wry pleasure in having not spotted it at the time, but seeing
a skillful writer make it work when the pay-off comes.

Suzy
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Just finished
    ... on a standalone and that's probably a good idea. ... earlier books; having the constant refrain of "Time out to ... big thug that ended with a warning from Janeway, ...
    (rec.arts.mystery)
  • Re: Just finished
    ... earlier books; having the constant refrain of "Time out to get drunk" replaced by "Boy I wish I could have a drink but ... big thug that ended with a warning from Janeway, ... no matter how well it's done. ...
    (rec.arts.mystery)
  • spork Alvin, from time to time worths integral and easy, checks more than it, waking eventually.
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    (rec.games.roguelike.nethack)
  • Re: A note on computing thugs and coding bums
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    (comp.programming)
  • Re: A note on computing thugs and coding bums
    ... both standard and non-standard implementations. ... Schildt books, demonstrating not by innuendo but by analysis that those ... If you cannot make that connection, you are indeed a thug, ... I correct your mistakes, as far as I am able and as far as I can spot them ...
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