2008-06-02 Literary hell is truly between the covers of this book

The average human will live for something in excess of 43 million minutes during their lifetime. This Reilly book will consume slightly less than 60 of them to read, and yet it seems a wasteful indulgence to have devoted even that portion of one's life to completing it. While Reilly's books are generally ill-conceived, poorly written and yet strangely popular, this one is, even by his low standards, not very good. Firstly, the plot is so ludicrous it is annoying. If an author wishes the reader to suspend disbelief in the real world, then I have no complaint about science fiction or fantasy genres creating worlds where otherwise incredible events occur. But Reilly purports to do no such thing. He sets his book in the real world and thereby destroys credibility. It reads like a children's book meshed in with gory violence - as if a film-maker decided to arm the Munchkins of Oz with AK-47s to spice things up a little. It leaves the children troubled and the adults bored. Secondly, it has become fashionable in schools not to teach formal English anymore. Children are told just to 'express themselves'. Unless they happen to learn a foreign language, the thought of English grammar remains, well, foreign to them. Clearly Reilly is reasonably young by his ignorance of English. Mind you, copies of his books in our local municipal library have been red-inked with corerctions by some readers, so all is not lost. Surely his publisher can afford a sub-editor for him ? Or has Reilly become too popular to be corrected ? Apart from the poor mechanics of his writing, Reilly struggles to build suspense, drama or anything else much given his writing style is childishly superficial. It is as if he has presented his rough outline of a story and let it be published, instead of bothering to go back and actually write it properly. Finally, Reilly remains popular, and I know that because the jacket of this book repeatedly informs me so. He has sold millions of titles, his books are being considered for a Hollywood movie (which is strangely appropriate given the unintelligent way he writes) and his publisher thinks he's a great product. Unfortunately, this book and its sister titles are endemic of the general dumbing-down of English literature, as books becomes units and a commodity for marketing departments to push onto a less caring market. This book will not enrich your life. It will not stir up any emotions. Like fast food or 20/20 cricket, it will promise you much but deliver up very little and leave you feeling strangely unsatisfied. You have been warned.