2008-09-11 Bad memory

I have just struggled to finish this book, and can truly say that I wish I had never started it. I was originally intrigued by the idea of a male author writing as a woman in the first person. However, Cat Ferry behaves far too much like a man, and it didn't work for me. The book felt like a man's cliched idea of how a woman with a troubled past might behave.

Given that this was supposed to be a thriller, the suspense didn't work for me either. There were far too many implausible moments throughout the book designed to build suspense, but many of them were just plain silly - the river escape episode stands out in particular. The constant to-ing and fro-ing from one storyline to another was irritating, and I found it broke rather than added to the suspense. Also, it doesn't take much to work out the ending right from the start (don't read the acknowledgements at the beginning of the book until you've finished it).

I found the characters very cliched: the strong Southern grandfather, Sean (the cheating cop), Pearlie (the 'house' slave), nice Michael, kind Dr Hannah and so on. Whilst Iles has a very active imagination with the implausible plotting, he seemed to struggle with the characterisations.

The book was far too long and incredibly repetitive in places. I lost count of the times I had to go through Cat's dream of the ride over the hill with her grandfather - I found this part particularly irritating as it was clear (to the reader at least) what was going to happen when she did go over the top. It also needed some serious editing - p334 is only half a page, but Iles manages to use 'smile' four times, and 'okay', 'wise' and 'strong(er)' three times each.

I had the feeling throughout that Iles was writing this with one eye on the potential mini series/Hollywood film rights - I could almost picture the actors (Jodie Foster in particular) he had in mind, and could hear the possible soundtrack to go with it (lots of dramatic drumming and violins).

Unfortunately, this book will stay in my mind as a bad memory, and I certainly won't be holding my breath (as Cat so often does) when it hits the screen.