2001-11-14 Not sure what Stephen King sees in this guy...

Stephen King describes Peter Abrahams as his favourite thriller writer in America. I don't get it. I read A Perfect Crime and thought it was ok, but this was a major disapointment. At times it came across as a very poor attempt at doing a Secret History, but the characters are unengaging and the plot is unbelievably flimsy. I thought thrillers had got past the point of the old 'which twin is it' ruse, but no, it's churned out once again as though it's a brilliant plot twist. That the hero is too stupid to see it would work for a page, but it's dragged on and on and on. There's little or no tension in the first 80% of the book and when it DOES arrive it relies too much on coincidence, and even then fails to engage really.
Not recommended.