Step into "The Death List,"a spine twisting thriller, woven from the mind of award winning crime writer Paul Johnston.
As the story opens we learn upfront about Matt's current situation. He and his ex-wife Caroline are divorced and have joint custody of their daughter Lucy. In agreement the normal arrangement is he accompany Lucy to and from school everyday, making sure she gets home safely. One of the bigger perks is that he gets to spend time with her on weekends. But Caroline is this fun loving eight year olds primary caretaker. So Matt had better not half step with this woman. She got the house in the divorce settlement and no way is ashamed to show her harsh true colors. And as Matt said she’ll take any excuse to rid him from her and Lucy’s lives.
Sticking to routine, Matt manages to keeps close to his daughter. He lives just around the corner from his ex-wife. Dwelling in a crappy two room flat, he can barely afford. His writing career is dead and his idea of a master plan is nonexistent. For a while the reader can find him or herself straggling right along with Matt and his antics. So to speak he throws his publishers and even his ex-wife under the bus in order to muster some self fulfillment he’s missing. One reason because his books aren’t selling like they use to and he’s been out of commission for quite sometime. His outlook on the biz is that publishers are looking for the hot young twenty somethings. Not the rugged looking author, whose photograph scares more than one sensitive child. Not to mention his website is also on the brink extinction. Instead of averaging five messages a day from adoring fans he’s lucky to get five a week. His daily displacement activities include, checking his mail box, browsing his email, and even personally replying to responses from whomever is left of his fan base.
Still what more could a guy ask for? All Matt could do was hope, or…beg but even that demolishment of dignity was in vain. So he’d gone off at the mouth an kind of torched his career. Things would get better…Even if the money wasn’t piling or the creative juices weren’t flowing. Its just a small rut. He’d come back on top again…just like, WD1612 said. Not a friend nor foe, just a constant aggravating fan. High in praises yet read in between the lines lingo. Matt gave this stranger a glimpse of the real him and WD, took full advantage.
His on going project…
The email Matt opened that day was taunting. Who was this person, how’d he know his name. Not only did WD have information on Matt, but that of his lover Sara, his ex-wife, his daughter, mother and even his late father. He knew of his friends, the home in which he’d resided and even the name of his real birth mother. WD was smug about Matt’s real father boasting about how he could find him, just say the word.
WD’s proposition, sounded like any other person seeking a ghost writer to foot their autobiography. Just another freakish escapade? Or the incriminating ploy involving something bigger. Either way dirty money lay outside Matt’s’ door, “literally cash up front.”
What choices? Was he just a desperate man of wounded pride? Banking on revenge, just as sinister as White Devil ( hypocrites, corrupt evil doers lurking beneath layers of apparent probity). Or is Matt protecting his loved ones?
Trapped within the great abyss of self pity, abandonment and folly, crime novelist Matt Wells finds himself in a dire bind. With the devil pulling the strings.
The pace of the book is smooth and at the same time it speeds up rather fast. Lets just say the body count just keeps on coming! The urge to pull away is reasonable, given the long length and some gore. But remember this is crime fiction.
Even so, Paul Johnston takes this interconnected approach, which can either make for an interesting turn of events or a confusing one. Rereading is not the option for everyone but given suspenseful aspect to the material it’d be worth it. Every detail has meaning unraveling fact after fact. In some instances statements are reiterated to display/ build on key personality attributes and morals of different characters.
Throughout the novel there was always something eerie about how WD spoke. Even in the portions of the book where the Author Johnston allows the reader to peer inside the head of a born killer; It not only set the scene but provoked this unknown fear. Just thinking that there could be someone like WD out there watching is in a sense, spooky.
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Lovietta-
ReplyDeleteAlthough the first sentence wouldn't have worked in most reviews, I loved it here because of the novel's dramatic subject matter. This is like that "Bad Santa" review that we read, where the reviewer's tone matched that of the film.
You gave a great, if not long-winded, summary of "The Death List". I enjoyed reading what this novel was about, but I felt that you needed to dedicate much more time to analyzing the novel. Do you think you would be able to summarize the plot in one or two paragraphs? I would recommend that if you decide to revise this post.
I'm not sure that I like how you decided to jump right into the summary. Look at the first sentence: "As the story opens we learn upfront about Matt's current situation. He and his ex-wife Caroline are divorced and have joint custody of their daughter Lucy." I mention that he is the protagonist.
There were numerous awkward sentences, including the first sentence in the third to last paragraph: "The pace of the book is smooth and at the same time it speeds up rather fast." These are two unrelated ideas; I would say, "The Death List has a fantastic flow and gets rather hard to put down in the second half of the novel." Something like that.
After this sentence, you say: "Lets just say the body count just keeps on coming!" Phrases like these sound a bit sophomoric, like you're trying to be cute and/or funny but it's just a bit odd. I would just remove that sentence completely.
What you did good, you did really good. With some fixing up, this could be a great review. I think you should revise it--I'd like to see what you decide to change.
Lovietta, you do an admirable job summarizing the plot of this book with the same kind of energy that (I presume) characterizes the novel itself. I think that summary might go on for a bit too long, though; about halfway through the review I began to wonder if we'd ever get your assessment of the book. You might also want to consider starting the summary with a very brief, 1-2 sentence summary of the entire thing. For example, when you first mention WD1612, I was not at all clear what or who that was.
ReplyDeleteOne line that jumped out at me was "But remember this is crime fiction," because all of a sudden it seemed like the review was aimed directly at me: the imperative to "remember" is clearly directed at me, and had the strange--and, I assume unintended--effect of making me feel like somehow I had made a mistake and you were correcting me. It's kind of a minor point, to be sure, but it was very striking.
Overall, I think this review would benefit from less summary and more assessment and context. For example, consider these questions: Has this author written other books? What genre does it fall in?
This is a very good draft that just needs some tightening up.
I Like this review. you did a good job of telling the story but leaving enough holes in it to make me want to go out and read the book. there were a few times you added and S after words that didn't need them, but all in all i like your review.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I think there is plenty here to work with. The summary is lengthy, but if you go through and pick out some main points to cover and leave out the heavy details it will read much easier. Rather than starting on story details you need to explain, just skip them and leave it to the reader to discover in the book. Less is more here.
ReplyDeleteSame goes for the review portion. I liked your last two paragraphs the best, especially the second to last. I think it is important to talk about the style of the storytelling and I started to get a much better sense of the tone here. The line "Every detail has meaning unraveling fact after fact," makes me want to read it! But in a 'Time Magazine' style review I don't think the smaller details are as needed. You definitely have a ton to work with here! I would say that the summary needs to be cut down and fine tuned a bit, and the last couple paragraphs should be elaborated on to make a greater portion of the review as a whole.