BLUE, by Lou Aronica, was slow getting started, and I have to admit upfront that it took me quite some time to get through the beginning. It didn’t take too long for the story to finally pick up though and I was hooked from that point on. Let’s look at the good and bad of this book:

CHARACTERIZATION:

The characters, at first especially, seemed flat; I couldn’t find much sympathy for the teen protagonist, Becky, and the mother seemed to have little redeeming qualities to her. The divorce is one thing, but the attitude she had toward her ex-husband, when she is supposed to love her daughter so much, just never rang true to me at all.

Then there was this Gage character. I don’t know who Gage is. I don’t really CARE who Gage is. I hated the riddled way ‘he’ talked, that I still haven’t figured out if it was a riddle or not, since there was nothing to ‘figure out’ that we didn’t and couldn’t know without Gage. I also really disliked the lack of use of personal pronouns and overuse of Gage’s name, in an effort to ‘mystify’ Gage as genderless. It was unnecessary.

THE PACING & PLOTTING

So the Not-so-Good part is that if I had not been reading this book specifically to do a review, I might not have finished reading it. That would have been a travesty, though, because once the slowness and the tedium of the beginning was past, the story picked up and was much better. I would have missed what ended up being a good story. A very good story.

That said, I feel the author could have done a better job culling this. The story was overly long, unnecessarily so, with a lot of stuff that could have been removed that did nothing to further the plot. For example, long descriptive scenes of cooking, both on the mother’s and father’s side of the story, that didn’t further the plot. These could have been cut back and still had the impact.

Another problem was the believability and consistency of the characters. I also believe as several other reviewers on Amazon.com have said that the author tries to tackle too many deep themes in this book, and as such, it feels that none of them get fully resolved or get the attention they deserve. One or two deep themes and situations are enough, but this one tried to have divorce, remarriage, visitation, cancer and possible death of a child, survival of a world, problems with teenaged dating and friendship, father daughter relationship, mother daughter relationship, teenaged angst, etc. There was just ‘too much’ in the beginning to set all this up that was just backstory and boring.

Now, all that said, once the backstory was out of the way and the real story actually started, it was soooo much better. I loved the parallels drawn between the fantasy world and the reality world, and how the two are interlinked and perhaps dependent upon each other.

PLOT & MINOR SPOILERS:

Before I get to any spoilers, here’s the basic plot: Becky and her father, when she was a child and had leukemia, invented a childhood storytelling game in which they created a fantasy world called Tamarisk. This world had many of the same qualities as the real world, but in grander, more fanciful and artistic ways. The storyline in this fantasy world would parallel the real world, in that Becky would put elements of her real life into the fantasy she and her father created together.

When Becky’s parents get divorced, after she goes into remission from the cancer, in a fit of frustration and resentment (typical of a child of that age during a difficult divorce), Becky decides she’s done with Tamarisk. She and her father stop creating their stories, and though she thinks of the world now and then, it is nothing more to her than the memories of a sick child.

So life goes on, Becky spends time with her father one night per week and on certain weekends while he lives in an apartment across town. She lives with her mother who has since remarried, a man who doesn’t get much screen time in the book, but who seems okay. Then, one day, Becky starts to experience symptoms similar to those she had experienced when she had cancer before. She keeps it to herself for too long,because she’s afraid what it will mean, how it will change things, and how it will impact her life–and the lives of her family.

The diagnosis comes, and then things start to really change…

MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD: Becky, through her mind (or at least so she thinks), visits Tamarisk after she becomes ill again. Perhaps it was a dream, but it felt real, and different than a dream. One of the difficulties I have with this plot is that there was not more disbelief of the events by the characters in the story. I can see maybe Becky believing, but it was too pat, too easy, for Chris to accept. I’d rather have seen less cooking, less chit chat and backstory, and more talk about how and why this was happening. Perhaps a visit to the doctor to see if there’s a reason her mind might be playing tricks on her. Though partly, the father’s acceptance is explained by saying that perhaps it doesn’t hurt to let her have her fantasies, all things considered with her illness.

Tamarisk is beautiful, and Becky learns that though she has neglected Tamarisk, it has continued to live on and developed and change with her creating stories for it. Yet, even so, she finds she has the ability to make certain changes to Tamarisk once she accepts what is happening and starts telling the stories with her father again. The images drawn of that world were well done, in fact, probably were the best part of the novel. We begin to see the lines that connect Becky and Tamarisk, and how the two seem dependent upon each other. We watch changes in each: when Becky is sick the first time, the world experiences the blight; when Becky’s parents divorce due to the stress and problems related to the cancer, we see Tamarisk’s parents die due to the weakness on a bridge caused by the blight; we see the cancer come back, and the blight returns. We see the Queen suffering and we see Becky suffering, and the only time anything feels right is when the two worlds are connected as one, through Becky.

As for what many have said about the blanket at the end… I think this was the only way that the mother could believe, and I think that the mother needed to believe. It’s a fantasy novel, after all, and I’m okay with a fantasy that the mother and the father were able to get along and make peace, whatever the reasons.

CONCLUSION:

Tamarisk sounds beautiful and would make a great kid’s fantasy movie. The book has potential that was untapped, and perhaps needed a bit more work to cull the fat from the edges, but even so, it’s a good book, with a good storyline, good morals, good connections between the worlds. The last 1/3 of the book kept me staying up late reading and turning pages as much as the the first 1/3 of the book dragged.

But in the end, it WAS touching. It was sad but happy too. It did what a book should do: entertained me. I would recommend the book to anyone who likes fantasy, especially in the 11-25 year old age range, for those who enjoy young adult. I’m an adult and don’t usually do YA, but this one I did enjoy. My daughter is twenty-four and she loves fantasy and while she said it was a little ‘young’, she really enjoyed it and cried at the end. She has since recommended it to friends who have also loved it.

If you can pick this one up, it’s worth the read, even with the not-so-good stuff that goes with it. The good stuff does, in my opinion, outshine it.

Dead Game: An Emily Stone Novel
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The plot idea was killer: An online role-playing detective/spy game that only an elite few who know how to access it are able to be a part of. The game has people searching for clues in real life, reporting back on the internet site for the game. Then a serial killer breaks loose in real life, leaving people dead–and evidence that the deaths have been filmed and documented exist. The only connection to the murder victims soon is revealed that they all were part of the role-playing game EagleEye (Which is sometimes one word, sometimes two words, sometimes italicized and sometimes in quotes throughout the novel.)

I have multiple problems with this very interesting plot line. I mean, the plot is a good idea, but the implementation of it in the novel is just poorly done. First, it’s called a ‘video game’ in the novel and the teasers, but it’s not. It’s a real life, online role-playing game – an MMPORG, if you will. There is a difference, and though I’m not an avid gamer, I know people who are, and this is not a video game – so to use the tagline “Game Over Means You’re Dead” isn’t valid either, since this game doesn’t really have a ‘Game Over’.

Then there’s Emily Stone, who is supposed to officially be ‘dead’. I don’t know why or how she’s supposed to be dead, because this book doesn’t explain that to me. I’m assuming there was a book prior to this one that explains that, but a good author should know to make the loose ends meet, even if the reader doesn’t pick up a series until midstream. The Darker Side: A Thriller, by Cody McFadyen series does this expertly. If you read all his Smoky novels, you’ll see a bigger picture, but if you pick up just one book, he explains and glosses over it enough that someone who knows isn’t bored by it but someone who doesn’t can understand. So in Dead Game, we have no idea really why Emily is supposed to be dead. But we do know that at one point she won’t go to a funeral, lest she be observed by people who know her and believe her dead, but then later, she goes around introducing herself with her real name to people who could really hurt her if they knew she was supposed to be dead. Then later, when the author needs her to be ‘dead’ again, she can’t do something because of that. If an author uses a plot device like this, it has to be consistent and believable.

The relationship between Rick and Emily is neither hot, steamy, taught nor believable. In one scene, we get gratuitous affection/intimacy that happens in the middle of an investigation lookout thing that ends up nearly getting them caught by people who shouldn’t know they were there, and it was just ‘bam!’ there it is. For what is supposed to be seasoned professionals, this is inappropriate behavior and had me rolling my eyes. If they can’t control themselves, these two super trained, highly skilled investigators, how the heck do they ever function to solve crimes? And if their lust for each other is so strong they can’t handle this, then the author needs to do a better job of explaining that.

There are multiple instances where homonyms were used incorrectly. There are multiple instances where numbers were spelled out and then the same number later in the sentence was written numerically. There are multiple instances where dialogue came mid-text-block, with more descriptive, then more dialogue, instead of the proper formatting, which made it hard to stay focused on the story itself. There were multiple instances of author intrusion. The worst of it all was the point of view: there were multiple ones. It’s not like the POV changed for each chapter, which is tough, but might have worked. It wasn’t like the POV was omniscient either; it wasn’t. The POV simply changed whenever the author needed the reader to know what a character was thinking, sometimes from one chapter to another, sometimes from one paragraph to another, and it was dizzying. It probably would have worked best from a third-person POV, omniscient, but instead, we were privy to the direct dialogue thoughts of every character, even bit character that were only two pages long before they were killed. There was no reason to jump point of view to a character for two and a half pages and then kill her. We had no need to know her.

The killer is introduced to us about halfway through the story, after the first part of the story works really hard to keep the killer hidden from us. But when the killer is introduced to us, we don’t get to know who he is, so the author uses all sorts of ‘he’ and such, to try to hide his identity, and then poorly tries to lead us in a direction away from who he is, and it just doesn’t work.

For the high price of the book, the fact it’s formatted at at least 1 1/2 spacing instead of single, it’s not really that long of a book either, so the value of the book versus what it is is poor, IMO. However, the plot is an interesting idea. I like the concept. I just think this book is closer to a first draft that needed much more development before it was released as a final product than it received. A good copy or content editor and a rewrite in some areas, and this could have been an amazing concept. I do hope the author will consider this for future novels, because there is a spark of something here and the ideas are great; the fleshing out just needs more work.

I Really Wanted to Love This Book…

… But unfortunately, I did not love it. I did, however, like it. It was entertaining if you’re not the type of reader who wants too much from a book. I personally prefer ‘more’. I agree with many of the other commentators who posted their reviews on Amazon.com for this book that the elephant dream was superfluous. Well, okay, the dream wasn’t so much, but the violence in the dream was. The same intent could have been conveyed without damaging the psyche of the reader to the point that it did. The result to Raine could have still had the same impact with the graphic nature of the dream.

Quincy and Raine are an unlikely pair. I realize that the book prior to this one went more in-depth with their relationship, but it was lukewarm at best. They did not have the chemistry I’d like to see in a partnership or a couple. The flip-flopping point of view of the story kept me from really getting into either character, as each superficially dealt with their feelings and each other. When the relationship finally consummated (again) in this book, it was again lukewarm and almost unworthy of including in the story.

As for the plot: I liked the plot. I liked the concept of it: An FBI agent whose identity gets stolen by someone he believes might be an ex subject of one of his investigations. However, he had plenty of enemies everywhere, so he’s not certain who to look at to see who is plotting to destroy him. And destroy him is the right words. He doesn’t want to kill him. He’s wanting to make him suffer. To Pay.

Here’s the problem, and I can’t really reveal it in depth without revealing spoilers, but I’ll just say: when the killer is finally revealed (and sadly, I figured out who it was the moment he was introduced to us in the book, and I HATE it when I can do that…) there really is no real, good reason for that person to hate the agent with so much passion. It just doesn’t make sense that he would plot for years to exact his revenge, for what? You’ll have to read the book to understand why.

So not only does the villain disappoint me, but I figured it out too easily. Strike One.

Second strike is the characterization and dialogue. We never get a firm image of who Raine is. I mean, is she strong and independent or is she tortured by her past? Can she truly be both? I don’t think she pulls it off. The character is weak and neurotic, not this strong leading lady who is trying to make a go of being a private investigator. I also never get a good feel of Quincy either. The dialogue is just really bad. I found myself rolling my eyes several times, thinking there’s no way these people in these situations would say these things.

Third strike was the procedural problems at the end of the book. I can’t, again, say much without giving away spoilers, but the person they use at Quanitco in the end to fool the UNSUB would never have been allowed into that place, that position, and certainly would never have been used in that way. They’d have used an agent before bringing in a civilian (even a law enforcement one), and they certainly wouldn’t have used that tactic. It just wouldn’t happen, so it fails me at suspension of disbelief.

I won’t rehash the plot here, since so many other comments have it and the description is quite clear. My review is more of the plot, which is good; characterization, which is weak; ending, which is poor; and editing, which could have been improved.

All said, it’s not a bad read. IF you like quick, fast-paced books, this one might be worth it to read on a lazy afternoon, but don’t expect to be turning pages and gasping with delight or surprise. This book is decent, but not one I’d go out of my way to recommend.

That said, HIDE, by Lisa Gardner is actually worth the time to read, so I know she has talent and skill. This book just fell flat.

This review is my own opinion, based on a copy of the book that I purchased. I have not been paid for this review and did not receive an advance copy. I just enjoy Gardner’s work and will be reading more of her books.

Pick up your own copy of THE NEXT ACCIDENT:

RECOMMENDED READING: SPIN THE PLATE, by Donna Anastasi – Yes, I do recommend this book for adding to the your reading list!

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SPIN THE PLATE, by Donna Anastasi features Jo, who is a façade of tough-as-nails with a bit of tender-as-a-kitten underneath female tattoo artist with a near comic-book vigilante personal life. She’s both likable if you get to know her and disdainful from a distance. She wears her weight and size and attitude as a shield to keep people at a distance, and yet, reveals her softness through the animal rescue activities and several scenes in the book in which she protects, fights for, or encourages those who are the ‘underdog’ position. Read the rest of this entry »